According to the UK Daily News, the 2005 single Welcome to Jamrock by renowned artiste Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley sold a whopping 400,000 copies in the UK. This led to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) making it public that the 2005 hit was awarded the Brit Certified Gold Award. This news was made public on December 16.
The reggae sensation, who is the youngest son of reggae legend Bob Marley, was awarded on numerous occasions for this masterpiece, two of which were Grammys. The reggae single was produced by Jr. Gong and his brother Stephen Marley, who sampled the riddim and hook from Ini Kamoze’s 1984 track, “World-A-Music”.
According to the UK Daily News, this was not the first time the song had been awarded gold. Numerous countries, such as Canada and the United States, had already done this when the album’s sales reached their all-time high. It was #1 on the reggae album charts and #7 on the Billboard 200 charts.
Ghetto Youths International/Tuff Gong and Universal Records released the Welcome to Jamrock album, which features Nas, Eek-A-Mouse, and Bounty Killer. Welcome to Jamrock became so popular that it was even featured in widely-known games and movies.
Jr. Gong stated in an interview that the song was inspired by things he saw while living in Jamaica that the media did not portray of his country. He sought to bring to light what it was like to live in a third-world country and the struggles they faced, according to the UK Daily News.
Jr. Gong has even had a cruise named after the album, which began its 7th tour earlier this year. The cruise’s voyage has destinations in Jamaica and Florida and even has performances from Sizzla, Shabba Ranks, and Burning Spear, among others.
Watch the music video below.
