How did you discover Reggae?

[Nehuatl RAS]

My father raised me with Reggae, i remember goin to a concert at the age of 4 that was in 1990. reggae has been a part of my entire life

[dan i]

Interesting thread. My dad used to play reggae at home and went to see Bob Marley at the Rainbow in Finsbury Park back in '77. He had The Harder They Come soundtrack, Israelites on 7" as well as several Wailers albums - those set me off. But it was going to Notting Hill Carnival in '83 that was the real trigger for me - sound systems calashing pon street corner, Aswad in Meanwhile Gardens, vibes a plenty and I have never looked back.

[Mohawk Irie]

Growing Up In The Ghetto Streets Of Southeast California; Reggae Music Was Always Playing In The Alleys; And The Homies Smoking Spliffs All Day!; I Didn't Know What It Was At First, But After Growing Up I Started Understanding The Tongue Of The Rasta People; And Loved It!! I Grew Up W/ The Music; Found Meaning, Life,Peace, & Love; And Started Collecting Since I Was 12 Yrs Old; Now I'm 18; Mashin Up The Babylon Walls & Doing Jah Works; Now A Days Youths Dont Understand The Meaning In Music; Just Wasting Time On Rap; & Hip Hop!! Everyone Should Listen To Reggae Music My Opinion!!;
Bless!!!!

[dan i]

The other records that were crucial to my early love of reggae were Rockers soundtrack, again played by my dad, and the Countryman soundtrack. I remember going to a party at a mate's house and once Countryman got put on the deck, nothing else did. We played all 4 sides on rotation all night long. I still love that album to pieces.

[fresh-eye]

Im 24 years old, coming from switzerland. When I was 12 years old I started listening to HipHop, espicially alot of german-rap like Dynamite Deluxe, D-Flame or Freundeskreis. These are groups which samples time by time old-reggae-classics or do a chorus inna reggae-style...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N64hEJvDoR4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XetexhUTCYI

Back then I didnt really know about reggae, I think I had burned-cd with some Ganja-tunes without really know what it is and I remember that I heard once Elephant Man, but totally dislike it. Of course I had the Bob Marley Legends, but nothing more.

Then I listened to many many rap-cds and I loved especially the Reggae-influenced Tracks like Rascalz with 'top of the world', Kardinall Offishall, Q-Tip with Capleton, Wu Tang with Jr. Reid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvxL7LLxsp8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL3i7zfSonc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_otFllfQqv4

I discovered Sizzla, Capleton, Jr Kelly and since then Im in Love with jamaican music...everything from the 60ties Ska, to the early Reggay, to Dub, to Digital-Riddims by Jammys, 90ties Shabba-Style up to the latest Trance-Hall-Beats by Stephen Mc Gregor, Mavado, Kartel....

[giant panda]

not an exciting story, but i decided i wanted to explore reggae beyond Bob Marley. i did some research and bought Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey and The Gladiators - Dreadlocks the Time is Now

they both blew me away and i never looked back.

[Prince Pud Pud]

in the guardian homeopape, ''how to be a modern white negro, easy steps'', muchibus thankybus

[dubnobasswithmyheadman]

It took me a long time to actually 'get' reggae.First saw rastas at Glastonbury '88 festival selling sensi from the back of their sound system truck.Heavy bass pounding all night.Moved to Northampton '89, my wife used to get hassled by a couple of rastas outside the bus station.Then nothing for a few years until I discovered a label called Dubhead and bought some of their digital dub compilations.After this had opened my mind i got curious about 'proper' reggae from the 60s and 70s and went into my mate's record shop and found he was mad on reggae too. He recommended some lps to me, i think i bought an I Roy lp and Benjamin Zephenia too.From then on i was hooked and trawled ebay(back in the day when things were cheap and you could pick up a bargain)for sounds,three or four lps used to turn up in the post a week to my wife's bemusement(it took her a while to 'get' reggae too.since then my collection has grown and most nights i will spark up a spliff and put on some dub and go with the flow...

[jde777]

I was about 17 and Simon from music temple was doing a night in a pub venue out in the countryside, a few of my mates wanted to go but it was a long drive and i was the only one with a driving license, so we took a drive up there. When i got up there, everyone was blazing up on the dancefloor, so thought i would skin one up myself. So i was standing there with red-stripe in one hand, big zoot in the other and then simon dropped Max Romeo & Jah Shaka - Fari Captain of my ship.......I fell in love with reggae that night and never looked back. I thought to myself i would love to be up there one day playing out wicked music like that.....and low and behold i have been for the last few years....