R&B has long been a major influence on reggae (just as it influenced ska and, before that, mento). In the early 1980s, different reggae artists were being influenced by different types of R&B -- some were getting into slick, keyboard-driven urban contemporary sounds, while others maintained their devotion to 1960s and 1970s soul. On 1982's Big Ship, Freddie McGregor's love of African-American soul music comes through loud and clear -- even though many of the more Rastafarian-oriented lyrics are very much a product of the Jamaican experience.