Ziggy Marley is a 57 year old musician, singer/songwriter, producer, voice actor, author & philanthropist from Kingston, Jamaica notable for being the eldest son of reggae icon Bob Marley & his widow Rita. Beginning as the lead singer of The Melody Makers, they would drop 9 full-lengths together until disbanding & embarking on a solo career. He has since given his 8 albums of his own for over 2 decades, with his debut Dragonfly & the sophomore effort Love’s My Religion widely considered to be his best. More Family Time until now was the only thing he’s released in the 2020s & was optimistic in terms of his 9th studio LP being an improvement.
“Jah We Give Glory” fittingly begins with this reggae intro co-produced by his brother Stephen singing about praising God whereas “Racism’s a Killa” featuring Big Boi on the remix makes a powerful statement regarding the issue of racial discrimination only days after the Voting Rights Act was gutted. “Hey People Now” featuring Nikki Costa decently finds the 2 singing about us having the ability of setting ourselves free until the brass-heavy “Why Let the World?” featuring Sheila E. describes escaping the issues of our daily lives.
I felt that “Many Mourn for Bob” was a heartwarming way to start the 2nd half remembering Ziggy’s late father while “Sweet Divine” sing about a person who he can’t even find the right words to describe. “Make It Paradise” brings ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro into the picture yearning to spend time with his loved ones outside while the title track ties everything up by singing about the Brightside of the chaos happening around us globally.
Looking at everything that’s been going on throughout the past year & a half, Ziggy Marley’s return to secular reggae marks an introspective comeback for the creative approach in terms of songwriting & production that was unlike anything he’s done throughout his entire career & probably surpasses Wild & Free to become the best thing he’s musically done since his 2000s output. It’s unique for him & Stephen to use the 432Hz sonic frequency regularly employed for meditation & confronts the issue of mental health directly.
Score: 4/5
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