The current "Jafakin" trend in UK garage/hip hop

[Qdrop]

it's really buggin me.

around these parts, you haven't seen the whole Jafakin thing (white, or non-jamaicans trying to sound jamaican for street cred, etc) in the mainstream since Snow...

but it's still around in the underground jungle/DnB scenes in the states....even locally in my own city...
really fuckin lame....nothing worse than some suburban white kid with a Burton Snowboards Tshirt grabbing the mic and screaming "bumbaclot....rewind da selecta!" and actually meaning it....plus they never shut up...

but i digress...
i've noticed this same trend in UK garage/hip hop: MIA, Lady Soveriegn...a bunch of others...
i mean...where does some little white chick raised in northern London get off trying to sound jamaican?
is there TRULY a substantial Jamaican immigrant underground of which London/UK can feed off?

and while i'm on the subject...why can UK push the sonic envelope with thier beats, but always ruin it with shitty sub-par lyricists?....
they always come off sounding contrived, ameteur....generic.

and I heard this cut last night featuring Lady Soveriegn and bunch of other Jafakins....and the subject of the song was Adidas hoodies!
Adidas?
jesus, Run DMC did that like 20 fuckin years ago! get with it!!

so yeah....Jafakins, bad.

[hpdrifter]

MIA is Sri Lankan. Her sound has more to do with her tamil culture than jamaican.

That said, I agree. I would gladly wipe sean paul from my memory if i could

[Schmeltz]

Actually, there is a fairly substantial population of Jamaican immigrants to the UK. My hairdresser is actually a Jamaican guy with a British accent (living in Canada). Part of the whole Commonwealth thing, you know.

[Qdrop]

Actually, there is a fairly substantial population of Jamaican immigrants to the UK. My hairdresser is actually a Jamaican guy with a British accent (living in Canada). Part of the whole Commonwealth thing, you know.

so does this mean that UK white kids can pretend they are jamaican when they get in front of a mic?

[Qdrop]

MIA is Sri Lankan. Her sound has more to do with her tamil culture than jamaican.

That said, I agree. I would gladly wipe sean paul from my memory if i could

yeah, but doesn't she live in the UK now?
she talks about how her "sound is made in fuckin London ya'll..."

and alot of her music sounds pretty rastafarian to me....if fact, she says it does.

don't get me wrong...i dig her sound and all. i got the album.

[thegoodmrbrodie!]

is there TRULY a substantial Jamaican immigrant underground of which London/UK can feed off?
yes. yes there is.

and I heard this cut last night featuring Lady Soveriegn and bunch of other Jafakins....and the subject of the song was Adidas hoodies!
Adidas?
jesus, Run DMC did that like 20 fuckin years ago! get with it!!
hoodies are big news here at the moment. like shopping centres are banning people from wearing them and shit. so it is more of a reaction to that then about adidas.

i mean this in the nicest possible way...but you dont seem to have a clue what you are talking about.

[Qdrop]

yes. yes there is. but again...does this mean it's cool for white kids to pretend they're jamaican on the mic?
how is that any differant from whiggers?


hoodies are big news here at the moment. like shopping centres are banning people from wearing them and shit. so it is more of a reaction to that then about adidas. so they're rapping about the persecution of hoodie wearers? see, this is why UK rappers don't get much respect.

i mean this in the nicest possible way...but you dont seem to have a clue what you are talking about. really? how so?

[K-nowledge]

An English friend of mine grew up in a heavy Jamaican populated neighborhood in London. He can speak some funky Jamaican.


Didn't a lot of reggae bands do their recordings in London/England?

[Qdrop]

An English friend of mine grew up in a heavy Jamaican populated neighborhood in London. He can speak some funky Jamaican.


Didn't a lot of reggae bands do thier recordings in London/England?

okay okay...and NYC has a heavy jamaican area too....

but that is all beside the point....whether or not there is a legitamate jamaican culture around you...if YOU are not jamaican, and have no jamaican roots other than some jamaican nieghbors who play thier Capelton records too loud, does that, in any way, excuse you from getting behind a microphone and pretending you are jamaican?

if some southern rednecks moved into my nieghborhood....wouldn't it seem wierd if i just decided to start talking in southern drawl and put out some country records? the fuck do i know about country?

i mean, musically sampling differant muscial styles into your music...experimenting with sounds and rhythms....
i don't think anyone would knock that....
but actually getting on a microphone and trying to sound jamaican....when you are a white chick from northern london....
come on...that's fucking queer.

