Sadly, while reggae still has a whole lot of fans out there (hello, world!), it’s far from the most popular musical genre out there. Certain genres, such as rap, rock, pop and, as of a few years ago, dubstep and electronic, have always been the more popular options when it comes to what the people prefer. Still, that’s both a blessing and a curse. It’s a curse for obvious reasons – less fans means less tracks being made, and less tracks being made means less exposure, and less exposure means less fans, you get the idea. But it’s a blessing because the low exposure makes the reggae sound very unique. Now, of course, we all know that reggae sounds unique in general, but so do the other music genres – metal, for example, is also quite different, and yet since it’s so popular and used in so many products of media people have grown desensitized to it. Reggae, on the other hand, can be used to craft moment that define the entire experience.
Let’s turn the clock back to 2012, when a game called “Far Cry 3” was released. Far Cry 3 is about a young man named Jason who, after a skydiving accident, ends up imprisoned by pirates cooped up on an island alongside his friends and brothers. Managing to break free, Jason meets up with the Rakyat – a tribe of indigenous people who train him in the ways of the warrior. Slowly, he turns from an ordinary young man into a desensitized killer, turning on the pirates and going on a quest to not only save his friends, but to take revenge on the guy who put them in this position. But the more Jason fights, the more he finds the joy in fighting. Remember – he’s just an avatar for the player, and he feels what the player is feeling. While he’s killing hundreds of people, Jason starts finding that fun and exciting, and nowhere is this more prominent than in the best mission in the game.
One of the pirates’ main source of income is growing marijuana on the island and selling it to whoever is willing to buy it. Armed with a flamethrower, Jason sets out to annihilate the marijuana fields, but suffice to say the smoke gets to his brain a bit. As a result, the reggae song “Make It Bun Dem” by Damian Marley starts playing in the background, representing Jason’s descent into insanity. It’d take me a long time to explain just how perfect the song is, but suffice to say, not only is it a very fun-sounding song to match Jason’s predisposition (he repeatedly exclaims how much fun he’s having while burning people to death), but it also fits the game’s themes. Remember – Damian Marley’s father, Bob Marley, believed that marijuana should be used for religious purposes. Meanwhile, the Rakyat’s religion is precisely the myth of the warrior. And what happens when Jason gets high with the marijuana fumes? He unleashes the warrior within him. Just like that, a reggae song managed to tie the themes of the entire game together. And it was awesome.