Damian Marley Says It Was An Honor To Produce On Bling Dawg’s Album

Grammy-winning Reggae star Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley has expressed gratitude for the opportunity to produce two songs off Bling Dawg’s debut album Elev8, which was released on February 4.

In the album’s accompanying documentary, which chronicles the making of the project, several of Jamaica’s most respected music industry heavyweights gave testimonials on the process, including the Welcome To Jamrock singer.

“Bling Dawg is somebody I have a lot of respect for, he takes the art form very seriously. My contribution to the project is production, and I was very honored when asked by Bling to produce, because of course, most of the time you find other artists when they reach out to us it is for collaboration,” Jr. Gong said, in the documentary uploaded to Bling Dawg’s YouTube channel.

Marley produced YO!, which featured Christopher Martin, and Married To Music, which sampled Barrington Levy’s 1980s hit Prison Oval Rock.

He continued, “a lot of people don’t even know that we do production, a lot of music over the years we produce it in house, from my older brothers and extended family members. So Bling reaching out to me and not asking to put my voice on a beat, but to produce is something even bigger as a compliment to me, than if he had asked me to voice on a beat, and he doesn’t even know it.”

“I am definitely trying to improve myself as a producer and grow in that arena so for him to really ask me to produce is a huge compliment and I give thanks, big up yourself Bling,” Marley added.

Damian Marley has producer credits for the On The Corner Riddim (2015), which includes Chronixx’s Ghetto People, Jesse Royal’s Cool & Deadly, and Kabaka Pyramid’s Well Done.

He has been reportedly tapped as executive producer for Bounty Killer’s forthcoming King of Kingston album.

Meanwhile, Bling Dawg told DancehallMag that “Junior Gong is someone I have high ratings and respect for, he is a bredrin and he shows me love and I show him back love and respect.”

“It is a nice feeling to know that someone of that caliber respects me as a lyricist and publicly, as sometimes people in Jamaica don’t give you the glory like that. We need to embrace that more in music,” he added.

Elev8‘s 19 tracks also included vocal contributions from Morgan Heritage, Busy Signal, Christopher Martin, Bounty Killer, Romaine Virgo, Popcaan, and Tanya Stephens. 

The album is currently No. 9 on the US iTunes Reggae Albums chart.