Nearly fifty years ago, Jamaica received independence from Great Britain, but that was not the only obstacle Jamaicans had to encounter. In the 1970’s Jamaica had experienced an urban social crisis where the poverty rate was at an all time high. Reggae music first emerged in Jamaica with the sole purpose of being the voice for the poor and unspoken. The genre had a powerful social force within Jamaica, representing the difficulties jamaicans had faced in everyday life putting them into words that persuaded it’s people to listen to its powerful message. Many Jamaican reggae artists were beaten up or nearly killed because of their influence towards the oppressed and suffering. Overtime Reggae music had obtained a type of tropical imagery that greatly coincided with beach culture. Its militant and spiritual lyrics as well as the rebellious appearance of its singers, have influenced other musical genres, cultures and societies throughout the world, contributing to the development of new counterculture movements, especially in Africa.Westerners reshaped African reggae music into the genre known today as reggae rock; appropriating the music of Jamaica’s marginalized people. Comparing the two types of reggae genres allows us to have a deeper understanding of African reggae music and its influence on western cultures. Hence, my paper will examine the impact of Jamaican reggae music had on the world, focusing particularly on the United States and Africa. Throughout the 1950’s roughly 175,000 Jamaicans from the country boarded boats destined for London, Liverpool and other British ports. Despite the 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act, the immigration of Jamaicans to England remained significantly important during the 1960s. In result, England had acquired a large Jamaican community. Most of the Jamaican immigrants lived in the working-class district, resulting in the largest concentration of Jamaican immigrants in the UK. It was basically in that context that the Jamaican popular music of ska, rocksteady and early reggae, gained followers within Jamaican communities. Reggae’s distinctive sound incorporated the base, guitar, drums, andpiano. These instruments came together to create a rhythmic and melodic pattern that steadily exist throughout the complete song. During the start of the 1970’s, governmental repression in Jamaica led to an increase in support of the Rastafarian movement; an Afrocentric movement which focused on African Diaspora and the oppression of her people.The Rastafarian movement during this period, recognized the king of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, as the living God. The movement influenced Jamaicans to leave their rural communes to relocate in the poor slums of Kingston, Jamaica’s capital. Reggae had first came out after the Vietnam War. Reggae music produced at the time reflected the ideology of Jamaicans living in the ghetto. This genre functioned as an optimistic answer to the numerous years of oppression Jamaica has experienced. The spiritual message presented in reggae music captures faith and hope as a common theme. Jamaicans had then constructed>