Damian Marley - Welcome To Jamrock

Posted by: Karolina Morka

Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley was born in July 21, 1978. He is the youngest son of Bob Marley and Cindy Breakspeare (Miss World 1976) He is a three-time Grammy award winning Jamaican reggae artist. His nickname  "Jr. Gong" is in honour of his legendary father, Bob "Tuff Gong" Marley. Damian Marley has been performing since the age of 13. He has described his music as "dancehall and reggae. He is a Rastafarian and his music reflects both his beliefs and the Rastafari guiding principles of one love, one planet, and freedom for all nations.

Damian’s real commercial breakthrough came from the single “Welcome to Jamrock” released in 2004 by Tuff Gong. Tuff Gong is an independent record label started by Bob Marley in the mid-1960s and is still in the control of the Marley family. Set to a mesmerizing rhythm, the track explored the real-life hardship and political strife facing the people of Jamaica.. Welcome to Jamrock incorporated elements of reggae, hip-hop, and R&B, and it reached the top or near the top of all of the charts for those genres. Another testament to its universality was its success on the Billboard Top 200 album, reaching as high as the number 7 spot.

Discography:

1996- Mr.Marley

2001- Halfway Tree

2005- Welcome to Jamrock

Singles:                                                                                                                               Album:

2005- “Welcome to Jamrock”

          “The Master Has Come Back”

           “Road to Zion” – (featuring Nas)                       

2006-     “Beautiful”                                                                                                         Welcome to Jamrock

                “All Night”

2007- "Now That You Got It"
          (Gwen Stefani featuring Damian Marley)                                                         The Sweet Escape

2008- “One Loaf of Bread “                                                                                          Gang War Riddim

2010- “As We Enter”                                                                                                       Distant Relatives

Other charted songs:

2010- “Liquor Store Blues” (Bruno Mars featuring D Marley”                               Doo-Wops & Hooligans

The most famous song by Damian Marley is “Welcom to Jamrock”.  Here I would like to analyze some features of the Jamaican language as in comparison to the Received pronouncation.

"Welcome To Jamrock"

Welcome to Jamrock, camp whe' da' thugs them camp at
Two pounds a weed inna van back
It inna your hand bag, your knapsack, it inna your back pack
The smell a give yah girlfriend contact
Some boy nuh know dis, them only come around like tourist
On the beach with a few club sodas
Bedtime stories, and pose like them name Chuck Norris
And don't know the real hardcore
Cause Sandals a no 'back-to', da thugs Dem wi do whe' them got to
And won't think twice to shot you
Don't make them spot you, unless you carry guns a lot too
A bare tough thing come at you

When Trenchtown man stop laugh and block-off traffic
Then them wheel and pop off and them start clap it
With the pin file dung and it a beat rapid
Police come inna jeep and them cant stop it
Some say them a playboy, a playboy rabbit
Funnyman a get dropped like a bad habit
So nobody pose tough if you don't have it
Rastafari stands alone!

[Chorus]
Welcome to Jamrock, Welcome to Jamrock
Out in the streets, they call it murder!

[Verse 2]
Welcome to Jamdown, poor people a dead at random
Political violence, can't done! Pure ghost and phantom, the youth
Dem get blind by stardom
Now the Kings Of Kings a call
Old man to Pickney, so wave unno hand if you with me
To see the sufferation sicken me
Them suit no fit me, to win election them trick we
Den them don't do nuttin at all

Come on let's face it, a ghetto education's basic
A most a the youths them waste it
And when them waste it, that's when them take da guns and replace it
Then them don't stand a chance at all
And that's why a nuff little youth have up some fat matic
With the extra magazine inna them back pocket
And a bleach a night time inna some black jacket
All who not lock glocks, them a lock rocket
Then will full you up a current like a short circuit
Dem a run a roadblock which part the cops block it
And from now till a morning not stop clock it
If them run outta rounds a bruck back ratchet

[Chorus]
Welcome to Jamrock (Southside, Northside)
Welcome to Jamrock (East Coast, West Coast, huh, yo)
Welcome to Jamrock (Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey) Hey!
Welcome to Jamrock
Out in the streets, they call it murder!!!

[Outro]
Jamaica Jamaica! Jamaica Jamaica! Now!
Jamaica Jamaica! Yo! Jamaica Jamaica!
Welcome to Jamrock, Welcome to Jamrock

The song covers issues such as poverty, crime and political corruption as part of the harsh reality of "Jamrock", Marley's personification of Jamaica is, as opposed to the Jamaica advertised as a popular tourist destination. Marley laments Jamaica's unceasing violence and high crime rate, demanding that those who are in charge do something about it. He carries on the legacy of his father before him, in inspiring Jamaicans to stand together.

Although an English language learner may easily understand the lyrics of the song, he/she may have some problems with few words. In Jamaican patois they use:

Inna- meaning in/into

Da- meaning the definite article ‘the’

Dis- meaning ‘this’

Nuh- interrogative at the end of the sentence, literally, ‘Is it not so?”

Nuttin- means ‘nothing’

Them- instead of ‘they’ 

Sources: The Damian Marley Handbook - Everything You Need to Know about Damian Marley ; Editor:Coke, Perciva