Jawaiian is a Hawaiian style of reggae music. Reggae music is a genre that evolved in the late 1960s and early 70s in Jamaica. Reggae has become popular across the world, especially among ethnic groups and races that have been historically oppressed, such as Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Australian Aborigines. In Hawaii, ethnic Hawaiians and others in the state began playing a mixture of reggae and local music in the early 1980s, although it was not until the late 1980s that it became recognized as a new genre in local music. The band Simplisity has been credited by Quiet Storms Records (a now-defunct Hawaiian record label) as originators of the Jawaiian style. By the end of the 1980s, Jawaiian came to dominate the local music scene, as well as spawning a backlash that the Honolulu Star-Bulletin compared to the "disco sucks" movement of the late 1970s.[11]
Reggae culture as a whole began to dominate Hawaii, as many locals can be seen sporting Bob Marley memorabilia, and lots of local merchandise and souvenirs have been emblazoned with the red, yellow, and green colors of the Ethiopian flag, a known symbol of the Rastafari movement. The Rasta colors have also become a symbol of local pride. .
