Stephen Marley’s highly anticipated debut solo album, ’Mind Control‘ won the Grammy award in the Best Reggae Album category at the 50th staging of the annual awards on Feb. 10th 2008.
Held at the staples centre in Los Angeles, California, ‘Mind Control’ got the better of, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s ‘The End of An American Dream’, ‘Anniversary’ by Sly and Robbie, ‘Light Your Light’ by Toots and The Maytals , and Burning Spear’s ‘The Burning Spear Experience’ .
The win was the first for Stephen as a solo artiste. Previously, he had won four Grammy awards as a member of his sibling group, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. Released on March 20th, of last year, Mind Control is a must for your music collection.
Stephen shares what the album means to him as he says “My father has built and laid the foundations for a full blown Marley family renaissance… with ‘Mind Control’ I feel like I have contributed to the strengthening of that backbone”.
He also says, “I am the baby of the melody makers and through the music I have ‘organically’ broken away as Stephen. No effort was placed into that transition, it was my duty to accept the legacy that the ‘Master’, who is also my mentor, left for us, and I will continue to work hard to maintain it”.
The 11 track disc features a profusion of the sounds and styles that Stephen admires, a combination of Reggae, Rock, R&B, Nyabinghi rhythms, Flamenco and Hip-Hop. Track 5 on the album, ‘The Traffic Jam’ featuring Damian Marley, was the first hit single and tells a true story.
The song’s content was influenced by Stephen’s arrest in 2002 in Miami for possession of marijuana, along with his brother Julian. The initial and title track ‘Mind Control’ talks about indoctrination and the “corruption of your thoughts and destruction of your soul”. Stephen’s sings “don’t let them mold your mind, they want to control mankind”.
For this track, Stephen said, “What we’re talking about is mental slavery. ... We didn’t sit down and say, ‘Let’s write a political song,’ but the things we depict, that we see, they’re political - mind control, corruption of your thoughts, destruction of your soul.”
Track 2, ‘Hey Baby’ is a re-make of an earlier version released two years ago and features Mos Def. The catchy chorus goes “Hey baby don’t you worry even though the road is rocky, I’ll be coming home to you again, cause if you thought that I was lost, I had to bare my cross, now I’m free from all these chains”.
Track 3 is an interlude entitled, ‘Officer Jimmy,’ followed by the song ‘Iron Bars’ which features Spragga Benz, Mr. Cheeks, and Julian Marley. “Which way from here, I’m caught up in the pages of my mind and it’s not so clear but it seems the hurt is way too much this time” are the opening words for the sixth track called ‘Your gonna leave’.
‘Chase dem’ follows and has a captivating feel to its sound. The other tracks are ‘Lonely Avenue, Let Her Dance (with Maya Azucena/Illestr8), Fed Up, and Inna Di Red which includes Ben Harper’s guitarist talents.
Stephen’s January 5th 2008, acoustic recording of ‘Mind Control’ at the Bob Marley museum was just as consoling as the original release. He chose to do the acoustic recording of the album as he thought that the time was ideal for him to “promote his guitar’ and personalize his relationship with his audience.
He says “I think the melody of the acoustic beat takes it straight to the heart of the audience,” Also, “it was the first approach to the album and the experience was very deep. The people loved it, so I decided to re-record after the main release”. He says “Mind Control for me is like a basket of fruits, each song will carry a special message for different people”.
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Bwoy, Stephen Marley a deh Gargon. Everyone looks at Damian, Julian and Ziggy. However, Stephen just has that cool flow mon.
http://iriejamaica.blogspot.com/
Yeah...didn’t even realise he was still singing. Nuff respect indeed!