Reggae-Hour | Reggae Interviews & History

What does it really mean to be proud to be Black—and what responsibility does reggae have in preserving that identity? In this special International Reggae Day episode of Reggae Hour, Mr. E sits down with Canadian reggae artist Iyagrade for a thoughtful conversation about culture, consciousness, and the future of reggae music. Far beyond entertainment, Iyagrade shares why reggae remains a vehicle for education, upliftment, and global unity. The discussion explores the importance of embracing African heritage, supporting emerging artists, and ensuring that reggae continues to inspire future generations without losing its Jamaican roots. This conversation is part of Reggae Hour's ongoing mission to preserve reggae history through meaningful conversations with the voices shaping the culture today. In This Episode • What being "Proud to Be Black" really means. • Why Africa remains central to reggae consciousness. • The importance of investing in young talent. • Keeping reggae authentic while embracing a global audience. • The responsibility every reggae artist has to leave the culture stronger than they found it. • Why International Reggae Day should be more than a celebration—it should be a commitment. Whether you've followed reggae for decades or you're just discovering the music, this episode offers a powerful reminder that reggae is more than a genre—it is a philosophy, a movement, and a living cultural archive. Featured Guest: Iyagrade Host: Mr. E Podcast: Reggae Hour Follow Reggae Hour 🎙️ Exclusive interviews 🌍 Reggae history and cultural conversations 🎵 Artist spotlights and archive preservation 📚 Deep dives into reggae's global impact One Love. One Voice. One Culture. One Reggae. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ REGGAE HOUR ARCHIVE Preserving the voices, stories, and reasoning that continue to shape reggae culture. ▶ Origins Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4dIBvDlXWOC9_jw3UQwrhk7-GPnp6L7V 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReggaeHourPodcast 🌍 Follow Reggae Hour for more conversations exploring reggae history, roots culture, and conscious music. 💬 What did reggae teach you? One Love. Reggae Hour ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/reggae-hour/exclusive-content

Freedom was won. But what happens next? In this special Juneteenth 2026 edition of Reggae Hour, Mr. E, Judah Lion, and Zionya explore the difference between freedom and liberation through history, culture, reggae music, and community wisdom. From the legacy of emancipation to the responsibility we owe future generations, this powerful reasoning session examines historical memory, cultural identity, economic empowerment, and the enduring role of reggae as a voice of resistance and truth. Featuring music from Burning Spear, Chronixx, Protoje, Third World, and Culture. Listen. Learn. Reflect. Act. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ REGGAE HOUR ARCHIVE Preserving the voices, stories, and reasoning that continue to shape reggae culture. ▶ Origins Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4dIBvDlXWOC9_jw3UQwrhk7-GPnp6L7V 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReggaeHourPodcast 🌍 Follow Reggae Hour for more conversations exploring reggae history, roots culture, and conscious music. 💬 What did reggae teach you? One Love. Reggae Hour ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/reggae-hour/exclusive-content

Before reggae became a global movement, there was ska. In this episode, Mr. E and Zionya explore the social, political, and cultural forces that gave birth to Jamaica's first internationally recognized sound. From independence and self-determination to the Cold War and Civil Rights era, they examine how a changing world helped shape a changing Jamaica. This is not simply the story of a musical genre. It is the story of a people discovering their voice. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ REGGAE HOUR ARCHIVE Preserving the voices, stories, and reasoning that continue to shape reggae culture. ▶ Origins Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4dIBvDlXWOC9_jw3UQwrhk7-GPnp6L7V 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReggaeHourPodcast 🌍 Follow Reggae Hour for more conversations exploring reggae history, roots culture, and conscious music. 💬 What did reggae teach you? One Love. Reggae Hour ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/reggae-hour/exclusive-content

Has reggae lost its soul? Or is dancehall simply another branch growing from the same cultural tree? In this episode, Mr. E and Zionya examine the evolution of Jamaican music from roots reggae to dancehall, exploring spirituality, cultural identity, creativity, rebellion, and the future of conscious music. Together they ask whether modern music has drifted too far from its roots—or whether the spirit of reggae is still alive beneath the surface. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ REGGAE HOUR ARCHIVE Preserving the voices, stories, and reasoning that continue to shape reggae culture. ▶ Origins Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4dIBvDlXWOC9_jw3UQwrhk7-GPnp6L7V 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReggaeHourPodcast 🌍 Follow Reggae Hour for more conversations exploring reggae history, roots culture, and conscious music. 💬 What did reggae teach you? One Love. Reggae Hour ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/reggae-hour/exclusive-content

As artificial intelligence reshapes society, one question becomes impossible to ignore: Who decides what a human being is worth? In this episode of Reggae Hour, Mr. E and Zionya examine dignity, Black memory, historical truth, and the growing tension between technological advancement and human value. Through culture, history, and reasoning, they explore why preserving memory may be one of the most important acts of resistance in the modern age. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ REGGAE HOUR ARCHIVE Preserving the voices, stories, and reasoning that continue to shape reggae culture. ▶ Origins Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4dIBvDlXWOC9_jw3UQwrhk7-GPnp6L7V 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReggaeHourPodcast 🌍 Follow Reggae Hour for more conversations exploring reggae history, roots culture, and conscious music. 💬 What did reggae teach you? One Love. Reggae Hour ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/reggae-hour/exclusive-content

