"Welcome to Jamrock" is a song by Jamaican reggae artist

Damian Marley Damian Robert Nesta "Jr. Gong" Marley (born 21 July 1978) is a Jamaican DJ, singer, lyricist and rapper. He is the recipient of four Grammy Awards. Early life, education and family Damian Marley is the youngest son of reggae musician Bob Marle ...

. It was released in March 2005 as the lead single from his album of the same name. The song was listed at number 270 on

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's "Top 500 songs of the 2000s". The song is featured in '' FIFA 06'', '' Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix'', ''

FIFA 23 ''FIFA 23'' is a football video game published by Electronic Arts. It is the 30th installment in the ''FIFA'' series that is developed by EA Sports, and the final installment under the ''FIFA'' banner, and released worldwide on 30 September 2022 ...

'' and '' The Sims 2: Bon Voyage'' where it is recorded in the game's fictional

Simlish Simlish is a fictional language featured in EA's ''Sim'' series of games. It debuted in ''SimCopter'' (1996), and has been especially prominent in ''The Sims'' franchise, as well as in its spinoff ''MySims'' series. Simlish can also be hear ...

language.

Background

The song covers issues such as crime, poverty and political corruption as part of the harsh reality of "Jamrock", Marley's personification of Jamaica, as opposed to the Jamaica advertised as a popular tourist destination. Marley laments Jamaica's high crime rate and unceasing violence, demanding that those in charge do something about it. In this sense he carries on the legacy of his

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

before him, in inspiring Jamaicans to stand together. Both the rhythm (known as ''World Jam'') and the hook are sampled from the 1984 track "World-A-Reggae" by Ini Kamoze − the original rhythm from the Ini Kamoze album was provided by

Sly and Robbie Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separa ...

Track listing

UK - CD: 1 # "Roshien" # "Welcome to Jamrock" # "Jr. Gong the Dreadful" UK - CD: 2 # "Welcome to Jamrock" # "Jr. Gong the Dreadful" # "Lyrical .44" # "Welcome to Jamrock"

ideo IDEO () is a design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, Germany, Japan, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 700 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, enviro ...

Awards

won the Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance at the

48th Grammy Awards The 48th Annual Grammy Awards took place on February 8, 2006, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning from October 1, 2004 through September 30, 2005. Irish rock band U2 w ...

in 2006 for "Welcome to Jamrock".

Charts

Certifications

Alicia Keys version

"Welcome to Jamrock" was recorded by American recording artist

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...

for her first live album ''

Unplugged Unplugged may refer to: *Acoustic music, music not produced through electronic means * "Unplugged" (B.A.P song), 2014 * "Unplugged" (''Modern Family''), a 2010 episode of ''Modern Family'' Albums and EPs * ''Unplugged'' (5'nizza album), 2002 * '' ...

'' (2005). Entitled "Love it or Leave it Alone/Welcome to Jamrock", Keys recorded the song as part of a medley, which appears as the last track of the album. "Love It or Leave It Alone" features hip hop recording artists

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally ...

and

Mos Def Yasiin Bey (; born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973), previously and more commonly known by his stage name Mos Def (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. His hip hop career began in 1994, alongside his siblings in the s ...

and "Welcome to Jamrock" features Damian Marley. Additionally, "Love It or Leave It Alone" contains a sample of "Love Me or Leave Me Alone" by

Brand Nubian Brand Nubian is an American hip hop group from New Rochelle, New York, composed of three emcees ( Grand Puba, Sadat X and Lord Jamar), and formerly three DJs (DJ Alamo, DJ Sincere, and DJ Stud Doogie). Their debut studio album, '' One for All' ...

, written by Lorenzo DeChalus, Derek Murphy and Charles Davis and "Latoya" by

Just-Ice Joseph Williams Jr. (born June 22, 1965), better known by the stage name Just-Ice, is an American rapper from New York City. A former bouncer at punk clubs, Williams was the first of the New York rappers to embrace gangsta rap, and when he bur ...

, written by Kirk Khaleel and Joseph Williams. On working with Alicia Keys on ''Unplugged'', Damian Marley said that "I’m a fan of her music. What I really appreciate about her music is the whole live aspect. She’s very hands-on and musical. Reggae musicians appreciate that because we use more live instrumentation". The song was generally well received by music critics in their reviews for ''Unplugged''. Matilda Egere-Cooper from

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio ...

called it the "grand finale" of the album while Anthony Carew from

Neumu Neumu is a music website that features news, reviews, columns and downloads. The website was founded by Emme Stone and Michael Goldberg, who currently serves as the Editor in Chief. The site's album reviews are excerpted by Metacritic and used ...

called it a "jamboree finale".

Robert Hilburn Robert Hilburn (born September 25, 1939) is an American pop music critic, author, and radio host. As critic and music editor at the '' Los Angeles Times'' from 1970 to 2005, his reviews, essays and profiles appeared in publications around the wo ...

from ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' felt that Keys gave a "vigorous rendition" of the song. According to Roberta Penn of ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was fo ...

'', the "closing medley of "Love It or Leave It Alone" and "Welcome to Jamrock ..is a fabulous love fest". Thomas Inskeep from ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

'' described it as a "big hip-hop jam", but was not pleased with the song, writing "Clearly, Keys is trying to lighten up with this, but it comes off as basically a “Look at my cool celebrity friends!” move. Musically uninspiring, this medley feels and sounds tacked-on". Writing for ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'', David Browne simply commented that "a left-field cameo by Damian Marley on a cover of his hit ”Welcome to Jamrock” just feels opportunistic". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' reviewer Christian Hoard felt that with the multiple guest artists on the song, Keys "is sort of like trying to spice up a cocktail party by trotting out

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Welcome To Jamrock (Song) 2005 debut singles 2005 songs Damian Marley songs Alicia Keys songs Reggae fusion songs Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance Universal Records singles Songs written by Damian Marley