Stonebwoy, a Ghanaian Reggae/Dancehall artist, has been chastised in recent weeks, primarily by Nigerians and Jamaicans, after claiming in an interview that Reggae music is Jamaican but has an African origin and that Afrobeats evolved from Ghanaian Highlife music.
In an interview with TheCable Lifestyle Newspaper he was asked whether he had a viewpoint on the argument posited by “many people” that Reggae is not an African thing.
“I’m not the only one doing it, there are tons and tons of people, who are inspired by that genre of music. It doesn’t belong to any Caribbean society from its core. It belongs to Africans and we are enjoying it in diverse ways,” he had said.
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“Reggae is rooted in the heart of Africa. It’s not a foreign style or movement… Even our Afrobeats of today also stem out from the highlife core, where the highlife core tells stories and brings people to consciousness. Whether Reggae, Dancehall, Highlife, or Afrobeats, they all come from the same source,” Stonebwoy had remarked.
“Remember that Jamaicans are all Africans by virtue of the slave trade. So, it’s just the music that we’re doing back again,” he stated.
And it seems Stonebwoy is getting the biggest backup ever on this issue he’s been dragged for, as renowned member of the legendary reggae group Morgan Heritage; Gramps Morgan said the record straight by saying Stonebwoy is right.
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In an interview via zoom with King Lagazee on @asaase99.5 radio’s #YaadSettingz show, the legend stated that the plight of black men will continue until we wake up, live, and stop tearing each other down.
“What Stonebwoy said was a hundred percent accurate.”
Gramps attests to one part of Stonebwoy’s claim that Jamaica is the birthplace of reggae music and that no one can change that for free or ever, but he argues that the music’s origins are in Africa. According to Legend, Africans make reggae music, which means that Africans have a bloodline in Jamaica.
“Reggae music and the home of reggae music is Jamaica, no one cannot try out test that no boy, but the root of that is rooted is rooted in Africa, it’s Africans that make reggae music, and when I say that, it is the African’s bloodline that is connected in Jamaica.”
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Gramps Morgan claims that the issue is one of roots rather than nationality. He also used an example, saying that you can’t say America invented Jewish religion due to the fact that a white man of German or Jewish descent is staying in America, because Jewish religion is rooted in Israel.
“People just love to tear down each other and Stonebwoy is doing great works now and people are just finding ways to take him out of contest what he said,” he concluded by saying, Stonebwoy’s statement of reggae been rooted in African is a “thousand one billion percent right”
