Without H.I.M.?

I have several people in my life who I consider to be mentors and I go to them for various reasons. For instance, my Mother, for as ridiculously tightly wound and hot-tempered She is, is not only one of my intellectual mentors, but she’s also my mentor of humour. She, even in her anger, is one of the funniest people I know and of her billions of commendable personality traits, it is the one which I admire most. My Father is her ultra-relaxed antithesis, yet his is the voice which I go to when I’m in need of a push to complete something that I know is in my best interest, because I do so love procrastinating. And then there’s a good family friend, a man I’ve known for more than twenty years, Marshall, better known as Ras Hippolyte (who gave me permission to use his name). Besides simply being one of the smartest human beings that I’ve ever known (he and my Mother are most likely the two smartest), Ras Hipp has occupied the position of being my mentor when it came to all things Rastafari. Not to tell you entirely too much of my business, but it was he who began to give me direct teachings of His Imperial Majesty, outside of this wonderful music of course, and made it possible so that I could just as directly implement them in my life. Anyway, I bring up Ras Hipp because one of the many solid stances that he’s taken over the years in regards to Reggae music (another of which is the fact that he believes that Luciano is the greatest thing to EVER happen to the music) is that Reggae music, in it’s most sincere and purest form is actually an instrument which is played by His Majesty and His Majesty alone and it serves as somewhat of a never-ending ‘advertisement’ for Rasta (I’m paraphrasing). And when I began to think of something that I should do in celebration of this most special and unique of days, I began to actually think of just the overall impact that HE has had on Reggae music and although I may not take the hard-line stance of Ras, what I will say is that Roots Reggae music without H.I.M., is not something that I think I’d be very interested in at all.

Why? I think when you look throughout history you’ll see that when you have a great deal of poverty and impoverished people, one of the prevailing and significant cultural similarities is a sense and recognition of ‘spirituality’ (and I dare not say the wicked ‘R’ word). So, when you take that into consideration, in my opinion it makes sense that our music be spiritual. After all, it rose up from an impoverished people on ideals which were also risen from the very same poverty, so if there were a form of music to rise up from Jamaica at the time that Reggae music did, regardless of what it was called and probably regardless of how it even sounded, it was going to be spiritual music. So can you imagine the whole of Roots Reggae turned into a spin-off of traditional Gospel? Can you imagine the focal point of the music being a different path in life? Despite the fact that I am SO fortunate by being able to hear so many different artists from so many different walks of life and from so many different corners of the world, I cannot even begin to imagine the destruction of this relatively brief union of His Majesty and Reggae music. It is BY FAR the most solid that we have. For instance, I’d go as far to say that on the occasions when the name ‘Selassie’ is uttered in different genres that there’re lines of critics who’ll throw up phrases like ‘Reggae-tinged’ or something similar at the very mention and you know that it is because of the two have become synonymous in regards to music. If I even say HIS name, what is the very first that comes to mind? If you say ‘Rastafari’ - How far down your list of terms do you get before you start charting out ‘Reggae’ and ‘Jamaica’ - Probably not very at all.

Sticking even closer to the music - What about the artists themselves? For some reason, I didn’t go quite the expected route (although I most certainly will momentarily), but the first name I thought of is masterful St. Croix artist/producer/musician/arranger, Batch. Certainly we all have our favourites, but I’m seriously going to be hard pressed to give credence to the notion that we currently have a musician MORE solidified in his convictions than Batch, a quality which comes through so wonderfully reflected in his music, time and time again.

Then, of course, you get to the names like Sizzla Kalonji and Capleton and Anthony B and Luciano and Buju Banton. Really where would these people be? Would Capleton and Buju still be doing there business in the Dancehall? Would Sizzla and Anthony B have even picked up the mic in the very first place? Literally, the music (and the culture, the WORLDWIDE culture) would be ROBBED of them and their contributions. Or, can you actually the fire burning for a different walk of life? I, again, have a hard time seeing that and even if I could, given the direct Afrikan connection, being a very active stop in the Afrikan Diaspora, I’m going to guess that whatever would exist in the stead of Rastafari, would probably be VERY similar.

Outside of just that , you also might consider the overall expression of the music and its ‘look’. Somehow and someway we’ve managed to forge a ‘Reggae Look’ which, of course, is comprised in large part by the stereotypically tall, dark-skinned and lanky dreadlocked Rasta Man, such as Revalation (pictured). And with that I’d challenge you to find a corner of the planet where people actually exist which does not have SOME type of characterization and appropriation of this look. That goes, of course, with the success of the music itself - The look and the style - and while certainly some may find that to be offensive or kind of cliquish, as the old saying goes, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. Without H.I.M. these things almost certainly would not exist and again, I hesitate to think of how they might, even if they did.

"Negus Negast
Born Ethiopian province of Harraghe
With the government on HIS shoulders
HE is the comfort and wonderful Counselor
His Majesty never come fi suffer
HE come fi rule and to conquer
Earth born rightful ruler
Establish justice forever
Hail The King"
taken from 'Hail The King' by Batch from the album "To The Root"

So, as I promised myself that I’d go through this entire article without trying to seem too ‘preachy’, in closing I do think it appropriate to rethink the notion of Ras Hipp that Reggae promotes Rasta and to a certain degree I think it’s very accurate. On one hand, what other ‘vehicle’ is it that keeps HIS name around so much? What other machine is used, so indirectly, to literally MELD the name of Selassie I to it, to the point where, as I said, you won’t get very far in thinking of other things after HIS name is spoken before you come upon Reggae music which, as you can tell by how much I write, is still very much so a machine in process and progress. And on the other hand, can you imagine just HOW this machine might work if the Most Honourable Marcus Garvey never told us to look to the EAST? If HE never was? It very well might not exist at all and certainly not how it does today, which would make it something different wouldn’t it??? There may’ve never even existed an inspiration for all of these wonderful artists to make all of this wonderful music (EXACTLY how you hear it now) and just because we grew up with it or found something in it which resonated within for some reason, there’s nothing at all - No reason or anything - which would prove that we would still like whatever existed in it’s place.

Thankfully, such horrible thoughts are best left to daydreaming and hypothetical situations because Reggae music carried the messages of His Imperial Majesty and continues to do so to this very day. And in return HE continues to inspire, 118 years after HIS birth.

All praise be to His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I on this, his 118th Earthday.