The Reggae Monopoly

Chingy. M Night Shyamalan. Keanu Reeves... - These are just a few of the people who will never be considered the best in their profession. A few weeks back marked the birthday of the late great Bob Marley, so I’m sure you all have a good idea of what went down. Damn right, I was in deep thought. I had to get in that “I just smoked three bowls on my porch and now I’m staring at the stars contemplating life” mentality. Unfortunately, I don’t smoke like that- but throw on some reggae when I’m by myself and I swear I’m high as shit.

Weed or no weed, while bumping One Love the whole reggae-vibe really got me thinking: Has there ever been another genre, in all of music, where there has been such a dominant, clear-cut “best artist”? I mean, you can say Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh (also a member of The Wailers) may have been close, but come on, be real! Bob Marley was the first “third world country” born star be make it big on a worldwide platform, and no other Reggae artist is even close to as well known on a global scale, nor have they had the type of impact short term or long term that Bob did. In fact, besides UB40 (do they even count, they are a bunch of British white dudes), no one else has done shit record selling wise. UB40 has sold around 70 million records total worldwide- Just Bob’s album Legend did 25 Million alone and counting… and his other work including stuff with The Wailers surpasses UB40 numbers!

I tried thinking of another genre… Metal? Maybe Metallica? Maybe Ozzie and Black Sabbath (What is more metal than eating a fuckin’ birds head!?). No one is dominant. How about rap? We all know Biz Markie is the best rapper ever, but You ask any typical rap fan you’ll get one of 5 or 6 names depending on your particular preference (ie.. Biggie, 2Pac, Big L, Jay Z, or Eminem etc…). So I’ve really come to the conclusion, that in the music world, where there is so much diversity in terms of taste, Bob Marley may be the one musician that is without debate, the best of his genre.

That raises another question: Do you know anyone who doesn’t like Bob Marley? I’ve met plenty of Michael Jackson haters, Elvis haters, and even Beatles haters... but I’ve never met someone who can’t appreciate a little Marley. And if that’s you... what the fuck is wrong with you!?

Try thinking of other “genres” in life. Jordan is pretty much considered the best basketball player ever. Ron Jeremy holds it down on the whole Jewish porn star world and Tyler Perry dominates the world of extremely corny black television. There are definitely some categories where there is a clear-cut dominant leader, but in music, besides Bob Marley- I don’t see (hear) one.