Raggamuffin, More then Just a Stereotype.

During the 1980’s a few Jamaican artists decided to combine musical traits of reggae with those of hip-hop to create a new electronic sound that the youth of that era were fascinated by. The main listeners of this music exemplified the clothing traits of a typical “ragamuffin” of that time period and this new style of music they listened to adopted the term as its main name. Now it can often be referred to as ragga as well. After a quick stint in New York this new music style spread to Latin America and eventually to the shores of Honduras. The impact of African culture and Jamaican culture led to raggamuffin music consisting of the specific musical sounds associated with that name. The songs have rhythms of reggae with the electronic feel of hip-hop along with lyrics spoken over the music, like a rap. African musical traits, like off-beat rhythmic patterns and levels of syncopation, allowed people of the 1980’s to dance and move with the music, exemplifying more common African traits.