African Drumming to Reggae, Reggae to Hip-Hop/Rock?

In the sixth chapter of Rastafari, Edmonds explores the musical progression of styles that led to the birth and popularization of Reggae. Like most other developments in music, new styles are often the product of multiple influences (i.e. modern jazz from dixie land and african music), and Edmonds conclusion is no exception. However, often, there is one style that stands out more than others in the development of a new musical genre, for Reggae, Edmund believes it to be Nyabinghi drumming. While there are other factors to take into consideration (other precursors like Ska and Rock Steady), Nyabinghi seems to comprise the deepest roots. After considering Edmunds conclusions, I began to make a few of my own (though they are supporter soley by personal experience and not legitamit research) as to what are the consequences of Reggae and what styles it has influenced or helped to develope. I first thought about hip-hop, and while there are some definite connections between it and Reggae, I feel that hip-hop's precursors are too many and varied to claim Reggae as its main derivative. However, the fusion of Hip-hop and Rock and Roll, as purely exemplified by Rage Against the Machine, has some very compelling links to Reggae. Using Rage Against the Machine (RATM) as a model for consideration, I began drawing connection betweeen it and Reggae. As far as the musical style and instrumentation goes, there is a striking similarity in the bass heavy (both bass guitar and drums) grooves of both styles. Also, the fact that these grooves are generated by acoustic instruments, as opposed to the digital beats often scene in rap and hip-hop, further strengthens the connection. Another connection is made in the vocal styles. Unlike standard rock and roll, where vocal emphasis is generally placed soley on melodic ideas, RATM combines ideas of strong rhythm as well as melody in their vocal parts--which is very similar to Reggae. The last connection I will mention here is the aspect of political/social awarness exhibited by RATM. Reggae's strong ties to Rastafarian themes of social change are very much reflected by the poetry in RATM songs. I have provided two videos that I think accurately portray the similarites between these two styles.