Macka B takes ‘Cucumba to di World’ - Newly released EP ‘Gentrification’ tackles topic which ‘touches his core’
Published:Sunday | December 20, 2020 | 12:20 AMYasmine Peru - Sunday Gleaner Writer
There seems to be something uncanny going on between ‘Mackas’ and cucumbers. Before dancehall deejay Macka Diamond did her cucumber song and questionably salacious video, ‘The Big Rastaman’ from the United Kingdom, Macka B, also did an ode to the cucumber. But what is it about that fruit that makes it so attractive? Both will say it’s the health benefits therein.
It was in 2017 that Macka B began a series of regular a cappella videos released on his social channels – Medical Mondays and Wha’ Me Eat Wednesdays. The releases proved very popular and the video for Cucumba became a viral hit with 80 million views to date. It was picked up by mainstream media including Vogue and Daily Mail and Macka B made appearances on UK terrestrial TV shows including Good Morning Britain. He has now released part two, which is titled Cucumba to di World.
HEALTHY EATING
“I am into healthy, vegan eating and I decided to do the videos in Macka B style and Cucumba took off. Naomi Campbell picked it up and so too Beyoncé’s mother, Tracee Ellis Ross and Chadwick Boseman. Cucumba to di World talks about that experience,” Macka B told The Sunday Gleaner.
The new track is accompanied by a music video, which was shot in India this year. “I was there in January doing a reggae festival, Goa Sunsplash, and we had some days after the festival, so I decided to use the time to shoot the music video,” he said.
Cucumba to di World is one of the songs on his newly released EP, a collection which shows that Macka B is certainly not all about vegetables and food for the body. He is also tuned in to the soul. The latest project, Gentrification, on the Peckings Records label, was released on December 4 on all digital platforms and there are plans for a vinyl release next year.
Being at the forefront of UK reggae music for 30 years, Macka B is actually known first and foremost for his social commentary and his positive, uplifting and conscious lyrics. He simply calls it “message music”, and gentrification, he declares, is a subject which touches his core.
“We see this more and more where the authorities take a poor neighbourhood, pump money in it and make all the right improvements, only for the poor people who were living there for 20 and 30 years find themselves without anywhere to live because they can no longer afford it,” the artiste, whose parents were part of the Windrush generation explained. He named places such as Brixton and Harlem, where the neighbourhoods had become so gentrified that the original residents, most of them black, had to move out.
“Up ye mighty race, it’s time to take your place,” he said, quoting national hero, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, and continuing on a black consciousness mode, the toaster lashed out at the Group of Seven (G7) meetings at which there is no black representative.
The Wolverhampton-born entertainer, whose parents were originally from Hanover, performed in Jamaica at Rebel Salute in 2000 and again in 2016, and he told The Sunday Gleaner that he jumps at any opportunity to visit Jamaica.