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A Q&A with Julian Marley

Being the son of the king of reggae certainly imbues Julian Marley with plenty of roots credibility. But the London-born artist has managed to move beyond his famous fat

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Being the son of the king of reggae certainly imbues Julian Marley with plenty of roots credibility. But the London-born artist has managed to move beyond his famous father’s legacy to craft a successful solo career that has minted him an esteemed place among the Marley scions and won the hearts of fans of roots reggae, hip-hop and R&B. True conscious music, after all, abides by no genre distinction.

 

Marley has his hands full these days touring in support of his latest full-length release, Awake (Universal/Tuff Gong). But in true Jamaican fashion, where family comes first, he continues to make time to collaborate with his siblings—whether it’s filming a music video with Damien or touring with Ziggy.

 

As a Rastafarian, Marley’s perspective on cannabis and the use of the blessed herb is quite distinct from its more political and legal proponents. In an interview with CULTURE, Marley shares his spiritual views on the power of reggae, world events and why marijuana is the province of Jah.

 

 

What have you been doing since releasing Awake last year?

 

Well, I’ve been on tour. I started out in America. We did, like, six weeks in

 

America, then we went to Europe and did another four or five weeks.

 

 

Any major differences between your American audiences compared to your fans in Jamaica?

 

There’s no big difference, really. The only thing is that when we play in Jamaica, we might choose more hardcore songs—the reggae core in Jamaica. Everywhere else, other places, people tend to listen to lots of other different types of music, but in Jamaica we tend to play the more hardcore roots songs. Everywhere we go, we get the same love from the crowds, from the people, from the fans. And it’s always the same great feeling performing.

 

 

What’s the meaning or message behind the new album’s title and artwork, which shows you with your arms raised to the sky?

 

The concept—it’s not like we’re saying, “Wake up out of bed”—is a spiritual, mental awakening.

 

 

What is it that is putting us to “sleep?”

 

What puts us to sleep is when we’re taken over by material things, and there’s not enough of treating each other every day as one nation, one world, one people. We’re going about all this not remembering these things, not really; in a dream. The reality is that we are one people, and if we don’t get ourselves together in unity, it’s going to be pretty bad because without unity, everything is gonna break down. So, really, when I say “Awake,” it’s awaken to this reality we’re living in right now. Everything is upside-down, you know. Financially, people are crying; spiritually, all kinds of different crying is going on. And when we look at what is going on now, we see that all of these things are signs of the times. So, when we see the signs of the times, we have to be awake because if we don’t acknowledge it today, it might be too late.

 

 

What’s your take on the harsh times the world is going through right now?

 

We are living in hard times, but it doesn’t mean there is no joy. In the music, the message we are spreading out is that no matter how it’s down, we can always feel up. Even on this album [Awake], we have songs like “On the Floor,” which is a dance song. So, even though we’re in the struggle, if we are awake and if we listen to Jah—the real joy that there is—we won’t go around with stress every day on our minds. You know what? Life is the greatest thing to have. We are worrying about some other stuff, but at the end of the day we still have some food to eat. We still can drink. There are people that are worse off, so we always need to be joyful and spread the love, spread the food, spread everything that there is because everything has been created by one father, which means there’s a little bit there for everybody.

 

 

As a Rastafarian, what are your thoughts about efforts to legalize marijuana for medical and recreational purposes in the U.S. in general but in California in particular? Isn’t your perspective on ganja a spiritual one?

 

It’s a spiritual one, but when you really think how it came to Earth, how it really grows out of the earth. It is really legal, really and truly. If God created the whole Earth and everything was there before man, who is man to come around and tell us what you can and can’t do? Man is man. We are all equal and that is why you really have your rights to stand up and speak for yourself. [Cannabis] grows naturally. If you walk into the Garden of Eden and you see that tree there, there is only one thing to do. Either you eat it, drink it, you might smoke it just like that fine tobacco. You already know that tobacco is for smoking. But the thing about tobacco is that it doesn’t give you any mental focusing energy or any spiritual boost. It just gives you cancer and blackens the lungs. Smoking in general does that still, but herb still makes you meditate. You can write many good songs from good Jah herb. We also write many songs from the Bible…That is why herb is there. God makes everything. Who are we to say otherwise?

 

 

I’ve read about efforts in Jamaica to decriminalize possession of spliffs. I presume you think this would be a good thing?

 

It would be good because over the decades, tourists come to Jamaica by the millions every year. The main reasons are reggae music, Bob Marley, Rasta. When you check it out, wherever it is, herb is always there. Who knows if [decriminalization] will happen? It would be good. But you would still get a fight for being righteous anyways.

 

 

Can you tell us a little bit about the video for the song “Violence in the Streets” from Awake? It looks like it was made to resemble a news broadcast covering the plight of the poor and civil unrest.

