Sarkodie resurrects Bob Marley with Stir It Up remake

27 Jan 2023 - 12:12

Published under the Creative Commons Licence

It may not be their most popular technique, but those whom the music gods want to immortalise, they first bless with a Bob Marley feature. Therefore, rapper Sarkodie's name will long outlive him.

A still from the video of the new rendition of Bob Marley’s Stir It Up featuring Sarkodie.

As he does every few months thanks to a finely preserved legacy, late reggae icon Bob Marley returns from the dead – this time, looking to Ghana for new youth, to stir things up. His track of choice: the 1972 Wailers-assisted classic ‘Stir It Up.’

This latest update, rumoured to herald a full-length Africa-facing collection, blends the track’s original influence of reggae’s precursor genre, rocksteady, (alive with textured guitar riffs and soulful horns)‎, with thumping hip hop drum kicks.

The partnership is unlikely at first – and then it’s not. Reggae and hip hop are situated on polar ends of the spectrum. The former is, perhaps, more popular for championing activist themes, while the crux of the latter’s draw rides on chilling tales about the fast life. Thus, it is hardly surprising that while Marley’s lyrics retain their aching tenderness, Sarkodie’s verse, driven by his signature brisk, syncopated delivery in English, Pidgin and his native Twi introduces more venereal language, albeit not explicitly, about pair-bonding at exotic locations.

Still, the reimagination, which follows a classical interpretation by British ensemble Chineke! Orchestra last year, demonstrates Bob Marley’s ability to level with artists from any generation or tradition, his voice and message as one that embraces innovation, and all music as a single, perpetual conversation.

The production on this iteration of ‘Stir It Up’ does well to retain the spirit of the original, spritzing it with echoey ornamentation here, and additional chords and percussion there. The accompanying video also honours the dreamy island image associated with the song in particular, and reggae in general.

Ghana holds a tenured spot at the Afrobeats Vatican, but the country also boasts a firm allegiance to reggae; its most notable music success stories including famed practitioners like Stonebwoy and Rocky Dawuni. Indeed, a lot of its highlife and gospel classics lean toward the Jamaican genre. Sarkodie himself, while he primarily functions within the province of rap and Afropop, has had successful cracks at reggae rhythms.

While he boasts a long list of collaborations with African popstars, Sarkodie’s features beyond the continent have been few. In 2020, without offering further detail, seasoned Ghanaian producer Possigee, who has worked with the rapper since the start of his career, declared that Sarkodie had landed a feature with an artist “bigger than Jay-Z.” The song that informed that statement has finally arrived. The debate inherent in Possigee’s statement continues, and the jury is out there.

Aside from advancing the rapper‘s continued quest for global recognition, the new release is a solid attempt at reintroducing Marley’s voice and heritage to a new generation of Ghanaian music lovers.

Finally, Marley, who died in 1981, remains one of the most influential music brands globally, and is considered among the most important artistic voices of the last century. And so, where does one go from a Bob Marley feature?