Jamaican sound system
Sound system jamaicano
- Date
- c. 1950 · confidence medium
- Place
- Kingston, Jamaica
- Credited to
- Tom Wong 'Tom the Great Sebastian', Duke Reid and Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd
- Field
- Communication
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Mobile rigs of trucks with turntables, amplifiers and large speakers that organised street dances with imported rhythm and blues records and later with their own productions. They created the culture of selectors, MCs and exclusive records.
Origins are attributed to Tom the Great Sebastian in the late 1940s and to Duke Reid and Coxsone Dodd from 1950-54; sources differ on who was first. It is an invention of sound reinforcement and music culture.
What it led to
- the Jamaican record industry and its own recording studios
- dub and toasting as remixing and talking over a track
- Bronx hip hop from DJ Kool Herc (1973)