The Afrobeats remix of “Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)” By Bob Marley & The Wailers Featuring Rema & Skip Marley debuts at No. 30 on the US Billboard Afrobeats Chart date August 19, 2023. This marks the first entry on the chart for both Bob and Skip Marley. The song is the fourth single from the Africa Unite, collaborative album by Bob Marley & The Wailers along with some of the biggest names in African music.
The ten-track project released by Island Records August 4, did not make this week’s US Billboard Reggae Albums Chart after selling 1000 equivalent units in streams and sales according to data provided to World Music Views by Billboard sales trackers Luminate. Of that amount 300 was in pure copies and one million streams in the US.
Leading up to the album’s the Universal Music label, Island Records dropped three other singles: a remix of Stir It Up with with rising Afrobeats star Sarkodie, Tiwa Savage is featured on the remake of Waiting In Vain, and a remix of Three Little Birds featuring Ten OTG and Oxlade. Those singles contributed to the album’s lifetime sales of 3000 album equivalent units including 300 pure copies and three million streams according to Luminate.
Africa Unite, the album got its name by way of the single from Marley’s Survival album (1979) and again on the compilation album “Gold” {2005). The project pays homage to some of the Reggae icon’s greatest hits, reimagined and infused with contemporary Afrobeats rhythms.
A&R for the project Gracey Mae in commenting on the album’s development said “Bob Marley’s Africa Unite and it speaks to us being one people and the family had a keen interest to make this a reality, and the songs we are gonna hear over the next couple of months have been five years in the making,” Mae told WMV.
“Its a beautiful time and African music is going global, it’s really a nod to how far we have come with the Estate and the family specifically saying we want to get in on the action and revive some of the classics we have come to know and love,” The noted U.K. publicist continued.
