“I have been doing reggae for over a decade and, as they say, patience is virtue, better late than never!”

So said Marvin “Mr King” Lewis, writer and performer of the grassroots hit, Laventille. “Our reggae is not some fly-by-night gimmick. It is a case of hard work reaping rewards.”

He is one of a handful of local reggae performers who have recently struck gold with their style of conscious reggae dancehall.

“With men like Isasha, Prophet (Benjamin) and myself just keeping that level of togetherness which we have now, we can and will be just as internationally known for reggae as we are for soca.”

In relation to the music's international appeal, music critic Georgia Popplewell said in an interview via e-mail, “There’s a huge market world-wide for roots reggae. The material we are providing is as well produced as anything you’ll find out there, so I would say it will find a place internationally.” Mr King’s fellow reggae artiste Devon “Prophet Benjamin” Samuel agreed. “Our reggae is already being appreciated internationally. They love Marlon Asher in Germany.” Asher’s song Ganga Planter last year was among the first local reggae songs to be accepted in the mainstream, becoming a huge underground hit and breaking into radio.

“But we reggae artistes don’t want people gangin’ soca up against reggae or vice versa, they are both our music now and can co-exist and even co-mingle; look at the collabo I did with Bunji, Fire Fe Dem, it’s successful; that’s tangible proof that reggae is just as much our music as soca and can have the same success,” Prophet Benjamin said.

As a testament to the international appeal of Trini reggae, local producer and audio engineer Vishal Singh added that, just two weeks ago a DJ from Suriname called him to get an Isasha dub plate done. A dub plate is a recording where a performer does an exclusive vocal promotional track for a sound system or DJ. The music may have its seeds in Jamaican reggae but it is still planted in T&T soil.

“If you compare it to Jamaican reggae, the subject matter, for the most part, is very Trinidadian,” said Popplewell. “To use the example of the tracks from (compilation CD) Reggae Road Block, you have Prophet Benjamin singing about Moruga, Mr King about Laventille, Queen Omega singing about the PNM and the UNC. “Also, while the singers’ accents sound Jamaican on the surface, if you listen closely you notice this is really more in the intonation than in the accent per se. You also see a bit more humour in the Trinidad reggae than is customary in the Jamaican variety (though there’s a fair amount of humour in dub and dancehall), which is of course very Trinidadian.”
“Even some foreigners know it’s not Jamaican reggae,” said Prophet Benjamin. “Most Trini reggae artistes are Rastafarians like our Jamaican brothers so there is the same idea of down with Babylon’s oppression, live right for Jah, end war, make peace, burn your herbs, love the black woman—but there are major differences in dialect.
“When we mesh it with soca or pan like Isasha does (in his song, Don’t You Know), it’s a whole other Trini story. We making our mark in the reggae industry.”