Damien Marley

Only one of the Marley boys can call himself the youngest of the clan. That distinction goes to Damien "Jr. Gong" Marley, recipient of the reggae 2002 Grammy award for his HalfWay Tree CD. Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing Damien Marley's performance.

Energetic is the word that first comes to mind when I recall Damien's routine at the Paradise Club. This pint-size performer bounced back and forth the stage on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston Massachusetts, with ease. His musical agility gave flight to his waist length rasta dreads.

The crowd obviously loved Damien. The house was packed with Black and White dreadlocks youths, tunic head wrapped youths and non-dreading Rastafarian minded youths.

The song lineup was sprinkled with favorite Bob Marley renditions like "Could this be Love?", and "Kinky Reggae". In his 2 hour nonstop performance, he belted out songs from previous and current albums, by my favorite remains the ever popular "A Mi Name Jr. Gong".

The night's performance was capped off with a most pleasing surprise. In Damien's encore he returned to the stage accompanied by two guests, only one of which was clearly identifiable by this reporter. Following quickly behind Damien was none other than Ziggy Marley, lead singer of The Melody Makers and the oldest offspring of Bob Marley.

Ziggy's 10 minute appearance with his younger brother, Damien was reason enough to send the crowd roaring. Both brothers joined forces on stage to create musical magic in Boston.

The Marley clan, principally the "youngest veteran" will continue to keep the spirit and legacy of Bob Marley alive where ever they go.

The bustling Halfway Tree area of Kingston, Jamaica is the geographic intersection of the city's uptown and downtown areas, the meeting ground of Kingston's privileged and it's poor. Damian Marley, the son of Reggae icon Bob Marley and Jamaica's 1977 Miss World Cindy Breakspeare is the offspring of a union between two distinctive and disparate worlds. Damian calls his new album "HALFWAY TREE" because "my father is from the country and the ghetto and my mother is from uptown so I come like a half way tree, like a bridge because I can relate to both sides. "HALFWAY TREE" is the first release from the recently signed distribution deal between Motown Records and Ghetto Youths International.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica on July 21, 1978, Damian Robert Nesta Marley a.k.a. "Junior Gong", Bob's youngest son, began performing as a child as the vocalist for a group called The Shepherds. Comprised of other well-known Reggae artists children including Shiah Coore (son of Third World guitarist Cat Coore) and Yashema Beth McGregor, the daughter of Freddie McGregor and Judy Mowatt, The Shepherds performed at several shows in Jamaica including the Reggae Sunsplash music festival in 1992.

After The Shepherds' demise, Damian turned his vocal talents to deejaying (the Jamaican equivalent of rapping). In 1993 Damian's debut single "Deejay Degree" was released on Tuff Gong Records (the label founded by Bob Marley) and the following year he released "Sexy Girls On My Mind" for the Main Street label.

Damian's next release 1995's "School Controversy" was featured on the Epic\Sony Wonder compilation, "POSITIVELY REGGAE" with all sales proceeds going to Jamaica's Leaf of Life Foundation, an organization which assists children who are HIV positive. Although he was still a teenager, Damian was selected as the "POSITIVELY REGGAE" spokesperson, a role that introduced him to the international press and record buying public. The same year Damian performed at select dates on the Shabba Ranks World Unity tour and with his brother Julian performed at Jamaica's Reggae Sunfest and Sunsplash festivals.

Damian was a high school student when he began recording "MR. MARLEY" at the Marley Music 48 track-recording studio. Produced by Stephen Marley (head of the Marley Boyz production team), "MR. MARLEY" delivered a fusion of contemporary Reggae grooves and infectious dancehall rhythms alongside tough edged hip-hop beats, an ideal complement for Damian's versatile deejay-rap style. The album included several updates of Bob Marley classics as well as the single "Me Name Junior Gong" which went to the number one in Hawaii and held that position for several weeks. "When we went to Hawaii in 1997," Damian recalls, "we had three songs on the charts there: •Me Name Junior Gong,' •One Cup of Coffee' and •Now You Know,' a tune from Julian's debut album." Damian and Julian's burgeoning popularity earned them featured appearances on the 1997 travelling alternative rock festival Lollapalooza which provided invaluable exposure among a new sector of music fans.

