Long Beach

Reflections of Bob’s Musical Legacy

By Mike Cook

< Mike's Long Beach Photos >

Reggae music took California by storm again this February, as the 21st Annual Bob Marley Day Festival made stops in Long Beach, San Diego and San Francisco. As always, the two-day concert in Long Beach (February 16 & February 17) was the highlight of the tour, featuring some of the biggest names in roots and dancehall reggae.

In years past, concert organizers have filled Saturday’s bill with dancehall artists and Sunday’s with roots artists. This year, however, dancehall and roots artists were spread equally over the two-day concert, giving roots fans an opportunity to hear dancehall music, and exposing the younger dancehall massive to roots reggae.

This was an improvement over past years, because it brought both the artists and the fans of reggae’s two main genres closer together. With so many artists today embracing a dancehall style and a roots mentality, it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate between the two forms. Much of the criticism dancehall received in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s was due to the slackness and violence in the music, and its rejection of the uplifting messages of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Dennis Brown, and others. Since the "Rasta renaissance" of the mid-1990’s however, consciousness has regained a place of prominence in reggae music, integrating roots messages with the dancehall sound. Artists like Garnett Silk, Luciano, Anthony B, and Sizzla all exemplify this movement.

But the Rasta renaissance was far from a revolution–while consciousness increased in dancehall music, it did not predominate. Rather, it became one subset of the dancehall genre, and it helped spawn other categories of dancehall like reality tunes and "fyah bun" tunes. These combined the elements of protest and righteousness in the earlier roots music with elements of the current environment: a violent urban reality and an increasingly vocal homophobic culture. This transformation and evolution of reggae’s themes has made it hard for some observers to see the connections between Marley’s music and what they hear in dancehalls today.

The annual Bob Marley Festival, with its large and diverse collection of artists, gives us a chance to see the extent to which today’s artists are influenced by Bob Marley and his messages. In some cases the influence is clear. Luciano, Morgan Heritage, and others who performed at Long Beach obviously share Marley’s faith and musical inspiration. We get a more interesting picture, though, from looking at a cross section of artists who performed at Long Beach, and seeing how their music reflects Marley’s legacy. By considering four young artists–Damian Marley, Bounty Killer, Lauryn Hill, and Elephant Man–we see that Bob Marley influenced each of these musicians in different ways.

Damian Marley performed on Sunday, and his performance matched the crowd’s high expectations of him. Bob’s youngest son began his set with a song from his first album, "Me Name Jr. Gong." He followed this up with a powerful set that included several songs from his Grammy-winning album, "Halfway Tree," as well as a number of covers of his father’s songs. Having seen Jr. Gong perform earlier this year, it was clear that this set was intended to be a tribute to Bob.

Jr. Gong was focused and intense throughout, performing excellent covers of "So Much Trouble," "Trenchtown Rock," and "Could You Be Loved." Many of the songs on "Halfway Tree" reflect Bob’s influence on his son, but Jr. Gong went beyond performing just his own material and made his performance a tribute to his father’s legacy. Of all the artists who performed on the weekend, Damian Marley evoked Bob’s memory and legacy like only a Marley could.

Bounty Killer’s performance provided a different example of Bob Marley’s musical influence. Unlike Jr. Gong, whose long locks and Rasta-inspired clothing establish a clear tie to his father, Bounty came on stage in his usual outfit: a black suit, du-rag, and dark glasses. Bounty’s style, as a DJ rather than a singer, also sets him apart from Bob. Yet despite these outward differences, many of Bounty’s songs express the same frustrations and discontents that Bob’s did. Both grew up in the slums of West Kingston, and both channeled their anger and resentment through music. Bounty’s performance included some of his best reality tunes, including "Look," which was banned by the Jamaican government for its politically incendiary content.

Bounty’s set wasn’t entirely political, and he performed current dancehall hits like "Mystery is the Man" and "Sumfest," as well as his well-known collaboration with No Doubt, "Hey Baby." Although he didn’t cover any Bob Marley songs, Bounty Killer showed the audience, through his reality tunes and speeches, that he still deserves the title of "Poor People’s Governor." As an artist, Bounty Killer served as a street-hardened ambassador for Bob’s messages of protest on behalf of the poor and oppressed.