 

The words speak for themselves, but the images behind them are just showing turmoil and war. We’re really trying to show that if you seem to be speaking about violence in the streets, it’s because people can’t get enough to eat. Some people go out of their way just because they want some food to eat. So, we’ve got to show people that violence in the streets is what is going on. And, right now, it’s up to us to get ourselves together. Without unity, there is more violence and fighting.

 

 

What was your reaction when you heard about the disasters in Haiti and Chile?

 

My heart goes out to everyone, but, as I said, we are people; we have the Father who created everyone and created everything. At the end of the day, we know that all of these things are created by the Almighty. Everything natural is created by the Almighty. All we can do is pray and feel for our brothers and sisters, and just know that we have to move on and move on in more progressive and spiritually inclined ways and have some love in our hearts because it’s a sign of the times. Everywhere we look, something is happening . . . It goes to show that there is a God.

 

 

It seems like you and your siblings are always working together, recording, touring and performing.

 

It’s a shared passion. It’s discipline. It’s obedience to your father and how your father raised you to be. In other words, our father raised us in unity. He never raised us to be separated like that. It’s natural. We still do our solo albums, but even when we do that we’re still on each other’s albums. Everyone has their light to shine.

 

 

Your music hasn’t shied away from including elements of hip-hop, dancehall and other genres. Tell us about that.

 

It’s a love of music because we listen to hip-hop, we listen to dancehall, I listen to Marvin Gaye, I listen to Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, the Upsetters, any reggae. It doesn’t mean that I like every reggae song, but at the end of the day, we listen to every form of music and we blend it with things that we like; elements that we like because we grew up with all of the music. So, when you hear that kind of different style, it’s just another part of a love for music. It’s another part of something that we love.

 

 

What are your thoughts about Michael Franti—whose signature is that of being a very conscious, activist figure—crossing over into pop with his recent, upbeat hit single, “Say Hey (I Love You).”

 

It’s good, it’s great. This is music that people need, not the media and the record companies. When you go into the houses and see how people are really living, how many people really go and see how these people live? What inspiration are we going to give them? I can give you my inspiration, but tomorrow you hear that someone killed themselves or someone got drunk.

 

The Rastaman message is the telling of positive things; it will make you want to live, it shows you hope. It’s not just about “It’s all over.” It’s not over until it’s over. No matter what we say, we still have a chance, but things come down on the pureness of man. Can you love your brother without an inch of selfishness? It comes down to real heart, like when you love your mother and your brother. If you see a stranger, you don’t know them from anywhere, but there’s nothing for you to not have some love for them. So that goes to show it can be done easily and we still have a chance. The main thing is you have to listen to the consciousness, the instruments that do speak these words. They’re really special words. It’s not like these words will be finished by next month. Our father’s words have been speaking for, like, 35 years. Even today, they can still give something that can help you in your life. Every day a new child is born.

 

 

What are your thoughts about predictions that the world will end in 2012?

 

It’s happening already. Look at how many things have happened already. We have the hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti. If we’re looking for 2012, it’s already on. There’s a song by my old reggae group called The Gladiators, and the song goes “Jah will come like a thief in the night.” Who knows if, by 2012, everyone will have love in their heart? No, He’s gonna catch you off guard, so you have to be real from now on. We all say 2012, but we all should be prepared right now. It can come at any time. We cannot wait for that day.

 

 

So, act every day like it might be our last day on Earth?

 

It’s not as easy as changing your shoes and your pants. It’s your heart and your thinking. We’re not telling everyone out there what to think; everyone is their own self. When we think that we’re ready, it’s gonna come before we’re ready. So, man has to be always ready at any time, any minute. Just because God comes doesn’t mean you have to be dead. God can come into your life right now.

 

 

What is it about roots and conscious music that keeps them relevant?

 

Every day a new child is born in the struggle, and then sometimes the people that will share that intelligence with them might not get to share it with them, so they go about their day needing knowledge, still needing a little bit of direction. That is why I write music. Music is an everyday, living thing. Every day you wake up and go to work, and when you come home there’s still reggae music because reggae music goes against injustice, goes against oppression, goes against segregation, all these things that are happening. That is what reggae music is enlightening us about. So, really, we need it and that is why it’s here. Because the music is still needed, necessary. The music itself was designed for the message too. So, when you hear the music, you connect. When you hear that pop song, you can sing anything on it, but reggae music is specially designed to carry that spiritual message. Every day there are groups like I and I that are creating the music too, so it’s not like [the original reggae artists] were the last people to make it. We are people making roots today, too, because it lives on—it lives on and people who are inspired by the music, too, start to make music. It’s a circle that keeps going. We are here and need the message.

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