1. Bob Marley (Robert Nesta Marley) 6 February 1945- 11 May 1981

2. Bob Marley was a Jamaican-born singer and songwriter. His band was The Wailers. His original music followed the trends of ska, which was a Jamaican version of urban pop that evolved from the rhythm and blues sounds of New Orleans and elsewhere. Marley’s own style of music later embraced and changed the reggae form, infusing it with electric and rock sounds until it became a hybrid of its original sense.

3. Bob Marley is reggae’s best know artist. More than anyone else, Marley helped change reggae into a musical medium designed to convey political messages. His political “speeches” were always in the form of poetic lyrics. He spoke to a Jamaican audience that was largely poor and illiterate, and for whom he served as a musical version of a political op-ed piece.

4. Largely through Marley, reggae developed a spiritual perspective, the Rastafarian movement. “Ras” means “Prince” in the Amharic language of Ethiopia. “Ras Tafari” was the name of the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I before his coronation. “Rastafari” (same as “Rastafarianism”) was Bob Marley’s religion, or perhaps his spiritual view of existence.

5. The West normally views Rastafari as the worship of the now dead Emperor Haile Selassie I. But Rastafari is more than that, and to understand Bob Marley’s political music, one must understand his spirituality. Rastafari advocates the use of marijuana (or “herb”). Westerners thought of this as an excuse for a drug culture. But Rastafari advocates its use as a means to break free from the captivity of “Babylon.”

6. “Babylon” is more than Western or even modern civilization. It is the confusion that is a by-product of living in the physical world. The spirit of man (no gender intended) becomes lost in the physical realm, a realm that ultimately degrades the human personality such that it loses its natural perception of God (“Jah” for “Jehovah”). This is similar to the Sanskrit concept of “maya” as it has been expressed by pundits of Vedic philosophy.

7. The dreadlocks are part of the Rastafari belief system. The idea is that the black Diaspora has been lost in the confusion of Babylon, which advocates the adoption of physical appearances that alienate black people from their natural ability to perceive their connection to God. Allowing the hair to remain in its natural state acts psychologically to reject the false consciousness of Babylon. Nonbelievers view Rastafari physical appearances with “dread,” which of the mocking origin (mocking the nonbelievers) of the word “dreadlocks.”

8. Followers of Rastafari believe that God can be found through the King of Ethiopia. This is very similar to the idea that God can be found through the Virgin Mary, Jesus, a mandala, a mantra, or any number of animate of inanimate people or things. The idea began with Marcus Garvey’s comment, “Look to Africa for the crowning of a Black King; He shall be the Redeemer.”

9. Rastafarians believe that Judaism and Christianity have been distorted over the centuries to present a “white” religious perspective. Thus, Rastafari is an attempt to achieve a blended-hybrid form of “pure” Judaism and Christianity. Rastafari also advocates strict dietary standards which prohibit all meat, alcohol, tobacco, various marine life, and even salt.

10. Thus, reggae was really the tip of the iceberg. Reggae artists were really a full- fledged combination of musicians, spiritualists, and revolutionaries. Their embrace of the downtrodden blended into their spiritual beliefs. Bob Marley was a great example of such an artist, one who was supremely confident in his political (and spiritually endorsed) message.

11. Bob Marley wrote many songs. His music ranged from love tunes to the most controversial and political. He became at once the Ambassador-At- Large for the Rastafarian movement, a spokesperson for the oppressed (all the oppressed), and the interpreter of world’s events for the downtrodden who were otherwise bewildered by their seemingly dire fate in life.

12. Bob Marley survived one assassination attempt on his life which occurred two days prior to his participation in a Jamaican concert supporting political unity and an end to political violence. He survived, and he participated in the event even though he was seriously wounded. Bob Marley died of cancer at the early age of 36.