VP Records, the world’s largest reggae label, continues the yearlong celebration of its 40th anniversary announcing today the launch of the first phase of The Reggae Trail, an interactive map of locations in New York City that helped make the music genre an integral part of life in the city over the past five decades.

“The first phase of the project, launches in conjunction with Record Store Day 2019, includes New York area reggae and Caribbean record stores with significant in-house record labels,” said Carter Van Pelt, VP Records’ Director of Catalog Development. “These include several dozen initial locations, chosen from literally hundreds.”

The Trail will grow to include recording studios, performance spaces, and also identify individuals who nurtured the growth of reggae, a globally influential genre fromJamaica recognized recently by UNESCO as a cultural heritage asset. Virtual visitors to the website will see how the growth of reggae mirrored the migration patterns of Jamaican and other Caribbean immigrant communities in the city. On April 13, Record Store Day attendees at the VP Records location in Queens, NY, will receive a printed version, free with purchase.

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