In the five years since "MR. MARLEY's" release, Damian has matured as a performer, songwriter, recording artist and Rastafarian, his unwavering convictions reflected throughout his new album. Stephen Marley produced "HALFWAY TREE" for Marley Boyz productions; Stephen's previous production achievements are crowned by 1999's critically acclaimed "CHANT DOWN BABYLON" featuring Bob Marley in duets with a galaxy of hip hop's brightest stars and selling more than 1 million copies worldwide. Stephen's innovative approach to "HALFWAY TREE" incorporates spoken word introductions and dramatic vignettes as song interludes, creating a conceptual cohesiveness lacking from most Jamaican albums. Stephen also adapts traditional Reggae elements (forceful drum and basslines, committed social commentary) to 21st century hip hop's synthesized beats and sometimes defiant stances while utilizing the talents of Jamaican singers, deejays and musicians alongside American rappers, each underscoring Damian's impassioned delivery.

A spoken intro by Bunny Wailer (of the original Wailers), the ghetto grammar of Jamaican deejay Bounty Killer, Treach of rap group Naughty By Nature and Damain's blistering vocal beats unite in their criticism of the "Educated Fools" who continue to brainwash the youth. Stephen's sung vocals are looped around Damian's deejaying on the haunting "It Was Written", complemented by the combustible talents of Dancehall's arsonist Capleton who along with rapper Dragon assists in burning (lyrical) fire upon the oppressors. The pulse of classical Reggae's drum and bass enhances Damian's sing-jay style throughout "More Justice", a condemnation of the suppression of the Rastafarian sacred herb marijuana. Contemporary percussion patterns inspired by ancestral African drumming provides the sturdy musical foundation for "Give Dem Some Way" which fully supports Damian's hard edged, fast past verse.

A hardcore Jamaican dancehall vibe is represented in "Mi Blenda", a recipe for natural viagra (or Jamaican "strong back") which might be necessary to satisfy the two women Damian is "Stuck In Between". "Where Is The Love?" conveys a responsible approach to relationships with Ruff Ryders Eve providing a succinct rap aimed at those who engage in irresponsible sex: "I wish you cats would understand procreation instead of using it as recreation." Damian abandons those "just for one night fun things" as "an indecent something" on "Still Searching" while the rollicking "Cool and Dandy" with deejay Daddigan is a tribute to the fit and bouncy girls. "She Needs My Love" boasts Jamaica's premier drum and bass duo Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare and their La Trenggae (Latin Flavored Reggae) fusion accentuating Junior Gong's vigorous rhymes. "Stand A Chance" with Stephen on harmonica, Treach's rap and the harmonizing of Jamaican singer Yami Bolo is a modern roots Reggae gem shimmering with an inherited Rastafarian spirit. Stephen is assisted on the title track production by New York producer Swizz Beats (Kaseem Dean) who has constructed rhythms for rappers including DMX, Busta Rhymes and Jay-Z.

Bob Marley's music is also featured on "HALFWAY TREE." "Could You Be Loved" is metamorphosed into "And Be Loved" with samples from the 1979 original woven into Damian's dazzling deejaying and the impressive rap from an upcoming artist called Izzy. The Wailers 1973 masterpiece of suppressed anger "Slave Driver" becomes "Catch A Fire" with Stephen duplicating Bob's original vocals and Damian's chanting providing a bold critique on guns, drugs and other forms of mental slavery. Bob reiterated "none but ourselves can free our mind" and Damian raps "if dem could, dem would tax you for saliva, how much more mus' we die for?"

With the release of "HALFWAY TREE" on Ghetto Youths International/Motown, Damian presents his bold musical identity to the global community, updating the Marley musical legacy for the 21st century.

