Junior Gong [Gongzilla x Stony Hill]

Thirteen years later, Damian “Junior Gong” Marley returns to us in his first solo effort post “Half Way Tree.” And though many would agree that it could not be a moment too soon, Gongzilla himself might disagree. I can tell the man takes his time, and spends it very carefully. That’s not just because he’s worked on several other projects and compilations since his last album, but because even now on his birthday as he prepares to take the Sumfest stage, his family is with him. It seemed a miracle that he even agreed to this interview on such an important occasion, or perhaps rather, an indication of his commitment to what he does. You can imagine the apprehension as we pull up to the villa he’s booked out, when we have to wade through three layers of security just to get inside. But once inside, we get it; he’s by the poolside surrounded by family and loved ones, anyone outside of that, doesn’t belong inside. The transition from pool to table and spliff is seamless for Gong as he readies to share seven years of growth with us.

Why did you choose Big Yute for the intro of the album?

Because I’m a great fan of Big Yute. And I want tell yuh say, I recorded the vocals for that when I was working on the album with Nas. Big Yute did come through and did a hold some energy in the studio, so I got the vocals from there. So I’m a big fan of that, especially the original cut of it, which is on the Satta riddim. Y’nah mean, so yeah, I just think it’s a very powerful statement and mi always kinda have a tradition of starting my album with spoken word from an elder. Big Yute is one I look up to, so yeah.

‘Here We Go’ has the ‘big ego’ vibes riding throughout, do you feel it’s somewhat necessary to remind people that you had to work to get to where you are?

Well, I wouldn’t word it that way. Is just kinda like the first mi really a voice my opinion on certain things, certain criticisms and even criticizing other things too y’nah mean? But even it’s funny how music works because that song for example is a song that I started around- -Alright you have parts of that song, certain little lines that come from like the late 90s, then other parts of it come like around 2008. I was doing some work- I was supposed to start what was my next album at the time after Jamrock, so I started doing some work and then I ended up stopping to work on the album with Nas. So some of these things really exist from a long time still. But y’nuh, again, is one of the first track dem I really kinda voice certain kind of opinions to such a degree. So it’s just good sometimes to give people an honest take and how I’m feeling.

“Nail Pon Cross” was the first single released from the album, why that single and how important do you feel the message was?

Technically “Caution” was the first single we released that is on the album, but we didn’t release it with as much promotion. But “Nail Pon Cross,” again- Y’nuh, sometimes is not really such a thought out thing, to say I did this because of a particular reason, or anything more than just, we like the song and we just a feel the energy of that song in that moment. The song that I sampled, “Solidarity,” is a song that I grew up listening to. So even just the beat alone, is a beat weh mi really, really love. It’s more just based upon me being a fan of that song, than saying I need to do this now because of any particular reason.

“Medication” touches on a topic that is personal to you, but you use it as a means to talk about the more medicinal uses. What is your wish for the plant as it relates to international laws?

Of course we want it to be legalized, definitely. As people that use herb on a daily basis, it’s one of my only squabbles with the law in terms of day to day life. But that goes without saying and then, of course now, like you just said with the- in places where it becomes legal and they’re able to do more research, you seeing a whole lot of promising research being done on the medical benefits. So can you imagine if it really becomes legal in certain places on a federal level, like even in America, where they can use the top labs and top scientists and really go in, then the possibilities endless. And of course we as Rasta, from day one we a say legalize herb. So that goes without saying, we live dat.

You have partnerships with Ocean Grown and Tru Cannabis, how did these come about and why?

Well it came about because we want to get into the space of marijuana business. Ocean Grown came about because, I really like the strain of herb, the OG that they have. So I was smoking it before I even became business involved.

It’s your favorite?

Yeah, it is absolutely. Not just because a my own, that is why it’s mine, because it’s my favorite. Then it so happened that these people are family of my manager so, we already have a relationship, so it really ended up becoming a really beautiful business partnership in that sense. Tru Cannabis now, was some people out in Colorado. What we really wanted to do was get involved with dispensaries and being able to brand dispensaries. So that is how those types of relationships came about, from searching for people to partner up with.

When you speak of “Time Travel,” is it what we commonly conceive as time travel, or do you mean it in a different way?

No, what we commonly call time travel – and then because the song itself, kinda reflecting and showing you the evolution of technology, ways of thinking and just life. So in that sense it’s also a time travel in terms of like I’m saying from a sling shot to a rifle or a book to an iPad, these kinds of things. And that song was inspired by, you know in 2012 they said the world was supposed to end. That’s what inspired the beginning of that song. But here we are, new frontier.

You did some work with Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Dave Stewart, and A. R. Rahman as SuperHeavy – the group. Describe briefly that experience.

It was a great learning experience because you dealing with people of a different genre and who you probably wouldn’t even typically think to collaborate with in that kind of way. So you learn a lot from watching how they make music, approach song writing and vibes from being in the studio with them. A lot of the things I can’t even really put into words, but you pick up on little things that you really start applying. One of the lessons that I always relate is: I would be touring for years and see the Rock n’ Roll bands, like you go to a festival and see a band and when you look at the amount of guitars that they’re using on one show, all 20 guitars. Every song you see a man come change him guitar and him gone again. We typically use one or two guitars, so you wonder why they do that. Is it just an extra thing? But being in the studio with them now, when they have the guitars lined out. In studio you have the time, so you can listen to each one individually and you realize that each guitar have a completely different tone. So that is something that I learned through that project. So what really happen is that we used our musicians to play the music, so is like my drummer, my bass-our musicians really. Then of course they had their guitars like I said and they also had another keyboard player to bring some different flavor. But the foundation of the music was really our band.

How would you describe the sonic landscape of “Stony Hill”?

It’s very rich, it’s very musical. I think, like a lot of my previous albums, solo albums, were more heavily sample-based and drum machine-based, but this one make use of live drums and actual instrumentation. On this album I can say is the closest I’ve gone to making music that would be reminiscent of Wailers music. Because even when I sample Bob Marley music, I still kinda remix the beats so it’s like modern Dancehall or contemporary. This would be the most traditional Reggae music I’ve done on any album, when it comes to “Struggle Discontinues,” “Everbody Wanna Be Somebody,” “Looks Are Deceiving,” a lot of dem song deh y’nuh. Also this album, I’m doing more singing than I’ve ever done before too, especially in a kind of ballad format with “Autumn Leaves.” So it kinda show a whole heap a growth, which is reflective of especially working on stage live, because I sing on stage live. So over the years practicing singing on stage, I kinda feel more comfortable now singing in the studio as opposed to deejaying which is really my original root. Steve usually would sing the hooks.