Roots Archives Forum

It doesn't matter if an artist is deejaying or a vocalist is singing, rub-a-dub got nothing to do with the vocal-delivery right? I'm quite sure it's all about the riddim and how it is mixed.

If it's a slow heavy late 70s/early 80s riddim, mixed inna dub style - like for example Hugh Mundells Jaqueline - then it's rub-a-dub.

That would be my defininition of rub-a-dub. You guys agree?

Fully agree that rub-a-dub is about the music, not the vocal delivery.
Rub-a-dub is the transition from roots to dancehall (to me).
All these different views on rub-a-dub is not making things easier.
Not that things are ever easy in reggae (and I love it!)

As I tried to explain in an earlier post, for me, it is the baseline along with the absence or muting of the upbeat. Ska started with the quick tempo and heavy upbeat, rocksteady/reggae slowed down the tempo and de-emphisized the upbeat. Rub-a-dub focuses on the bass and drums, and all but eliminates the upbeat.

When I think about defining music styles, I think of how you would dance to it. When you picture someone dancing to ska, rocksteady, reggae, rub-a-dub, etc, the dance style will be different because the music dictates the dance. So rub-a-dub would be a slow grinding style as opposed to a more jerking style for earlier reggae.

I typically think of rub-a-dub as the early dancehall sound, but I have heard examples of rub-a-dub in the roots era as well.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge on the subject can enlighten us further.

Well it's complicated because rub-a-dub isn't one specific thing. Different people have different takes on it. For some it might be the early dancehall style. For others the way to play records. There might even be people saying that rub-a-dub is heavy lovers so you can dance tightly and rub de plead out a gyal skirt to it. However there seems to be some sort of nowadays consensus of what rub-a-dub is and that's dancehall reggae with a heavy mix. Not saying this is more or less correct than others definitions -- but I tend to believe this is what a vast majority of people talk about when using the term on this board.

However in sound systems terms (as can be read in the incredible book Rub-a-dub style, Beth Lesser 2012) it's playing the songs followed by versions so deejays can chat on them. U-Roy states in the book that his sound system is a rub-a-dub sound:

»*We only play one type of music,* He asserts. *We strictly play rub-a-dub. We don't come out of that range. We no cross over no bridge, no boarder, no nothing. Strictly rub-a-dub music. Whoever hear my sound, and expect to hear a soft music or a calypso – don’t expect to hear that. Those thing will stay at my house (because I listen to every different type of singer). But when it comes to my sound, my sound play just one type of music- rub-a-dub. You hear the vocals, you play the version – this is how we deal with it.*«

So the term pre-dates the style it has come to describe. You can hear deejays such as Ranking Trevor (R.I.P) mention it on his brilliant '78 album *In Fine Style*.

The notion that vocal style would define if something is rub-a-dub or not I would think is very wrong even though some vocal styles more or less would be quite signifying to the genre. The vocalists doing sing-jaying and so forth. But a lot of singers from the 70's (and 60's) transitioned to the new era rhythms without changing their vocal styles. Still the music was rub-a-dub.

edit: typo's

Great info, kalcidis. Sounds plausible to me, especially how it may mean different things to different people. Thanks for the post.

rub to the dub , for me rubadub is where them take the dub and sing over the dub riddims more drum and base 80-85

check out

yellowman mister yellowman
eek a mouse wo do dem
frankie paul give the youth a chance
barrington levy prison oval rock
little john reggae dance
hugh mundell mundell
wailing souls fire house rock
gregory isaacs night nurse
little john give the youth a try
johnny osbourne fally lover


all classic rubadub stylee

cheers

"Rub-A-Dub" isn't a musical style as much as it was a soundsystem style...."rub the dub and let the DJ toast".

If anyone is interested in learning more, they should read the aforementioned book by Beth Lesser "Rub-a-Dub Style: The Roots of Modern Dancehall".

It's still available as a free download, and it's also available in a "print on demand" version.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/beth-lesser/ru ... 90682.html

Got few Tubby albums but can't get myself to listen to it ...

So a friend told me you have to smoke herb to feel the dub vibes, anyone who can attest to this?

Of course you don't have to smoke herb to feel the vibes. I totally felt the vibes and digged the dub sound ten years before I ever touched a joint. I gotta admit though, now that I smoke for years I do feel the vibe EVEN MORE.

Hear hear Galbraith.

Wasn't rubadub just a popular name reggae in JA since the late 70s, until the term 'dancehall' became more popular? Anyway, I once heard David Rodigan refer to a rocksteady tune as 'rubadub style'.