Their collaborative effort, Distant Relatives, is unlike anything that has ever been created before in urban music. Nas’ and Damian Marley’s powerful wordplay, use of live instrumentation and natural cohesiveness could earn the duo a Grammy. Although accolades would be well deserved, the two combined forces because of their love for music and their desire to bring awareness to the beauty and struggles of Africa. As the two sat down for an interview with rolling out at Quad Studios in New York, they revealed why it was important to create one of the most innovative albums of the year.
What was the inspiration for the Distant Relatives album?
Damian Marley: We started recording at the end of 2008. We’re fans of each others music, but the inspiration for this album is Africa. If you don’t know your history, it’s like a tree without a root, like Marcus Garvey said. The problems in Africa are too numerous to speak of in one album, but this is all about humanity. It’s the human thing to do for us to give a helping hand.
Nas: A lot of things are messed up over there in Africa, [and there] are things that we can’t fix with a record. But maybe we can help a little bit. We can inspire others to do more. If we’re going to talk about it, we have to be about it.
Distant Relatives is the first album that features a collaboration of a major hip-hop and reggae artist. Damian, how were you introduced to hip-hop? And Nas, how were you introduced to reggae?
DM: I was turned on to hip-hop from my cousin when I was younger. The first hip-hop album that I bought was LL Cool J’s Mama Said Knock You Out.
I heard Nas’ ‘If I Ruled the World’ and I went back and [listened to] Illmatic. I could see what was so different in what he was bringing to the game. I can see how he influenced other people to rhyme.
Nas: I was introduced to reggae in the early 1980s. The entire style was appealing to me. The music was crazy. All the way up to hip-hop versions of reggae with KRS-One and Just Ice. The music they were creating was hard. Of course, Bob Marley saved my life. I would just listen to his words and I would get my mood right. ‘Buffalo Solider’ inspired me as an artist.
You both dedicated this album to Africa. How have African traditions played a role in hip-hop and reggae?
DM: When it comes to hip-hop and reggae, [both are] poetry and spoken word traditions that began with African music. All of the music is very influential. It’s something that breaks 
barriers, class and culture. It’s the heartbeat of the people. I hope an architect can listen to my music and be inspired. Music needs to encourage. Communication is the biggest thing that influences change. Our ancestors influenced our music and what we hope to change.
Nas: The stories that were told in Africa in the past [were] hip-hop. The oral storytellers were rapping in their own way. We are doing the same thing with hip-hop and reggae. We’re just telling people what’s going on.
Is there anything that the voices of hip-hop can do to put a stop to black self- destruction?
Nas: It’s already done tons to [stop] black self-destruction, more than a lot of other things have done. It took brothers and sisters off the streets and made them into entrepreneurs and made them hire other people and made them role models for other youngsters to get in the game and emulate those hip-hop entrepreneurs and icons. But on the flip-side of it, there’s evil in the world. [There are] too many people who are mentally ill. Unnecessary violence is going to go on whether there’s hip-hop or not.
Damian, ‘Welcome to Jamrock’ showed a side of Jamaica that very few people get a chance to see. What you were hoping to reveal in that song? 
DM: Jamaica is very beautiful, but a lot of Jamaicans don’t get a chance to experience that beauty. They don’t get to live it. It’s a third world country. There is a different struggle from a third world country and a first world country. I remember a rapper saying when we he was a kid, he didn’t have meat to eat. He said they only had vegetables and rice. And I’m thinking some people are vegans by choice. Not having meat is not necessarily suffering. When you look at the different levels of struggling, [there’s] a big difference when it comes to an American ghetto and a Jamaican ghetto.
Damian, how was it growing up as the son of music legend Bob Marley?
DM: People are willing to give you an ear because you’re Bob Marley’s son. But when it comes to making music, I try to do things from the heart. I continue to do what I love to do and I keep my morals in line.
What would you say to young kids who are in the struggle and are trying to find their way?
Nas: Create your own job. Don’t follow what everybody else is doing. You can look and watch just so you can learn what not to do. And always stay around people who are doing better than you and keep a crowd of decent people around you.
DM: I would say dream big and don’t give up the fight. Everything starts as a thought. From spaceships to sliced bread. Vision big and do your best to make [your] vision become reality.
Concert Review: Nas and Damian Marley Distant Relatives Tour
With Distant Relatives being the first major collaborative effort between a bona fide hip-hop star and a well-respected reggae artist, fans of both musical genres were itching to find out how the two would connect in a live performance.
During a recent stop at The Tabernacle in Atlanta, the two musical giants proved that they have a cohesiveness that takes some groups years to achieve.
After an entertaining reggae/hip-hop mix performed by DJ Green Latern, Nas and Damian Marley stormed the stage and opened with the furious hit single, “As We Enter.” The two then took the crowd into the essence of African strife with the haunting, “Tribal War.”
Damian Marley gave Nas the center stage and retreated for 15 minutes as the Queens emcee performed several of his classic hits, including “Hip-Hop is Dead” and the idealistic “If I Ruled the World.”
Marley soon returned to the stage and assisted Nas as the two kept the crowd’s energy high with “Dispear.” On “Count Your Blessings,” Marley led the way with a harmonious hook that showed the depths of his vocal range.
During Marley’s solo set, he performed several of his classic reggae hits and sent the crowd into a frenzy when he performed “Welcome to Jamrock.” Nas re-emerged to perform “Hate Me Know” and the B-boy anthem, “Made You Look.”
The two wrapped up the 90-minute show with “Africa Must Wake Up,” and later returned for two surprising encores.
Running through August, the Distant Relatives tour features a musical dream team that puts on one of the best live shows of the summer.
