Caribbean Soundsystem culture arrived in the UK during the post-war migration from the Commonwealth that took place across the 1950s and 60s. Sound-Systems offered scenes of blues parties, word-of-mouth clubs and makeshift dancehalls. These dances provided a strong point of contact for West Indies immigrants, a space of unity and personal expression that was otherwise unavailable. As a result of this rejection, people from the Caribbean in the UK drew on their own culture and histories to create communities outside of the dominant British culture.
It was in these dancehall spaces that black youth found methods to release and express their struggles, to engage in critical cultural and political dialogue free from the sanctions of the state. For many black Britons, Reggae played by sound systems in dancehalls is inextricably related to coping with life in a white society.
- VP Records
