Warrior King a ‘superhero protecting the environment’
Named ambassador for TeamSeas Jamaica
Published:Monday | October 30, 2023 | 12:08 AMYasmine Peru/Senior Gleaner Writer
Not all superheroes wear capes, and reggae artiste Warrior King is testament to that. The Virtuous Woman singer is matching his voice and actions as he embraces the role of ambassador for the Jamaican arm of TeamSeas, a global environmental initiative that describes itself as “one of the biggest, baddest, most-impactful clean-up projects of all time”.
“As a child growing up we used to watch a lot of superhero movies, and they were always saving the planet. Well, I feel like one of them ... like a superhero protecting the environment,” Warrior King shared.
Both he and his wife-manager Leslie -Ann are convinced that the opportunity to align the Warrior King brand with TeamSeas was a manifestation rather than happenstance. TeamSeas is a fundraising campaign initiated by Mark Rober and MrBeast, content creators on YouTube. The campaign’s goal is to raise US$30 million to remove 30 million pounds of trash polluting coastal regions, rivers, and ultimately, oceans. Funds are split equally between The Ocean Cleanup and Ocean Conservancy.
“[Warrior] King was invited by TeamSeas to be the Jamaican brand ambassador for their ocean, beaches, and rivers worldwide clean-up, and the partnership is a manifested reality. We both dreamed about having a non-profit organisation merge with King’s brand to clean up the rivers in our community. And one day, a videoographer who we’ve worked with in the past reached out to us and told us about the organisation and that they were coming down to Jamaica to do a clean-up. He said that they asked if there was anyone they could link up with while they were here, and he suggested King and others to them,” Leslie-Ann explained.
TeamSeas did their research and chose Warrior King from the list of names they had been given.
“My brand resonates with them,” Warrior King stated.
“They connected with my music, my family values, and just what I represent ... so give thanks. The day after Joey [the videographer] called, TeamSeas contacted me. They came to Jamaica, and after spending time with them assisting with clean-ups, I am even more passionate about the environment. I was out there in my water boots cleaning up the garbabge. I learnt that there are seven gullies that empty into Kingston Harbour, and TeamSeas has installed interceptors to collect the garbage before it goes into the sea. I saw some tings ... old fridges, dead animals, plastic bottles ... and these things. It is one thing to sing songs about this kind of stuff, but it is even more important to get out there and do your part in keeping the environment clean,” Warrior King said.
“Garbage affects animal life, the reefs ... and remember that we eat the fish from the sea. I am encouraging Jamaicans and other people across the globe to keep the waterways clean,” Warrior King said, sounding like an advertisement.
His queen added, “Taking uzp trash and saving the planet is not a complicated situation.”
TeamSeas celebrated its two-year anniversary on Sunday, proud of the fact that the initiative has so far collected 20 million pounds of garbage from seas, rivers, and waterways.
Warrior King, who hailed the GraceKennedy Foundation for being on board the organisation’s visit to Jamaica, has been sharing his first-hand experiences on social media and is hopeful that more people will become aware of the necessity to keep the environment clean.
In one of the videos, Matt Fitzgerald, the campaign director and co-founder of TeamSeas shares, “I personally really appreciated seeing where the trash comes from and how it’s collected ... having the incredible honour to bring an amazing reggae singer, Warrior King, to be an ambasador for TeamSeas Jamaica.”
Warrior King’s music is already being incorporated into TeamSeas Jamaica’s lifestyle. All the videos that are posted use his song, Iniversal Light, a new release from the UK-based Machete Records, in the background. The song is the second single from his soon-to-be-released album of the same name.
Mark ‘Warrior King’ Dyer, was born in Kingston, but now calls St Elizabeth home. The reggae singer is known within the Caribbean and internationally for his music that is focused on messages about education and uplifting women. Among Warrior King’s best known hits are Virtuous Woman, Hold da Faith, My Life, Can’t Get me Down, Wanna Give You Love and Never go Where Pagans go.