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The written histories
Longer pieces about how the music actually happened — a studio, a rivalry, a rhythm, an argument that would not settle. Each one is tied to the records it concerns, and carries how firmly the atlas stands behind it.
144 published
How Rastafari belief and Nyabinghi rhythm gave roots reggae its voice.
The night the riddim went digitalHow a cheap keyboard preset in 1985 reset the sound of dancehall.
Beat Street and the Sound System WarsHow rival rigs, custom dubplates and selectors turned the dance into Jamaica's first media platform.
From Kingston to the BronxHow a Kingston-born selector carried the sound-system blueprint into the birth of hip-hop.