Dub poetry is a form of performance poetry of Jamaican origin, which evolved out of dub music in Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1970s, as well as in London, England, and Toronto, Canada, cities which have large populations of Caribbean immigrants. The term "Dub Poetry" was coined by Dub artist Linton Kwesi Johnson in 1976, and further popularized by artist Oku Onoura, which consists of spoken word over reggae rhythms, originally found on the backing or "version" side of a twelve- or seven-inch vinyl record.
Unlike deejaying (also known as toasting), which also features the use of the spoken word, the dub poet's performance is normally prepared, rather than the extemporized chat of the dancehall dee jay. which was released in the UK in 1978. Oku Onuora's Reflection In Red in 1979 was the first Jamaican recording of a dub poem, followed by Lillian Allen's Revolutionary Tea Party and Benjamin Zephaniah's Rasta, both produced in 1983, and many others from the early 1980s onwards such as Anti Social Workers 'Positive Style' produced by leading dub producer The Mad Professor on Ariwa Records.
Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, has the second-highest concentration of dub poets, preceded by Jamaica and followed by England. Lillian Allen, Afua Cooper, and Ahdri Zhina Mandiela are among the founding mothers of the Canadian dub-poetry legacy. The Dub Poets Collective, established in Toronto in 2003, organized a total of five dub-poetry festivals, three national and two international, between the years of 2004 and 2010.