I do have very solid reggae roots based on the fact that I'm Jamaican, and so that is a part of myself; even if I never do all reggae, it has to come out in some way because that's who I am.
Reggae is definitely a natural influence. Even living in Southern California, near the water, you get that reggae feel.
I never necessarily played the music I listen to. I've always liked a lot of soul, roots-reggae, alternative psych-rock, and I feel like, with age, that's kind of come.
The reggae fraternity is a small fraternity.
Jamaican reggae is the style of music I always reach for when ranting to friends about how you could listen to one style of music exclusively for the rest of your life - and it would all be great and varied and worth hearing.
Puerto Rico got too futuristic with the electronic reggaeton. It lost the essence of the reggae music.
There's not a hip-hop artist that didn't snatch of piece of Bob Marley. It's totally impossible.
One of the first places where I started to respond to song lyrics was in reggae music. A lot of what I was responding to were references to the Old Testament. It was not that I had to adapt the lyrics to the sound. Reggae and the Old Testament are bound up together. There wasn't anything that I had to do.
