ABSTRACT

The energy of which Blackwell speaks, is the dynamism of the culture of the urban unemployed, the sufferers, the oppressed of Jamaica. The ‘fresh feel’ is the soul and rock elements which have been incorporated into the music of the Wailers. But this alone with Marley’s lyrical excellence could not spell success. The commodity is not complete and it is commodities that the capitalist deals in, not music per se. There had to be an angle, an image. And what better image than that of the Rasta rebel (the long haired rasta rebel).