UPDATE FROM STONEBWOY
Today (Friday, July 28), the Ghanaian musician Stonebwoy released a new remix of his song Life And Money featuring the American rapper Russ. New visuals were added to the fix to please fans.
Afrobeat, Dancehall, Reggae, and Rap combine powerfully in existence And Money to communicate about the spiritual and physical awareness of money and its influence on one's existence.
According to Stonebwoy, "The song is about life and money, so the song tells you about the conscious aspects of life, as well as the necessity of money as well as how to balance it,"Denzel Williams, who also helmed Stonebwoy's collaborations with Keri Hilson and Vic Mensa, directed the music video, which was filmed in Atlanta and captures the mood of the song beautifully. Scenes show Stonebwoy and Russ in carefree spirits among friends dancing and enjoying life as he totes the rhytmic hook: "I just want to see my people make money and make this life a happy place."
The music video's representation of both the spirituality and physicality of what the song is about is what the Activate singer called "amazing" about it.
Russ, who has been praised for his "amazing and unique style" by Stonebwoy, combines his silky raps with some Jamaican patois to enhance the storyline of the song.
"No matter what, I'm going to cherish my life. Mi haffi do is enjoy, enjoy. Naa afraid ah man with a gun or knife [inaudible]. Fame need not be earned; it is earned because I put in the effort and ensure that no one is injured. He sings.
"I perform at all these Reggae festivals and shows because of this. I am the first Ghanaian performer to play at Reggae Sumfest and Rebel Salute in Jamaica, bringing the Jamaican culture with me as if I were born there and the African culture with me since, of course, I was born in Africa.
This Afro-fusion performer does not distinguish between various genres because he is only interested in the artistry, audience, culture, and art of the music. Despite this, he wants to hear more musical collaborations between African and Jamaican artists.
The Into The Future vocalist used Bryon Messia and Burna Boy's recent collaboration on the Taliban II remix as an example.
These are the kinds of partnerships that are necessary, he said.
"This is how it should be done. There is astonishment all across the world when the genres of Afrobeat, Dancehall, and Reggae unite. According to how I've always seen, believed, and felt, this is where we need to be and how we need to condition and put everything together. Let's combine this information instead of making a comparison to determine how the world functions, he suggested.
African rapper Stonebwoy, who arguably holds the record for Jamaican collaborations,
has collaborated with a wide range of island artists, some of them include Beenie Man, Sean Paul, Jesse Royal, Mutabaruka, Kabaka Pyramid, Sizzla Kalonji, Agent Sasco, Jahmiel, 10Tik, Tarrus Riley, Chi Chi Ching, and I-Octane.
On his most recent album, 5th Dimension, Stonebwoy also worked with Shaggy on the song "My Sound" and Dexta Daps on the song "Secret Lover."
The next goal for Stonebwoy is to one day collaborate with Bounty Killer and his idol Buju Banton. "I'm staring at Buju, the absolute best, who just dropped an album! He was one of the founding founders, you know," he said, sounding very upbeat about a potential collaboration.
Stonebwoy spoke passionately about the influence Reggae and Dancehall music had on Afrobeats in an interview with DancehallMag, and he gave Jamaican music credit for helping to establish the new-age genre.
"Really, the reason that I have been booking the shows to levels where you know, we have Afrobeat that has come off it is because of Reggae and Dancehall music here in the West," he claimed. "Afrobeat has also been able to get a lot of recognition to this point because of how far Reggae and Dancehall went, the black portion of it,"
The Muchacha singer asserts that dancehall and reggae are collectively owned by black people.
