All aboard Nebilus Records' Love Train

Last Friday, Grammy award winning keyboardist Llamar 'Riff Raff' Brown, released the Love Train Riddim, on his Nebilus Records Label. The label's official debut riddim features a slew of celebrated and emerging dancehall and reggae artistes. Even though some vocalists didn't make the final cut, Riff Raff managed to wrangle a total of 18 local talents for the smooth, soulful compilation.

"I don't know how that happened," he told The Gleaner. "I didn't plan on it being so many. A few people actually got left off. But I'm grateful for those who joined me in this creation. It's a really nice project with some well-written and performed songs," he added.

The Love Train Riddim instrumentalists are; Jermaine Campbell (drums), Jason Welsh (bass), Nicolas Groskopf (guitars), Dean Fraser (saxophone) and Dwight Richards (trumpet). Some of the artistes on the riddim are; Voicemail, Gappy Ranks, Publik Report, Jemere Morgan, Raging Fyah, House of Shem, Chevaughn, Kae Music, Morgan Heritage, Evin Lake, Million Stylez, Klyve, Elephant Man, Junior Kelly, BLVK H3RO, Symatic and Bescenta.

Compiling this impressive credits list was no small feat. According to Riff Raff, taking the riddim from a concept to last week's release, took about three years. "I have a few friends in the industry, and most of them are artistes whom I have maintained a good relationship with, so it was easy reaching out to them. The hard part was everybody finding the time to do it - because of tours and so on. I actually mixed and finished the project twice, and went back to change sounds and balance," he said.

It's no wonders that he was able to get such talents together, as he is well-known on the local and international reggae scene.

He has vied for multiple Grammy awards, through his instrumental and work on numerous local and international reggae acts. As musician and producer, he has been nominated for Jah Cure's The Cure (2015) and Morgan Heritage's Avrakedavra (2017). As a producer, he was nominated for Raging Fyah's Everlasting (2016) and J Boog's Rose Petals, on which he produced one track.

Riff Raff has won a Grammy award for Morgan Heritage's Strictly Roots (2015, as a musician and producer), Damian 'Jr. Gong' Marley's Stony Hill (2017, as a musician on the track Perfect Picture) and Stephen Marley's Revelation Part 1: The Roots of Life (2011, as a musician and producer). He is also credited instrumentalist and performer on a number of other highly regarded recordings, including Nas and Damian Marley's Distant Relatives (2010).

Now that the hard part's over, along comes another. The producer and instrumentalist is settling another hat on his head, that of marketer. "I think there is much work to be done, promotion-wise, so it can get to more ears. I'm working on that daily," he disclosed.