After launching the Origins of Reggae series, listeners responded with passionate opinions about where reggae truly began. In this episode, Mr. E and Zionya revisit those conversations and examine Africa's rhythmic foundation, Jamaica's cultural innovation, and the influence of American music on reggae's development. Through audience comments and historical reasoning, they explore why reggae is more than music—it is memory, identity, and cultural continuity. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ REGGAE HOUR ARCHIVE Preserving the voices, stories, and reasoning that continue to shape reggae culture. ▶ Origins Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4dIBvDlXWOC9_jw3UQwrhk7-GPnp6L7V 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReggaeHourPodcast 🌍 Follow Reggae Hour for more conversations exploring reggae history, roots culture, and conscious music. 💬 What did reggae teach you? One Love. Reggae Hour ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/reggae-hour/exclusive-content

Discover the true origins of reggae music and explore the journey from Africa to Jamaica through mento, ska, rocksteady, and reggae in this special Reggae Hour Origins episode. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ REGGAE HOUR ARCHIVE Preserving the voices, stories, and reasoning that continue to shape reggae culture. ▶ Origins Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4dIBvDlXWOC9_jw3UQwrhk7-GPnp6L7V 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReggaeHourPodcast 🌍 Follow Reggae Hour for more conversations exploring reggae history, roots culture, and conscious music. 💬 What did reggae teach you? One Love. Reggae Hour ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/reggae-hour/exclusive-content

In this Reggae Hour Archives conversation, Mr. E sits down with Jamaican recording artist Bascom X for a powerful discussion about reggae music, artist development, mentorship, and the responsibility that comes with carrying a message. Bascom X shares the story behind his song "Bad Boy," reflects on helping develop the career of Gyptian, and explains why reggae remains the foundation of Jamaican music culture. This episode explores the difference between entertainment and purpose, and why authentic reggae continues to resonate around the world. 📖 Read the companion article: https://www.reggaehour.com/2026/06/bascom-x-explains-why-reggae-is-root-of.html 🎙️ Reggae Hour One People. One Planet. One Love. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ REGGAE HOUR ARCHIVE Preserving the voices, stories, and reasoning that continue to shape reggae culture. ▶ Origins Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4dIBvDlXWOC9_jw3UQwrhk7-GPnp6L7V 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReggaeHourPodcast 🌍 Follow Reggae Hour for more conversations exploring reggae history, roots culture, and conscious music. 💬 What did reggae teach you? One Love. Reggae Hour ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/reggae-hour/exclusive-content

In this Reggae Hour Archives conversation, Mr. E sits down with Jamaican reggae artist Anthony Cruz for a discussion about music, longevity, authenticity, and the journey behind his career. Known for songs such as Heartbreak Anniversary and Leave The Door Open, Anthony shares insights into his creative process, the reggae industry, his influences, and the importance of staying grounded while continuing to grow as an artist. This episode offers listeners a closer look at one of reggae's respected voices and the experiences that continue to shape his music. 🎙️ Reggae Hour One People. One Planet. One Love. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ REGGAE HOUR ARCHIVE Preserving the voices, stories, and reasoning that continue to shape reggae culture. ▶ Origins Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4dIBvDlXWOC9_jw3UQwrhk7-GPnp6L7V 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReggaeHourPodcast 🌍 Follow Reggae Hour for more conversations exploring reggae history, roots culture, and conscious music. 💬 What did reggae teach you? One Love. Reggae Hour ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/reggae-hour/exclusive-content

In this Reggae Hour Archives interview, Mr. E sits down with Jamaican recording artist Althea Hewitt for a thoughtful conversation about songwriting, creativity, perseverance, family, and the realities of building a life in music. Althea shares insights into her musical journey, the inspiration behind her work, the challenges artists faced during difficult times, and the mindset required to keep moving forward when obstacles appear. This episode is a reminder that success often belongs to those who remain faithful to their purpose and refuse to give up. 🎙️ Reggae Hour — One People. One Planet. One Love. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ REGGAE HOUR ARCHIVE Preserving the voices, stories, and reasoning that continue to shape reggae culture. ▶ Origins Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4dIBvDlXWOC9_jw3UQwrhk7-GPnp6L7V 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReggaeHourPodcast 🌍 Follow Reggae Hour for more conversations exploring reggae history, roots culture, and conscious music. 💬 What did reggae teach you? One Love. Reggae Hour ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/reggae-hour/exclusive-content

Aaron Silk discusses legacy, positivity, faith, and the role of music in guiding and uplifting people. Reflecting on the influence of Garnet Silk and his own journey as an artist, Aaron shares why purpose, humility, and positive energy remain at the center of his message. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ REGGAE HOUR ARCHIVE Preserving the voices, stories, and reasoning that continue to shape reggae culture. ▶ Origins Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4dIBvDlXWOC9_jw3UQwrhk7-GPnp6L7V 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReggaeHourPodcast 🌍 Follow Reggae Hour for more conversations exploring reggae history, roots culture, and conscious music. 💬 What did reggae teach you? One Love. Reggae Hour ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/reggae-hour/exclusive-content

Blazem joins Reggae Hour to discuss his Rastafari journey, the influence of the Bobo Shanti order, conscious reggae music, and the importance of righteousness in today's world. A thoughtful conversation exploring culture, spirituality, discipline, and the enduring message of roots reggae. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ REGGAE HOUR ARCHIVE Preserving the voices, stories, and reasoning that continue to shape reggae culture. ▶ Origins Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4dIBvDlXWOC9_jw3UQwrhk7-GPnp6L7V 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReggaeHourPodcast 🌍 Follow Reggae Hour for more conversations exploring reggae history, roots culture, and conscious music. 💬 What did reggae teach you? One Love. Reggae Hour ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/reggae-hour/exclusive-content