Lila Iké Samples Gregory Issacs On ‘Wanted’: Watch

Reggae star Lila Iké offers a direct address to the souls ensnared by crime and violence in her latest single, Wanted. The song, which samples the riddim and refrains from Gregory Isaacs’ Hot Stepper, arrived on Thursday.

“Mama, yuh son him wanted,” she begins.  For the rest of the track, Iké shepherds violent criminals and their enablers through the grim realities that loom beyond their choices. Reasoning with cultural conditioning is an immense task, however.

Rising to the occasion, the singer packages her truth with warm harmonies and frank lyrics atop retrofitted production courtesy of Protoje and J-Vibe. She lays out the risks plainly: a day-to-day existence filled with pain, paranoia and ultimately loss. “No sah, bad man life nuh so fun,” she concludes halfway through the first verse. The flourishes of echo and reverb throughout add an extra kick to Iké’s already-heavy words.

The accompanying Yannick Reid-directed visuals presents a scene of Lila Iké performing the single as well as theatrical vignettes of a prototypical ‘bad man.’

In a statement, Lila Iké said:  “Wanted is a song which highlights how rough the life of a criminal actually is. I hope it will inspire youths to go in a more positive direction. It’s also my intention that this song reaches parents or onlookers, who may have someone close to them headed down a dark path, and instead of turning a blind eye, encourage them to do otherwise.”

Wanted is the latest offering in a high tide of releases from the Protoje-led In.Digg.Nation Collective, which is in partnership with SixCourse Music Group/RCA Records.

“Song for song with me and Lila all summer long,” the Who Knows singer promised on Instagram, referencing the novel roll-out strategy for their respective forthcoming albums.

His statement followed the alternating release of singles Batty Rider Shorts, Hills, True Love, and Incient Stepping and preceded the premiere of Wanted, which you can watch above.