1980: Soundsystems (Patreon)

A bracket split between the sudden explosion of hip-hop and the expanding diversity of reggae, linked legitimately by their roots in sound system culture: the highly competitive battles between crews to host the best parties, with the biggest sound, the freshest beats and the hottest MCs.

In 1980, hip-hop culture was closer to those sound system roots than reggae was. Rap had been developing in New York for several years - all that had changed (in the end changing everything) was that the success of “Rapper’s Delight” proved people wanted to buy this stuff on record. But the records here are still rooted in a block party culture - they’re capturing routines MCs had been perfecting in front of crowds, handing the mic one to another while a DJ kept a beat going as long as they needed.

That explains the length of these tracks, which is the first thing that jumps out about them to people used to newer hip-hop. There’s nothing here to match the extension of “Rapper’s Delight”, but these are all long tracks, And dense - a polyphony of voices swapping lines and call-and-response hooks, spinning long verses which seem (to modern listeners) somehow both more repetitive and less structured than rap to come.

It’s very difficult to recapture the sense of how exciting this must have been. The most accessible way in might actually be “Rapture”, off in another bracket, where you can hear Debbie Harry’s delight in rapping and how she flounders and recovers trying to keep her tall story on track. That burst of discovering your own voice, your own flow, riding the beat and mastering it before handing over to a comrade-in-arms - that’s the exhilaration you hear in early rap.

(Not all the tracks here are posse cuts, of course, and some of the ones which aren’t are just as lexically dense, like Spoonie Gee’s “Love Rap”)

Reggae, meanwhile, was at a very different stage in its development. This bracket is mostly full of UK reggae, coming into its own as record companies took more interest in the wake of punk (and Bob Marley). The major strands of the music are all here - the sweet bounce of lover’s rock, the bassy soundscapes of roots reggae, the ska revival’s party hard vibe and the politics of dub poetry. The lead voices belong to UB40, with two tracks - an unrecognisable band at this point from the easy-grooving collective they would become. Ali Campbell’s voice on “Burden Of Shame” and “Food For Thought” is a spectral moan, delivering judgement on his benighted island.

POTENTIAL WINNER: Can any of these tracks repeat “Rapper’s Delight”’s final group success? The smart money might be on Kurtis Blow’s addictive (and relatively compact) “The Breaks”, which also has most of the bracket’s best jokes.

DARK HORSE: But then there’s Funky 4+1’s “That’s The Joint”, pretty much the platonic ideal of the early rap posse cut, with a groove that makes the minutes flash by. That might have a shot at getting further too.

BEST TRACK: I have to admit I love a joyous reggae cover version, and few have more life than Derrick Laro and Trinity’s version of “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” - the final section, with Laro toasting over the beat, is up there with anything in the tournament.

DISCOVERY: I’d heard of The Sequence - Sugarhill’s only female group - but not actually heard them. The horn-led “And You Know That” has one of the funkiest beats in the bracket, and there’s plenty of competition.

DON’T MISS: The exciting, unsettling end of “Burden Of Shame”, with its deep bass and slashing guitar.