From an extraordinarily talented teen quintet to one of contemporary reggae’s most powerful forces, Peetah Morgan (vocals), Una Morgan (keyboard/vocals), Roy “Gramps” Morgan (keyboard/vocals), Nakhamyah “Lukes” Morgan (rhythm guitar) and Memmalatel “Mr. Mojo” Morgan (percussion/vocals) are back with Here Come The Kings —the collective’s first musical arrangement in five years — available June 11th on VP Records.
The band’s latest studio album will “stimulate the minds of the people and let them know what we’ve created, it’s real,” proclaims the group’s lead vocalist Peetah Morgan. Prepare for the revolution. After respective solo careers and music ventures of their own, Morgan Heritage returns this spring with their groundbreaking album Here Come The Kings. Lyrically, Here Come The Kings is a refresher course for culture music fans, staying true to Morgan Heritage’s authentic Rockaz style, with brilliant instrumentation and empowering lyrics.
However, collaborations with ingenious young blood producers like Lamar Brown (Notice Productions), Shane C. Brown (Juke Boxx Productions) and multiple Grammy nominee, Jason “J-Vibe” Farmer, lead the band to explore new sounds that successfully fuse roots, r&b, and a hint of dancehall, evident on the cut “Girl is Mine” and the album’s first single “Perfect Love Song.”
View behind the scenes footage of “Perfect Love Song” anticipated video – shot in Miami and directed by Spencer Antle: http://youtu.be/7o6v47wRHxc “Roots Reggae is alive and well outside of the island of Jamaica,”
Gramps passionately declares, as he expounds on the band’s continued commitment to heal the world through music. “It’s not about changing the message,” which unfailingly has been one of love, dignity, respect, and praising Jah, “but delivering the message to a new generation,” a population that the tight-knit tribe believes has strayed away from the island’s rich culture. “Shabba, Shaggy, these people captivated foreign markets because they were different, but still 100% Jamaican. Reggae artists need to realize that what we do is precious.
We must value what we have because the public wants us for who we are,” explains Peetah. “We’re a lot more confident and mature than what you heard 5 years ago,” claims Peetah. He applauds the album’s catchy hooks, impressive features and infectious riddims. “The musicality of this project is attractive to the young generation while maintaining the uplifting content that we’re known for,” he adds.
The new album is co-produced by Morgan Heritage, alongside some of reggae’s most innovative talents including: Linton White (“Perfect Love Song”), Shane Brown (“The Return”), Jason Farmer (“Girl is Mine”) and Donovan “Don Corleon” Bennett (“Call to Me”). Grammy-winning Jamaican icon Shaggy lays his indistinguishable vocals on ladies anthem “Loved Stoned,” where a man is telling a woman, “you got me so high, I’m in the cosmos, I’m literally stoned on your love,” Peetah says. “Stand Up” is incontestably the album’s anthem track, where Peetah commands on the hook, “stand up, stand up, stand up brothers and sisters and always remember how Jah mek ya.”
“The song is essentially saying know yourself and don’t sell out yourself or your culture to be like someone else or accepted by a certain sect in society,” explains Peetah. “Man Has Forgotten” is backed by a strong melody, punctuated with a bombastic opening, “come in like dem na memba we seh Heritage fi life.” On “Girl is Mine” cover, the Morgans stay true to Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney’s original, yet bring dancehall to the tune, mid-song, replacing Paul and Michael’s conversation with a singjay verse. Here Come The Kings reminds us, that the pulse of one of reggae’s most enduringly successful acts, Morgan Heritage, will be eternally pure.
Here Come The Kings Track Listing:
1. Man Has Forgotten
2. Here Come The Kings
3. Holla
4. Call To Me
5. Perfect Love Song
6. The Return
7. Looking For The Roots
8. Love Stoned ft. Shaggy
9. Girl Is Mine
10. Dem Ah Run Come
11. Ends Nah Meet
12. Stand Up
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