When “Welcome To Jamrock” erupted onto airwaves and blew apart iPods halfway through 2005 it came as a shock to some—but not to Damian “Jr Gong” Marley. The song is about the farthest thing from commercial music offerings today—an outraged and unapologetic description of the poverty and “political violence” ravaging his homeland of Jamaica—but “Welcome To Jamrock” hit—and hit hard—because it’s the sound of truth and the result of years of work to bring that truth to light. “I spent a lot of time thinking and this is the fruit of that labor,” explains the youngest child of the musical Marley family.“The song might be a ‘success’ so why be blind to that? But success can’t surprise given the time put into it.”

Jr Gong has been honing his skills—not so quietly—for some time. He made noise early on with 1996’s Mr Marley, and his major label debut Halfway Tree showcased a unique gift for blending hard-hitting reality rhymes and an uncommonly eclectic musicality; with a classic reggae sensibility at its core and run through with streams of hip-hop, r&b and dancehall, the album resonated with urban tastemakers and won a Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2001. (“A Grammy in reggae is good,” he observes. “But it will be great to see reggae win Album Of The Year…it’s not about one man shut off from the rest of the crabs in the barrel.” So while slow-burners like “It was Written” and “Educated Fools” became club classics, Jr Gong was laying the groundwork for the tracks that would become Welcome To Jamrock—an album that was ultimately several years in the making. Hear the album and you instantly understand it to be the work of a perfectionist; Jr Gong is not focused on overnight success. “Some songs just come. ‘Jamrock’ was like that,” he explains. “But other songs take a lot longer. This is street music, and the streets have to feel it.”

He can be sure the streets will. Following the path blazed by its title track, Welcome To Jamrock opens with the devastating attack of “Confrontation”—this is Jr Gong at his best, rhyming with the conviction of a street preacher and the intellect of a university economist. That essence is spread throughout the album, even when he switches pace and explores different riddims. “It’s like going to war. Sometimes you have to wear camouflage to really get in there,” says Jr Gong of the diverse appeal of the album. “Dancehall, r&b, hip-hop…it’s more about feelings. We’re not just trying to do a segment of the mix. We’re trying to do the whole mix.” This is that mix—never content to deliver a straightforward “reggae” album, Jr Gong touches on various sides or urban life as we live it today, from the smoky spiritual love ballad “There For You” to the nostalgic throwback jam “The Master Has Come Back”. Hip-hop fans will bump to “Pimpa’s Paradise” featuring Stephen Marley and Black Thought of the Roots as Nas rips his verse on “Road to Zion”, while classic reggae heads will spark to the rugged sound of “Khaki Suit” which features the combo of Bounty Killer and Eek-A-Mouse. Taken together the songs on Welcome To Jamrock convey a consciousness that’s framed by the song “For The Babies”, which Jr Gong says was inspired by the idea that “we raise our children with the same lies we were told.”

From the first listen it is undeniable that Jr Gong detonates his lyrical gifts with force and precision, but it would be a mistake to think the man’s abilities begin and end in the recording booth. A quick scan of Welcome To Jamrock’s credits reveal that he co-produced all but three of the tracks with his brother Stephen (the two are the album’s executive producers)—so while the youngest Marley suggests his fiery vocal delivery is partly inspired by seeing fierce dancehall icons like Shabba Ranks, Ninjaman and Super Cat at Jamaica’s Reggae Sunsplash festival as a youth, his work at the boards show him to be a knowing student of the early ’80s digital roots sound of Sly and Robbie, a touch of Stephen’s other productions and the magic in his own father’s recordings. All told it’s the science behind Welcome To Jamrock’s instantly classic sound and an appropriate release on the family’s Tuff Gong/Ghetto Youths International label. “It reflects us,” Jr Gong says simply. “And I say us ‘cause it’s not just me that makes the album. We’re taking the baton from the elders who made rebel music—we’re new leaders of the old school.”

The response to the “Welcome To Jamrock” single heightened expectations for the record you’re holding in your hands, and its 14 songs—songs of both love and war—have a depth that surpasses what many might have expected, given the fear of creativity and strong beliefs that permeates the current pop climate and our daily lives in general. “These are difficult years…and this has been a year of signs and wonders and mystics. We’re in a mind opening time now—a lot of people don’t have material suffering, but spiritual suffering,” he offers. “Welcome To Jamrock is about hope, and there’s still more to share. I’m still very close to the beginning.”