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On his most recent album, “Love Situation,” Jamaican reggae star Tarrus Riley paid tribute to a less familiar style of his nation’s music, known as rocksteady.
A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was built around the “one drop” drum beat and performed in the late 1960s by Jamaican artists such as Alton Ellis, the Maytals, the Heptones and the Paragons.
Riley heard rocksteady records as a child and felt it was time to pay homage to the influential style.
“I’m trying to do different things,” he told Island Sound. “Whether it be rocksteady, ska, dance-hall, roots, hip-hop, R&B, I love to experiment with all of it. Just like Kanye West, Bob Marley or anyone else who loves to experiment with music, this album is a representation of me experimenting.”
Praised by Reggae-Vibes as “an album that is stamped with class all over and without any doubt is the artist’s best album to date,” “Love Situation” features memorable highlights like the catchy “Dem A Watch (Wanna See Us Break Up),” a smooth remake of the Gaylads classic “1 2 3 I Love You” and “Version of Love (My Story),” which was composed by his father, legendary singer Jimmy Riley.
“I’m no stranger to rocksteady music because people like Delroy Wilson and Alton Ellis used to come to my house and I used to see them,” he told Reggaeville. “I used to go to Heineken Star Time (concert series) with my father and I experienced the rocksteady experience in my little time.”
Guests on the album include popular Jamaican deejays like U Roy and Big Youth, as well as rappers like Mr. Cheeks.
“I just reached out to them because a man like Big Youth and U Roy, in my opinion, are the definition of what we call today’s Swag Generation,” he noted in the Reggaeville interview. “When we talk about swagging, these men are super cool, how they dress, how they walk, how they talk. I respect them to the top. But I also know the roots where it started and where it began, so when I’m doing a song I am definitely going to reach out to Daddy Roy and to Jah Youth for a tune.”
Hailed by the Caribbean Journal as “one of the leading lights of reggae music today,” Riley began singing as a teenager.
“I’ve always loved music,” he reported. “I used to deejay, but everyone used to encourage me to sing. They used to call me Singy Singy, because I was always singing.”
He told the United Kingdom’s Reggae News, “I’ve been in the music business from about age 14. I can still deejay, but these days I sing more, play a little keyboard and guitar, not to be Beethoven or George Benson. I just give thanks to be a part of this music.”
Released in 2004, Riley’s debut album, “Challenges,” reflected a range of influences from Marley and Burning Spear to Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder.
His second album, the hit “Parables,” featured reggae rhythm legends Sly & Robbie, and the instant classic “She’s Royal.”
“I target women and children with my music because slavery tampered with the woman’s mind and that’s why I wrote ‘She’s Royal,'” he explained. “She’s the head of the household so she has the power to influence the young men and women of tomorrow. I make thought-provoking music about black consciousness and experiences. I want to open people’s minds and let them think.”
In 2009, Riley released his third album, “Contagious,” which included the hit “Good Girl Gone Bad,” the powerful prayer “Let Peace Reign” and a terrific reggaefied remake of Michael Jackson’s classic “Human Nature.”
A BBC review noted, “Tarrus Riley’s first album, ‘Challenges,’ showcased a precocious new talent. His second, ‘Parables,’ is regarded as a modern classic by reggae fans. Now he has unveiled his third record: an ambitious, genretranscending statement that proves Jamaica’s brightest hope has come of age. Every song is beautifully crafted. It’s as good a record as any you’ll hear this year.”
For his next project, this adventurous artist took a surprising route, releasing acoustic versions of his songs on the album “Mecoustic” in 2012.
Reggaeville praised, “Tarrus Riley writes such a strong hook that when the production is stripped down, what remains is a brilliant showcase for the artist’s rich voice.”
“A lot of people think acoustic is just guitar,” he explained to Reggaeville. “When everybody thinks of acoustic they think of Bob Marley playing ‘Redemption Song’ with a guitar or Buju Banton playing ‘Untold Stories,’ because they are classics and they set this big standard and platform. But the reality is the whole point of acoustic is to get personal and intimate so you can hear the words and the melody in a sincere form. Sometimes music drowns out the lyrics. But with acoustic and the intimacy of it, it’s more mellow, smoother to the ears. So we did that, not trying to follow who was on the radio, but just to show you the songwriting so you could hear the songs in a different style.”
As far as his inspirations, he told Caribbean Journal, “They’re not just within music, because we have a lot of people who, like Marcus Garvey, have a big influence in my music. History is another big influence in my music, the teaching of Rastafari, the way the mother and father grow on me. They know if you want to get into the music, you have to get a long list, because we listen to a lot of my father’s music, which is the R&B, the original soul music, Chick Willis. That’s why a lot of people think I’m older than I really am, calling me an old man, because my knowledge is what I get from my father’s friends, so a lot of vintage music, a lot of roots music, but just music.”
Last year, he was featured on the compilation “Reggae Loves Africa,” singing “Africa Awaits.” He was among the guest artists singing on Shaggy’s album “Out of Many, One Music,” which won the Best Reggae Grammy in February. And in March, Riley released a new single, a cover of Billy Joel’s “Honesty,” produced by Gregory Brown on the Island Treasure label.
Aside from his music focus, Riley works with a group of friends on a movement titled BLAKSOIL Bredren Living According King Selassie-I Overstanding & Iritical Livity. Through this group, Riley hopes to further target the consciousness of women and children. And an interest in educating youth about black history resulted in the Tarrus Riley Freedom Writers Competition, which ran on Jamaica’s Irie FM radio station.
Among his awards, he was the Jamaica Observer’s Artist of the Year in 2007. In 2012, he won the Marcus Garvey Award for his contribution to upholding the vision of the Jamaican political leader, whom he cites as a major influence in his music. And last year he was voted No. 1 on www.jamaicans.com‘s “Top 10 Best New Reggae Artists of the Last 10 Years.”
“We need to keep the music interesting,” he told Reggaeville. “Because when it’s not interesting it becomes boring and when it becomes boring, what’s the sense? We want to keep you excited. Just like how Kanye West and everybody as an international artist does it, we have to do that in Jamaica as reggae artists. You look at Billboard and see Bob Marley the great. He sang every kind of music, but his message is his message.”
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Maui’s reggae ambassador Marty Dread has been busy lately appearing in two new YouTube videos. Teaming with the Californian reggae band Common Sense on his song “Baby Girl,” Marty shot a cool video at Kapalua’s DT Fleming Beach Park using only a new iPhone.
The tune originally appeared on his “In Good Company” duets collection. Common Sense was on island for Willie K’s Ganjafest.
And he’s teamed with Taz Vegas of Typical Hawaiians for a new video promoting the catchy song “Do It Right.” Both songs are available on iTunes.