Skip Marley Premieres “Make Me Feel” Visual Featuring Ari Lennox And Rick Ross

The voice you hear speaking on the haunting first track of Skip Marley’s debut EP Higher Place is that of his legendary grandfather Robert Nesta Marley, who once went by the nickname “Skip” himself. “Is something higher,” Bob once said in a 1979 interview, seeking to explain the magnitude of a profound worldwide reckoning that he knows is coming. “Is something no man can stop.” On the title track of his EP, which was released last week on Tuff Gong / Island Records, Skip sings of his own burning desire to go higher. So what is this higher place all about? “The betterment of mankind,” Skip explained during a recent telephone call from Miami. “A world community where each one do him part and live right and live upful as we should. And it nah go’ happen unless you make that decision today. Cause it start within you first. For yourself. And you have to take I and I higher, forward.” During a year that’s brought so many downward vibrations, it’s more than a little bit refreshing to hear such optimistic energy. For the past five years, the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist has made that sort of thing his specialty. “Music with a message is the music we love,” says Skip. “Good vibrations. Positivity. Conscious influence of the heart and the mind and the soul. Yeah. Blessed are the singers and the players. Can’t take this lightly.” When your mom is Cedella Marley, Bob’s firstborn child and a founding member of the Melody Makers, and your father’s aunt is Marcia Griffiths, one of Jamaica’s most revered singers and a member of Bob Marley’s harmony trio the I Three, taking music lightly isn’t really an option. Yet somehow Skip has found a way to carry the great expectations effortlessly, even as he holds himself to the highest standards.