[fucktopgirl]

yea like sauwn paul or something like that


i heard that is does not talk like he sing,like when he talk he does not have a jamaican accent!


rumors?

[Qdrop]

yea like sauwn paul or something like that


i heard that is does not talk like he sing,like when he talk he does not have a jamaican accent!


rumors?

not sure...but i'm pretty sure he was born in jamaica and raised there mostly.

he was an underground dancehall legend LONG before he hit mainstream radio...

"deport dem"....

[roosta]

i wouldn't call Lady Sovereign "jafakin" to be honest...shes a garage/grime MC and thats how they do things....its a part of grime culture...

[DroppinScience]

I haven't heard Lady Sovereign's stuff (and MIA seems distinct enough to do her own thing... there's a Jamaican influence, but that's only part of what she's about).

But what about all the second wave ska artists that came from England (Specials, English Beat, Selecter, Madness, etc.)? Do you also have problems with them?

But then again, all of those groups (with the exception of Madness) were a mixture of white and Jamaican artists (representing the "TwoTone" movement), so I'm sure they get a pass...

[Qdrop]

i wouldn't call Lady Sovereign "jafakin" to be honest...shes a garage/grime MC and thats how they do things....its a part of grime culture...

how does give her a pass?

compare and contrast Snow to Lady Sovereign.

[fucktopgirl]

not sure...but i'm pretty sure he was born in jamaica and raised there mostly.

he was an underground dancehall legend LONG before he hit mainstream radio...

"deport dem"....


so then he must be real,authentic?
i mean i would'nt buy is albums but if he is really jamaican,is music is 100% way better!

[Qdrop]

I haven't heard Lady Sovereign's stuff (and MIA seems distinct enough to do her own thing... there's a Jamaican influence, but that's only part of what she's about). oh MIA definately has a melting pot of sounds in her music: electro, hip hop, etc....but the jamaican/dancehall base is undeniable...particularly in her speech.
it's kinda goofy to deny that...

But what about all the second wave ska artists that came from England (Specials, English Beat, Selecter, Madness, etc.)? Do you also have problems with them? yeah, that is an interesting discussion...
like i said...i don't think many would fault any person or band from exploring/incorporating other musical styles into thier own...but i think a line would be crossed if they started trying to SPEAK with false jamaican accents to somehow give credibility...
i mean, what if Sting and the Police had tried to sound jamaican vocally in all thier music? wouldn't that come across as fuckin odd?

[fucktopgirl]

[QUOTE=DroppinScienceBut what about all the second wave ska artists that came from England (Specials, English Beat, Selecter, Madness, etc.)? Do you also have problems with them?QUOTE]



the specials are good (y)

[DroppinScience]

yeah, that is an interesting discussion...
like i said...i don't think many would fault any person or band from exploring/incorporating other musical styles into thier own...but i think a line would be crossed if they started trying to SPEAK with false jamaican accents to somehow give credibility...
i mean, what if Sting and the Police had tried to sound jamaican vocally in all thier music? wouldn't that come across as fuckin odd?

You're right. The Police would've been pretty bad if Sting did the patwa thing. What I loved about The Police is how they'd work in a bit of reggae and a bit of punk (they were initially associated with the punk scene, but I doubt they'd be "punk") into their rock. I guess, they were just being themselves. Which is what all the artists should adhere to. Simple as that.

Having said that, while we're on the discussion of "white reggae" and the like, "Red Red Wine" by UB40 is pretty cool, I can't deny. :o

[K-nowledge]

What I think Q is gettin at is why front like your Jamaican when your not. It's cool to have the influence and drop it in your music but but not go overboard and be something your not.

[fucktopgirl]

the mighty boostones are freaking good!

they kinda fit in this thread,no?There are like a mix of ska/punk... :o

[Qdrop]

What I think Q is gettin at is why front like your Jamaican when your not. It's cool to have the influence and drop it in your music but but not go overboard and be something your not.

HIGH FIVE, man..

