Ska, pron. IPA: [skæË?], is a Jamaica-originated music genre that combines elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. It is characterized by a walking bassline, a scratchlike tempo, accented guitar or piano rhythms on the offbeat; and in some cases, jazz-like horn riffs. Originating in the late 1950s, it was a precursor to rocksteady and reggae.

In the 1960s, ska was the preferred music genre of rude boys, although many ska artists condemned the violent rude boy subculture. Ska was also popular with British mods and skinheads, so artists such as Symarip, Laurel Aitken, Desmond Dekker and The Pioneers aimed songs at members of those two subcultures. Music historians typically divide the history of ska into three waves, with a revival in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and another in the 1990s, mostly based in the United States.