Boom! Welcome back to another weekly podcast of The Rebel Beat, your regular dose of revolutionary music across different genres, and class war on the dance floor.

This week on the show, our special guest is the legendary British-Jamaican dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. Johnson hails from Clarendon, Jamaica, but immigrated to the UK in the early 60’s. From there, he got deeply involved in the Jamaican and Black diasporic reggae scenes, as well as political organizing at a time of fervent racial oppression in England. LKJ pioneered the genre of dub poetry, or dub lyricism, which combines Jamaican patois spoken word with deep reggae and dub grooves. His music amplifies the voices of Black youth who were clashing with police in the streets, and demanding dignified lives. Continue reading →