The biggest surprise of this year’s concert was the unannounced performance of multiple Grammy winner, Lauryn Hill. While not technically a reggae artist, Hill is a familiar face in the reggae community, as a strong supporter of the genre, and as Rohan Marley’s ex-wife. She was a welcome addition to the concert lineup, judging by the crowd’s enthusiastic response. Her performance provided a contrast to all others as the only things on stage were Hill and her guitar. With no backing band or on-stage antics to distract fans, everyone in the Long Beach arena was able to focus on Hill’s lyrics. She performed five songs from her upcoming album, which were more conscious than those on either her solo album or her Fugees release. Her music was a blend of folk, hip-hop and spoken word–not reggae–yet the performance echoed the messages of Bob Marley better than almost any other. In one verse from "So Much Things to Say," she sings:

I’ll never forget, no way, how they crucified Jesus Christ
I’ll never forget, no way, how they sold Marcus Garvey for rice
I’ll never forget, no way, how they turned their backs on Paul Bogle
So don’t you forget, no way, who you are and where you stand in the struggle

Hill followed this up with several more powerful songs, performing all the while with the calmness and composure one would expect at a coffee house or open mic session, not at a packed arena. Hill’s music was a perfect complement to the Bob Marley Day Festival, and she showed how Bob’s influence has reached beyond the reggae genre.

While Damian Marley, Bounty Killer and Lauryn Hill’s performances all reflected Bob’s legacy and influence, this wasn’t true of every artist who performed in Long Beach. The wild and controversial DJ Elephant Man certainly evoked a raucous response from the crowd, but his conduct on stage was hardly appropriate for a Bob Marley tribute concert. Elephant did his usual stage show routine, consisting of wild stunts: jumping on top of speaker boxes, running through the crowd, and dancing–if it can be called that–with girls on stage. He did give a brief speech about Bob Marley and held up a Jamaican flag, but on the whole his performance did not come across as a tribute in any way. The only similarity between Elephant’s performance and one of Bob’s was the amount of energy both expended on stage, but this could be said of many artists who performed in Long Beach.

While Marley’s music and philosophy clearly influenced many dancehall artists, there are others, like Elephant Man, whose primary influences come from elsewhere. Elephant Man, despite his popularity, has been widely criticized for the hip-hop style of much of his music, and his recent adoption of a ridiculous form of slang ("shizzle my nizzle", "shankle man ankle", etc.). Elephant Man is a popular artist, but in the future the festival promoters should think twice about inviting an artist like him, or they should at least provide some guidelines for his performance. As this is a Bob Marley tribute concert, every artist on the bill should consider tailoring his or her set accordingly, as Jr. Gong did so well this year.

The Bob Marley Day Festival was again the highlight of the year for reggae fans on the west coast. A large and talented group of artists performed over the course of the weekend, and everyone in attendance got to hear some of today’s best roots and dancehall artists. Bob Marley continues to influence the reggae community in a profound and positive way, and his influence extends beyond reggae as well, through the music of artists like Lauryn Hill. Within the genre of reggae, roots artists are carrying Marley’s flame, but so too are dancehall artists like Bounty Killer, albeit with a slightly different flavor. Bob’s son, Damian Marley, has truly blended his father’s words and thoughts with his own sense of style, and he should continue to make conscious music that blends dancehall and roots. Fans can begin looking forward to next year’s festival, where they can again hear the top roots and dancehall artists come together to celebrate the life and musical legacy of the one Bob Marley.

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Mike Cook is a senior at Stanford University majoring in Political Science (with a focus in developing countries) and minoring in African and Afro-American Studies. He is co-President of the Caribbean Students Association and designs their website: csa.stanford.edu. He is an aspiring DJ and will be co-hosting a show on KZSU 90.1 FM this winter. You can email him at: mike2@stanford.edu