To say that YG Marley’s first single, “Praise Jah in the Moonlight,” is a hit does not do it justice. Since the song was released on December 27th it has been streamed over 1 billion times. On TikTok it has soundtracked well over 300,000 times. YG and his mother Lauryn Hill co-wrote this song that samples YG’s grandfather Bob Marley’s “Crisis.” This is a fantastic song, well produced with some excellent lyrics. There is a real Bob Marley feel to YG’s flow and vocalization, but you also get a hint of Lauryn Hill in his style, makes for a very nice flow. I especially love his improvising in the song with his lyrics compared to the background singers, he is changing his rhythm throughout. This hits deep with powerful emotion. “These roads of flames and catching on fire,” expresses a deep sense of passion and unrest. The poignant line, “show you I loved you, you called me a liar,” captures the complex underlying forces of love and betrayal.
The recently released video for this song, directed by Cole Bennett, starts off with Bob Marley’s “Crisis” and quickly transitions over to YG. He is walking with a bag of flowers, handing them out to as the sepia toned video changes to color. This happening over and over, a nice artistic flair. He is seen driving with a woman (his love interest) driving in his car and with him on the steps to his home. As he hits the chorus we see a group of family and friends behind him, we see his brother Nico and cousin Yohan, along with Kabaka Pyramid and Jesse Royal….really too many to name them all. We have YG dancing with his mother and YG sitting in a field surrounded by women singing the background vocals. This is a scene that is repeated throughout. And what is a Marley video without a few shots of playing soccer? We have a lot of dancing, this is such a fun song, a song you want to dance to, a song that puts a huge smile on your face. This is a great artistic production; I love how it all comes together. So much texture throughout this video, it makes it all flow together so nicely. Texture is really what this video and song is all about, the texture of the music, the texture of the lyrics, the texture of all the scenes in the video. We have yet another Marley that is going to hit it big.
One love - Todd