Reggae’s Changing Face

Canadian reggae fusion band ‘Magic’ has hit gold with their debut single “Rude” from their debut studio album ‘Don’t Kill the Magic.’

By NAN Contributor

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. July 18, 2014: Reggae, the musical genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s, is back on the Hot 100 chart but the group singing the ‘irie’ vibe is hardly black or Jamaican.

Actually, the singers of the song that has jumped to #1 on the Hot 100, dislodging “Fancy” byIggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX, are White Canadians. That’s right. You read right!
Canadian reggae fusion band ‘Magic’ has hit gold with their debut single “Rude” from their debut studio album ‘Don’t Kill the Magic.’

Released on October 11th last year by Sony Music Entertainment, “Rude” peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, number six on the Canadian Hot 100, and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Denmark and New Zealand.

Now it seems Magic is set to become a summer hit with the ‘Rude’ tune becoming the first reggae-shaded hit to reach #1 on the Hot 100 chart since Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls” spent four weeks on top in the summer of 2007.

“Rude” entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 97 on May 10, 2014 and by July the song reached number one, marking the band’s first number-one single.
Magic’s ‘Rude’is also the ninth reggae song to reach the summit, the last being Sean Paul’s “Get Busy” in 2003.

“Magic” also returns to #1 on the Hot Digital Songs list after being bumped down to #2 on that chart the past two weeks by Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me.”

“Rude” was named after the reggae term “rude boy” and originally based on a real-life situation. The band is composed of songwriter and record producer Nasri Atweh on lead vocals and Mark Pellizzer, Alex Tanas and Ben Spivak.

Meanwhile, topping the Billboard reggae chart is another White group.

Rebelution’s ‘Count Me In,’ topped the chart ahead of reggae icon, Maxi Priest’s ‘Easy To Love’ and Ziggy Marley’s ‘Fly Rasta.’

Even Snoop Lion, whose reggae transition has seen him dominating Billboard since his 2013 release of ‘Reincarnated,’ was forced into the fourth spot by Rebelution.

Rebelution is a rock, world, and reggae band formed in Santa Barbara, California and its current members are Eric Rachmany, Rory Carey, Wesley Finley, Marley D Williams, and Khris Royal.

The two bands are just the latest non-Jamaicans and non-blacks to dominate the musical genre. Jewish reggae singer Matisyahu and German musician Gentleman are also the other white reggae singers who have gone global with the genre.