Ragga By Roots | ms

Roots Manuva, born Rodney Smith is a British hip-hop artist, who mixes hip hop with reggae and dub as well as electronica, and even some gospel. He grew up around Stockwell in South London. His parents were from a small village in Jamaica called Banana Hole where his father was a preacher and tailor. Spending much of his early years in poverty, this and his strict Pentecostal upbringing clearly had an influence on his music as can be seen in many of his tracks such as "Sinny Sin Sins" and "Colossal Insight". Smith made his recorded debut in 1994 as...

There are 2 groups with the name Roots. 1) Roots were a short-lived band comprising Barney Rachabane (alto), Dennis Mpale (trumpet), Duke Makasi (tenor), Sipho Gumede (bass), Peter Morake (drums) and Jabu Nkosi (organ). Replace Jabu Nkosi with Abdullah Ibrahim, add Basil Coetzee on sax and you have the group that recorded the seminal African Herbs LP under the direction of Abdullah Ibrahim. Roots are often cited as a key strand in the development of an indigenous afro jazz sound that links the Drive, the Pelican Club house band under Dick Khoza, Spirits Rejoice and later Sakhile. The liner notes...

The Roots, also known as The Legendary Roots Crew, The Square Roots and The Foundation, are an influential, Grammy winning hip hop group based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, famed for a heavily jazzy sound and live instrumentation. Inspired by the "hip-hop band" concept pioneered by Stetsasonic, the Roots themselves have garnered critical acclaim and influenced later hip-hop and R&B acts. The Roots' original lineup included Black Thought (MC vocals) and Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson (drums), who were classmates at the Philadelphia High School for Creative Performing Arts. As they began to play at school and on the streets, they added another...

Lucy Spraggan (born 21 July 1991) is an English musician, currently signed to Columbia Records, who describes her music as 'A-Flop', a mixture of acoustic, folk, and hip hop. In July 2011, she was announced as the runner up of the Urban, Pop & Acoustic category of Live and Unsigned at the age of 20. In June 2012, she performed alongside Razorlight at Osfest at the Oswestry Showground in Shropshire. She independently released her album Top Room At The Zoo in November 2011, with associated music videos released on YouTube. She auditioned for The X Factor in 2012, performing her...

Spragga Benz (born Carlton Grant in Kingston, Jamaica on May 30, 1969), is one of Jamaica's most famous Deejays. He began his career around 1991. Once known to his friends as Spaghetti (tall and slim) but later shortened to Spragga. The Benz in his name comes from the sound system for which he used to work for, L.a. Benz, and it is through this that he found his way into the music business at a Dubplate recording session with Buju Banton. The famed elder DJ was slated to do 4 tracks for L.a. Benz but only voiced two and suggested...