[thegoodmrbrodie!]

well firstly, lady sovereign's vocals dont sound jamaican. they sound like they are from north london. which is where she is from. if anything from the uk scene is biting the jamaican sound it's the beats. but of course there is going to be some jamaican influence there, because of the huge carribean community in london. i really cant think of any white british rappers who are "jafakin", not known ones anyway. do you have any more examples?

[Qdrop]

well firstly, lady sovereign's vocals dont sound jamaican. they sound like they are from north london. which is where she is from. if anything from the uk scene is biting the jamaican sound it's the beats. but of course there is going to be some jamaican influence there, because of the huge carribean community in london. i really cant think of any white british rappers who are "jafakin", not known ones anyway. do you have any more examples?

lady's vocal sound pretty straight forward jamaican to me...
i'm pretty big on the stuff...
yeah, you can hear the british accent....but there is not fuckin doubting the heavy ragga vibe she is putting out.
again, to deny that would be pretty dumb.

and other than her and MIA?....
eh....was just downloading a bunch of garage and grime last night (just typed in "grime" and "garage" into Limewire) and this is where i'm getting my sentiments from..
time after time....i keep hearing the jafakin thing...
to be fair, some of them may be true-blue jamaican immigrants or descendants in the scene living in the UK...
but man..shit....when thier skin is as white as snow, you know they weren't born in the islands....

are you seriously gonna sit here and say there isn't a prevalent "jafakin" vocal vibe going through UK garage scene?

man, now that i think about it...this is leaking back into the US mainstream....Lil Kim put out that "put your lighters up" track with her fake ass jafakin vocals...
wack....

[thegoodmrbrodie!]

sorry. i havent been getting my point across very well. if at all.

my point is this, there is definately a heavy reggae/ragga/jamaican vibe in a lot of uk hiphop, no doubting this. all i am doubting is that this is somehow a negative thing. the scene was born out of the reggae scene, so it is bound to have some connections. whats the problem with that? if you grew up listening to a lot of dancehall tunes then of course when you come make some music its going to have a dancehall vibe.

anyway, a tunes a tune. who cares who's singing it and where they are from.

[roosta]

lady's vocal sound pretty straight forward jamaican to me...
i'm pretty big on the stuff...
yeah, you can hear the british accent....but there is not fuckin doubting the heavy ragga vibe she is putting out.
again, to deny that would be pretty dumb.

and other than her and MIA?....
eh....was just downloading a bunch of garage and grime last night (just typed in "grime" and "garage" into Limewire) and this is where i'm getting my sentiments from..
time after time....i keep hearing the jafakin thing...
to be fair, some of them may be true-blue jamaican immigrants or descendants in the scene living in the UK...
but man..shit....when thier skin is as white as snow, you know they weren't born in the islands....

are you seriously gonna sit here and say there isn't a prevalent "jafakin" vocal vibe going through UK garage scene?

man, now that i think about it...this is leaking back into the US mainstream....Lil Kim put out that "put your lighters up" track with her fake ass jafakin vocals...
wack....

Hmmm...to be honest though, it's just what grime sounds like. It HAS been influenced by carribean/reggae styles, so whether your white/black whatever, if you make grime more often than not your gonna sound like "a grime emcee".

Really, though, Lady Sovereign sounds more London than anything else....maybe as an american you wouldn't get it,but alot of UK music is very carribean influenced...

[Kid Presentable]

Hmmm...to be honest though, it's just what grime sounds like. It HAS been influenced by carribean/reggae styles, so whether your white/black whatever, if you make grime more often than not your gonna sound like "a grime emcee".

Really, though, Lady Sovereign sounds more London than anything else....maybe as an american you wouldn't get it,but alot of UK music is very carribean influenced...

Yeah, the carribean influence is everywhere. I stayed in Brixton for a while, and most places we went we were the only white kids. And most of the other ethnicities like Pakistani et al distinctly spoke with an afro-caribbean inflection, in the same way that Lady Sovereign might.

[Monsieur Decuts]

her sounds is sad and shitty anyway...what's the difference?

[Drederick Tatum]

I think Ali G made the same point about 6 years ago.

[Gareth]

that hissy fit footage of the lady sov show in philly was pretty funny.
anyway, i don't have a problem with ub40 and i don't have a problem with rodney p.