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We were picking songs and trying to put songs together that would be appealing to American radio. Was there something you tapped into for this album that you hadn’t explored previously?Īh! The way that we were picking singles is probably the biggest thing. So toward finishing the album, we worked on some new collaborations with Nas and Black Thought and rounded it out a bit more to capture the momentum. I'm just going to try to make some music I want to listen to and my friends can listen to." Then when the title track came out as a single and started to do very well internationally, it put us back in somewhat of a state of making an international record. I'm not going to make music to try to appease a record company and try to make international singles. So at that point in time, I was saying to myself, "I'm going to just make the music I love. My album prior to Welcome to Jamrock had been on Motown, and that relationship didn't really work out for me and had just come to an end. How were you feeling in terms of your career and creativity? Tell me a little bit about where your head was when you were working on Welcome To Jamrock. In honor of the 15th anniversary of Damian Marley’s Welcome to Jamrock, the pioneering reggae artist spoke with about the value of family, the spirit of reggae and making his name through powerfully political art. That gritty realism powers the entire album, Damian refusing to play to the expectations of reggae put on by the masses or the music industry. The title track rolls and riots, Damian exposing the world to the reality of life in the poverty-stricken areas of Jamaica, to the ravages that both gangs and politicians can wreak. Damian’s brother, Stephen, co-produced the album, further keeping the circle tight around Damian’s righteous strength and incisive criticism of a sociopolitical system of racism and oppression. The album featured international star power, with features reaching from Nas and The Roots' Black Thought to New Jack Swing throwback Bobby Brown, as well as Jamaican heroes such as Bunny Wailer and Eek-a-Mouse. Welcome To Jamrock earned Bob Marley's youngest son rave reviews around the world, reaching number seven on the Billboard 200 and earning two GRAMMYs-one for Best Reggae Album and the other for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for the title track. On September 12, 2005, Marley released a record simultaneously steeped in the multifaceted vitality of his family legacy and showed a path forward for his unique ability to blend deejaying, hip-hop, and more into reggae’s political, social and spiritual depths. "It has spiritual depth, social commentary, and social consciousness. "Reggae is more than just a party," Damian Marley admits.