5 Questions With Anthony B

On his social media pages, Rastafarian singer, Anthony B, describes himself as ‘The Most Controversial Reggae Artiste Ever’ and with good reason.

From the early days of his career with the release of the controversial Fire Pon Rome to his political critiques through his lyrics, Anthony B has consistently called out what he perceives as “the wrongs” and has blazed many a fire. He has stated repeatedly, however, that “when we say ‘burn fire’ we don’t mean take a match and light somebody, we are saying get rid of these things that are no good for humanity”.

The reggae and dancehall artiste, who tours extensively throughout Europe, the Caribbean and North America annually, always carries the Jamaican flag high and when his fans least expect it, he makes a move which shows the mettle of the man. This year, Anthony B entered the Festival Song Competition, but he was forced to pull out owing to conflicting tour schedule, but he has vowed to return.

An author who released a self-help book focusing on love and relationships, Anthony B came to the forefront in an era when there were a plethora of “slackness” songs, some of which spoke ill of women. However, he made the deliberate choice to shun slackness in favour of reality tunes and later linked with producer Richard ‘Bello’ Bell, creating hits such as Fire Pon Rome, Raid di Barn, Rumour, and Repentance Time. He has released more than 20 albums, among them Universal Struggle, Seven Seals, Street Knowledge, Untouchable, Black Star, My Hope, Life Over Death, and Tribute to Legends.

In May 2020, Anthony B released his 20th studio album titled, King In My Castle and in 2023, he released Bread and Butter.

1. Tell us a little about your Festival Song Competition entry.

The song is titled Hi Jamaica and it portrays Jamaica as a woman. It’s a really nice song and it was produced by an up-and-coming producer named General. We wanted to release it as a regular song, but decided to pull it back for 2024.

2. Over the years, you have consistently released new albums, why is that, especially when the talk is that albums are not selling?

The album is titled Bread and Butter. There are 16 songs and was released on March 21. There are collabs with Busy Signal, Zamunda and Brammer. I am promoting the Chill Out song now. Music is not just something that I sing, I use it to take care of my family ... I have two daughters in college. Reggae music is that bread and butter for the world and songs can never be too much. Right now I am on tour in Germany and there are 55 of us Jamaicans staying in the same hotel and all of us are here because of the music. Many ghetto youth come out of the slums and make it in life because of music ... and not just from Jamaica, but reggae music has helped white people get out of their slums as well. We all need to respect and treasure this music in teh same way that we should respect Miss Lou’s contribution to the world.

3. To what extent did the pandemic affect your bread and butter?

There was no pandemic for Anthony B. I was going back and forth going to the places that were open for music. But I just want to give thanks that we made it ... collectively as a people, we made it. I have been on the road for decades ... non stop. I remember Edi Fitzroy telling me to ‘keep on doing what you are doing. Bob Marley called me to join him on tour and I didn’t go. And look where he is compared to where I am.’ Right now I am booked until September 29 for places such as Slovenia, Slovakia, France, Italy and the US.

4. What makes reggae music so special?

Reggae music is the biggest vehicle to push Jamaica’s tourism, but the authorities refuse to acknowledge that. I went to St Kitts for their music festival ... remember yuh nuh that St Kitts don’t even have music for themselves, but they use our music and create one of the biggest and most recognised music festival in the world.

5. Do you think that reggae music gets the respect that it deserves?

There is a lot of goodwill out there for the music, but if we are not careful we will be faced with a dying culture. We play more Drake songs in Jamaica than we play our own music. Just ask JACAP ( Jamaica Association of Composers Authors and Publishers) how much royalty money they have to send overseas annually. Brands like Adidas recognise the power of Jamaica and the music, but at the same time there is hardly anything that we can set up in Jamaica that is beneficial. If you go on a global stage and call the name of any politician in Jamaica, nobody knows them, but if yuh seh ‘Do you want to go to Burning Spear’s home’ everybody knows that I am talking about Jamaica and the answer is ‘Yes!’ The politicians have a way to use the music for their own benefit. During election time they use dubplate to win, but now the same dubplate that mek yuh win election now yuh seh a it a cause murder.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com