American artist Chance The Rapper is on the hunt for some inspiration from Jamaican songs. The Chicago rapper, real name Chancelor Johnathan Bennett made the call for recommendations on twitter saying: “Can someone put me on to some of their favorite songs from Jamaican Artists. It can be new or old, widely popular or hidden gems. Reggae, Dancehall, Riddim, mento literally whatever. Just need some music.”
Can someone put me on to some of their favorite songs from Jamaican Artists. It can be new or old, widely popular or hidden gems. Reggae, Dancehall, Riddim, mento literally whatever. Just need some music
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) February 11, 2023
Among the recommendations given to the celebrated independent artist are Beres Hammond, Ini Kamoze.
Ini Kamoze
Dennis brownGems
— Kofi Jamar (@KofiJamar) February 11, 2023
Other recommendations were Hideaway by Tessanne Chin.
https://twitter.com/ashleighraet/status/1624629941206745088?s=20&t=D0QolRqLRaTZfkiq4fr84A
Always be my baby – beenie man
— Samara Osae🇺🇲🇻🇮🇬🇭 (@SamaTime12) February 12, 2023
https://twitter.com/mustlovemangoes/status/1624738125875408897?s=20&t=D0QolRqLRaTZfkiq4fr84A
The Grammy winning artist came on the scene on 2012 with he debut mixtape 10 Day, then got fame when he dropped Acid Rap. Bennett took the christian rap niche similar to Kanye West’s Sunday Service, labelling himself a “Christian Rapper.”
Chance The Rapper has always been connected to Africa and advocated for the connection between Americans and people living on the continent.
“For Black Americans and a lot of diasporas around the world, we don’t have that, you know, very easy access to the continent,” he said. “We’re typically taught our whole lives that it’s out of reach and it’s obviously extremely expensive to travel but once you finally get out to the continent, especially West Africa, you learn about the connections and the similarities and just the richness of the culture.”
He also has an upcoming album called “Star Line Gallery” that he says is in honor of Jamaica’s National Hero Marcus Garvey.
Garvey was the architect of the Black Star Liner, a campaign in the early 1900s to bring all black Americans back to settle in Africa with the slogan “Africa For Africans, Europe For Europeans”. The album’s many references to African land and ocean liners were inspired by his trip to Ghana at the start of 2022.
The title of the album and nature of the art pieces suggests that there may be a physical experience associated with the rollout in future.
“All of the new pieces of music that I’ve been putting out have been in collaboration with Black fine artists,” he said. “So not only am I like focused on the music but focused on the visuals, the art that’s connected to it.”
