Posted by Harrison Williams on February 04 2015

A very interesting article by Laurent Fintoni was posted on medium.com the other day, discussing the history of the "rewind" that you may experience during some of your favorite artists DJ sets.

If you are unfamiliar with what a "rewind" is then we urge you to listen to a Reggae DJ set or a set from a dubstep DJ who spins Dubstep with a focus on sub-bass. During these types of musical events, a track will be played that has true heads buzzing, the next thing you know the DJ will spin the record back and everyone in the place will be itching with anticipation to listen to the track play from the beginning.

Some who are unfamiliar with the custom of the rewind might be annoyed at being thrown out of he dance but those who recognize the importance of the dubplate or unreleased tune will be pleased to hear the track one more time.

In Laurent's article he traces the rewind back to the late '60's when Sound System culture was born in Kingston, Jamaica. A Sound System operator by the name of Ruddy Redwood was cutting dubplates when the engineer accidentally forgot to include the vocals in the pressing. When the track was played on the System, the crowd exploded with awe and were eager to hear the track some more.

It is said that he proceeded to play the tune for 30 minutes straight, and thus the rewind was born. As stated by Laurent, "Reggae historian David Kats points to this as a plausible beginning for the rewind. For him, it starts with 'the demand factor, because of the shock of something new.'"

Since that moment the rewind has traversed genres and cultures but has never faltered in that original idea of wanting to hear more of something you wouldn't have been able to hear anywhere but the dance. Making it's way to the UK Grime and Dubstep scene, the rewind was present on pirate radio stations and made it's way to the USA during the mid 2000's when Baltimore's Joe Nice and New York City's Dave Q brought it into the chat rooms for their online radio shows.

Laurent Fintoni brilliantly outlines the progression of the rewind from the beginning so check out the full article here and get a better understanding of how this legendary custom came to be! Much love.