A Look At: Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley*

[HelloAngel]

<img src=http://u2.interference.com/gallery/data//585/11265damianmarley-sml.jpg><br />
<b>By Debbie Kreuser<br />
2006.01</b><br />
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Of all the opening acts for U2 during the 2005 Vertigo Tour, Damian &quot;Jr. Gong&quot; Marley was one of the more unique and outstanding choices. The youngest son of reggae artist Bob, Damian has been making his own distinctive mix of reggae and hip-hop music for nearly 10 years.<br />
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Born on July 21, 1978, Marley is the son of Bob and Cindy Breakspeare, Miss World 1976. Breakspeare, the daughter of a Canadian mother and a Jamaican father, first met Marley in 1975 and briefly lived with him in London from 1976 to 1977.<br /><!--more-->
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Marley began performing while a young teenager as the lead singer for a group called The Shepherds, a group composed of children of famous Reggae musicians. In 1993, Marley released his first single &quot;Deejay Degree.&quot; In 1995, he recorded &quot;School Controversy&quot; for the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002A75/intercomu2-20" target="_blank">&quot;Positively Reggae&quot;</a> CD compilation. Proceeds from the CD went to Jamaica's Leaf of Life Foundation, an organization that takes care of HIV-positive children.<br />
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Marley released his first album <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000003TPX/intercomu2-20" target="_blank">&quot;Mr. Marley&quot;</a> in 1996 and went on to win a Grammy in 2001 in the Best Reggae Album category for his <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005NWKI/intercomu2-20" target="_blank">&quot;Halfway Tree&quot;</a> release. But it was the release of 2005's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000ASATWQ/intercomu2-20" target="_blank">&quot;Welcome to Jamrock&quot;</a> that brought Marley (and his brother Stephen, who co-produced 11 of the album's 14 tracks) worldwide attention. &quot;Jamrock&quot; speaks openly and frankly about the poverty that so many young people grow up in in poorer parts of the world, just as his father described in songs like &quot;Trenchtown,&quot; &quot;Concrete Jungle&quot; and &quot;No Woman, No Cry.&quot; Father Bob's voice is actually sampled on a few tracks on &quot;Jamrock,&quot; including &quot;All Night&quot; and &quot;Move.&quot;<br />
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Music critics have overwhelmingly welcomed Marley's efforts on &quot;Jamrock.&quot; Chuck Foster, Reggae music reviewer for <a href="http://[url" target="_blank">http://www.getthebeat.com</a>]<i>The Beat</i>[/url], a Reggae/African/World music magazine, said of Marley in the November/December 2005 edition, &quot;He mixes elements of dancehall and hip-hop in his style as naturally as Bob absorbed ska, rock steady, rhythm and blues, soul, rock and even disco, creating a sound that is contemporary and aimed?as was Bob's music?at his own generation.&quot;<br />
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<img src="http://u2.interference.com/gallery/data//585/11265damianmarley.jpg" border="0" alt="" /><br />
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Even <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com" target="_blank"><i>Rolling Stone</i></a> has seemingly taken a liking to Marley. In the Oct. 6, 2005 issue, Jonathan Ringen said that single &quot;Welcome to Jamrock&quot; was &quot;the hottest track on a hot disc that effortlessly melds Papa Bob's righteous roots style with computer reggae, dancehall and U.S. hip-hop.&quot; The magazine would also honor Marley in its Dec. 29, 2005 issue listing &quot;Jamrock&quot; as its No. 49 album of the year.<br />
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Of his music, Marley had this to say on his official website, &quot;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. 'Welcome to Jamrock' is about hope and there's still more to share. I'm still very close to the beginning.&quot; <br />
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Throughout Marley's time with the Vertigo tour (Oct. 19?Nov. 9) in North America, the positive vibes were obvious as each night Bono would acknowledge how proud U2 was to have several Marley brothers on tour (brothers Stephen and Ziggy were among the family members joining Marley on the Vertigo stage). In a recent interview with the <a href="http://www.jamaicaobserver.com" target="_blank"><i>Jamaican Observer</i></a>, Marley had similar feelings for U2, &quot;With U2, it did well nice,&quot; he said. &quot;You get to bring your music to a larger audience and meet a lot of people.&quot; <br />
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<i>For more information on Damian Marley, visit his official website,</i> <a href="http://www.damianmarleymusic.com" target="_blank">http://www.damianmarleymusic.com</a>.

[Jamila]

Personally, I thought it was absolutely wonderful that U2 had Damien Marley (and his brothers Stephen and Kymani) on tour with them.

For as major of an influence that their father Bob was in the musical lives of U2 and the development of their social consciousness, it was only fitting to include a bit of Bob's sons' music on tour with them.

[Jamila]

Out in the streets, they call it murder!

Welcome to Jamrock, camp where the thugs they camp at
Two pounds a weed inna van bag
It inna your hand bag, your knapsack, it inna your back pack
The smell a give your girlfriend contact
Some boy noy notice, them only come around like tourist
On the beach with a few club sodas
Bedtime stories, and pose like dem name Chuck Norris
And they don't know the real hardcore
Cause Sandals a now back too, the thugs they have do what them got to
And won't think twice to shoot you
Don't make them spot you, unless you carry guns a lot too
A pure tuff things come at you

When Trenchtown man stop laugh and block-off traffic
Then them wheel and pop off and them start clap it
With the pin file dung and it a beat drop it
Police come inna jeep and them cant stop it
Some say them a playboy (them) a playboy rabbit
Funnyman a get dropped like a bad habit
So nobody pose tuff if you don't have it
Rastafari stands alone!


