(2) One Love Lyrics: In his song One Love, Bob Marley motivates people to “get together and feel alright.” Bob sings One Love, like all of his other songs, in effort to inspire peace throughout the world. In the first verse he sings, “hear the children crying, hear the children crying.” In these lines he trying to preach his message by connecting to children, a topic that most people are sensitive too. He’s saying lets stop the violence, fighting and oppression for the children’s sake. Children are viewed as harmless and innocent, so using them in his lyrics make his message more significant. Marley later says, “Lets get together and feel alright” after referencing to the Book of Revelation “as it was in the beginning.” By doing this Marley makes his message that people should ignore race, color, and any negative connotations and come together because then we will be alright. In his song One Love Bob Marley references common themes that resent sympathy like children, as well as reference religious. Doing so allows him to connect to his audience on a more personable way. His audience in the text is to all the “sinners” and wrong do-ers to stop violence and spread peace.
CITE: Marley, Bob. “One Love Lyrics.” Rock Genius. Rap Genius, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. http://rock.rapgenius.com/Bob-marley-one-love-lyrics
(3) Legacy of Bob Marley Article: Looking back at the life of Bob Marley, one can sum him to be a unique talent that will always have an influence inside and outside of Jamaica through his music. “It might be that no one will ever again scale the musical heights reached by Bob Marley, with his influence not just on the charts but on politics, international relations and human rights” (Ian Burrell). Through his messages of peace and love Bob Marley achieved things many contemporary artists couldn’t. The author of this article, Ian Burrell, targets these modern day artists to take a page out of Bob Marley’s playbook. Burrell states, “It would be nice if more modern artists felt inspired enough to at least give it a try.” In saying this Burrell attempts to attract the audience of other artists. Bob Marley was an extraordinary man however, what says another artist can’t be similar? The goal behind writing this piece, Burrell tried to challenge other artists to preach, or at least convey the messages of peace and love towards everyone. This article comes at an important time, as reggae music is becoming forgotten and masked by other mainstream genres of music. Reviving the legend of Bob Marley gave the author strong support to challenge artists to change their perspectives and musical motives to those similar to Bob Marley. “Songs such as “Simmer Down” and “Jailhouse” reflected the inner city tensions that Marley had experienced and were imbued with the rebel spirit that became his trademark” (Burrell). In this article Burrell used Marley as an international icon that is to be idolized and mimicked in order to support his claim.
CITE: Burrell, Ian. “Bob Marley: Rastaman Vibration.” The Independent. The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/bob-marley-rastaman-vibration-2263426.html, 6 Apr. 2011. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.
LINK: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/bob-marley-rastaman-vibration-2263426.html
(4) One Love Peace Concert: The One Love Peace Concert was held in spring 1978 in Jamaica. The idea of a concert started with the motive to create peace between two political parties: the People’s National Party (PNP) and Jamaican Labour Party (JLP). It wasn’t just for fans of music and reggae but for all fractions of politics to see this concert as a stepping-stone towards peace and unity. At the concert Bob said “I just want to shake hands [with a guy from each the JLP and PNP] and show the people that we’re gonna make it right, we’re gonna unite, we’re gonna make it right, we’ve got to unite.” This act resembles Bob Marley not just seeking peace between two people or politic groups, but peace between everyone. Activists and Rastafarian’s like Bob Marley used this concert as a tool to progress world peace. The rhetoric behind this concert is an act of world peace, much more than what appears to the eye: a concert for the entertainment of the fans. The timing of this concert was vital. It occurred when: (1) Bob Marley was exiled, and was what brought him back to Jamaica (2) The JLP and PNP were in the midst of a political war. Also getting steam during the 70s was the Cold War. This concert reflected the ideals behind the majority of people. Unfortunately the result wouldn’t come close to the aims people had when constructing the
concert. A few years later the JLP and PNP still had tension and conflict, and more importantly Bob Marley would past away in 1981.
LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Love_Peace_Concert
CITE: “One Love Peace Concert.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 02 Nov. 2014. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Love_Peace_Concert>.
(5) Bob Marley became successful not through his shear vocal talents, but through his strong diction throughout his songs. He uses words and concept that appeal to everyone so his claim becomes more important and focused on my his audience. Using concepts and terms that appeal to others is important because it attracts interest in comparison to if he was talking about something irreverent like baseball, then no one would pay attention. In Rebel Music he sings “Oh, why can’t we be what we wanna be?” Jamaica and other Latin American countries recently (50 to 100 years ago) had struggles for independence so the timing of this (1972) is important to look at. It was a period with tensions still revolving around freedom and independence so Bob Marley used music to help further his goals of peace and freedom.
LINK: http://blogs.longwood.edu/musicintheworld/2012/12/02/the-influence-of-bob-marleys-music/
(6) Snoop Dogg went into Jamaica a Dogg but came out a Rastafarian Lion After going to Jamaican for a “spiritual” trip Snoop Dogg changed his name to Snoop Lion after Rastafarian priests bestowed this name to him. The New York Times quotes Snoop in doing so because “I [Snoop] was Bob Marley reincarnated.” Snoop changed his musical motives to a more peaceful approach identical to Bob Marley hence the claim that he was actually Bob Marley reincarnated. Snoop claimed to be over rapping, specifically due to the fact that he’s done singing about “hustling and making money and drug-dealing and shooting.” This is important because it shows Bob Marley’s influence in the current generation. Snoop lion in this article exemplified this because he’s obviously not Bob Marley reincarnated. The audience of Snoop’s isn’t directs towards a specific group but to all ages. In the article Snoop emphasized how one reason he’s gone into reggae was to produce music for all ages to enjoy. So why is all this important and how does Bob Marley correlate to this? Well, Bob Marley achieved his goal by spreading his music and message: peace. In doing so through a national icon many people will follow in his footsteps in comparison to if a random stranger did so. Even though Snoop Dogg isn’t Bob Marley, Bob Marley will live on through Snoop Lion and his work, influencing people in modern day society. The timing of this news doesn’t come at a significant time. However a line can be drawn between this and the end of the War in Iraq. The war official ended around 2011 (however there is still current occupation and conflict overseas) and Snoop announced his rastafarian revival in 2012. Although he isn’t, Snoop Lion could be the person needed to began a movement for a time of peace and prosperity much like Bob Marley would do.
CITE: Walsh, Michael. “Snoop Dogg Evolves into Snoop Lion, Claims He Is Bob Marley Reincarnated.” Daily News. New York Daily News, 21 July 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/snoop-dogg-evolves-snoop-lion-claims-bob-marley-reincarnated-video-article-1.1126235>.
LINK: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/snoop-dogg-evolves-snoop-lion-claims-bob-marley-reincarnated-video-article-1.1126235
Legend of Bob Marley 