ragga
nounEtymology Clipping of raggamuffin, variant of ragamuffin (“troublemaker”), influenced by reggae.
1
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music A subgenre of reggae and dancehall influenced by hip hop and digital production techniques such as sampling.
- Tosh's brand of roots reggae, with its emphasis on uplifting anthems and melodic riffs, now sounds as dated as The Wailers' earliest incarnation as a straight-up ska band, especially when listened to alongside the shuddering bass of most contemporary ragga tracks.1993 August, David Eimer, “Reel to Reel”, in The Wire, number 114, →ISSN, page 52:
- The song samples Ricky Martin's hit Shake Your Bom-Bom but adds ragga's roughness. When Bam Bam comes on, the crowd goes wild.2001 September 15, Christopher John Farley, “Music Goes Global”, in Time, →ISSN:
2 more examples
- A sub-genre of reggae, ragga is a modern Jamaican sound with ties to the oldest traditional music of that island-nation. The name is taken from the word “raggamuffin”, a term used for disenfranchised youth. One popular ragga singer called Half Pint said, “A lot of people interpret raggamuffin as if it [is]^([sic]) a criminal morality.”2016, Linda Dailey Paulson, “Ragga”, in Dave DiMartino, editor, Music in the 20th Century, volume 1, Routledge, →ISBN, page 514:
- Fling a ragga riddim like it's '032019, Wiley et al, “Boasty”:
- Derived terms
- Raggastani
- Related terms
- raga