Welcome to Jamrock, Welcome to Jamrock
Out in the streets, they call it murder!

Welcome to Jamrock, poor people are dead at random
Political violence, can done! Pure ghost and phantom, the youth
theem get blind by stardom
Now the Kings Of Kings a call
Old man to Pickney, so wave one hand if you with me
To see the sufferation sicken me
Them suit no fit me, to win election they trick we
And they don't do nuttin at all

Come on let's face it, a ghetto education's basic
A most a the youths them waste it
And when they waste it, that's when they take the guns and replace it
Then them don't stand a chance at all
And that's why a nuff little youth have up some fat matic
With the extra magazine inna them back pocket
And have leisure night time inna some black jacket
All who not lock glocks, them a lock rocket
Then will full you up a current like a short circuit
Them a run a roadblock which part thr cops block it
And from now till a mornin not stop clock it
If the run outta rounds a brought back ratchet

Welcome to Jamrock (Southside, Northside)
Welcome to Jamrock (East Coast, West Coast, huh, yo)
Welcome to Jamrock (Conwell, Middlesex) surrey!
Welcome to Jamrock
Out in the streets, they call it murder!!!


Jamaica Jamaica! Jamaica Jamaica! Now!
Jamaica Jamaica! Yo! Jamaica Jamaica!
Welcome to Jamrock, Welcome to Jamrock

[Jamila]

"Bono inducts Bob Marley" - january 19, 1994

Bono inducts Bob Marley into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a ceremony in New York. (Here's the poem/speech Bono wrote and read when he was asked to induct the late Bob Marley into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 19, 1994.) "I know claiming Bob Marley is Irish might be a little difficult here tonight, but bear with me. Jamaica and Ireland have a lot in common: Naomi Campbell, Chris Blackwell, Guinness, a fondness for little green leaves -- the weed. Religion. The philosophy of procrastination -- don't put off 'til tomorrow what you can put off til the day after. Unless, of course, it's freedom. We are both islands; we were both colonies. We share a common yoke: the struggle for identity, the struggle for independence, the vulnerable and uncertain future that's left behind when the jackboot of empire is finally retreated. The roots, the getting up, the standing up, and the hard bit: the staying up. In such a struggle, the voice of Bob Marley was the voice of reason. These were love songs that you could admit listening to; songs of hurt, hard but healing, tough going; songs of Freedom, where that word meant something again; Redemption songs. A sexy revolution where Jah is Jehovah on street level. Not over his people but with his people. Not just stylin', jammin'. Down the line of Judah, from Ethiopia, where it all began for the Rastaman. I spent some time in Ethiopia with my wife, Ali, and everywhere we went we saw Bob Marley's face. There he was, dressed to hustle God. Let my people go. An ancient plea. Prayers catching fire in Mozambique, Nigeria, the Lebanon, Alabama, Detroit, New York, Notting Hill, Belfast. Dr. King in dreads. A Third and a First World superstar. Mental slavery ends where imagination begins. Here was this new music, rocking out of the shantytowns, lolling, loping rhythms, telling it like it was, like it is, like it ever shall be. Skanking. Ska. Blue Beat. Rock Steady. Reggae. Dub. And now ragga. And all of this from a man who drove three BMWs. BMW -- Bob Marley and the Wailers, that was his excuse! Rock and roll loves its juvenilia, its caricatures, its cartoons. The protest singer, the pop star, the sex god, your mature messiah types [laughs]. We love the extremes, and we're expected to choose: the mud of the blues or the oxygen of gospel, the hellhounds on our trail or the band of angels. Well, Bob Marley didn't choose or walk down the middle. He raced to the edges, embracing all extremes, creating a oneness. His oneness. One love. He wanted everything at the same time. Prophet. Soul rebel. Rastaman. Herbsman. Wildman. A natural, mystic man. Lady's man. Island man. Family man. Rita's man. Soccer man. Showman. Shaman. Human. Jamaican! So the spirit of Bob and the spirit of Jah lives on, in his son Ziggy and his lover Rita Marley. I'm proud to welcome Bob Marley into the Hall of Fame. Amen!

angel:

[Jamila]

My final comment on Damien Marley and U2 is simply this:

I think that Damien Marley was the most BRILLIANT choice for an opening act that U2 has had since Public Enemy opened for them during the Zoo tour.

WHY?

Because U2 has always been on the "cutting edge" of music in terms of their own personal likes in music and in the companions which they have kept.

At least half of them (Adam and Bono) also have a historical personal history of listening to Reggae and other world musicians.

Add to this Bono's personal activism for Africa and the choice to begin exposing their fans to some of the music from the developing world that they find important and creative makes perfect sense.

I only hope that if this "trend" continues, U2 fans will be willing to be more broad-minded in their willingness to listen to their musicians and to find out what it is about these musicians that makes U2 want to take them out on the road with them.


As someone who saw Bob Marley several times in concert in the late 1970's, I was elated to see Damien Marley and his brothers onstage playing on the same bill as U2!

They complemented each other in the message in their music perfectly.

THANK YOU, U2.

BIG UP, DAMIEN MARLEY.

[HelloAngel]

It's Damian.

[gvox]

Yes! Big Up to the Marleys

BEST opener of the tour, followed by Kanye, followed by Keane.

Hope to catch him again soon!