The concept behind “Winning” didn’t start in a studio session or a creative retreat. It started with the World Cup, and that detail alone tells you something about how this track came together.
David Cole, son of football legend and Bob Marley’s former tour manager Allan ‘Skill’ Cole, brought together Beenie Man and Stephen Marley for the new single, with Makonnen Blake Hannah serving as co-producer.
Cole told Observer Online that Stephen Marley laid down the chorus first, built around the word “winning” and shaped by the energy of the World Cup. From there, Cole played it to Beenie Man and gave him a loose direction, and Beenie Man handled the rest himself.
Cole’s connection to Stephen Marley goes back decades. He told Observer Online he has known Marley “literally all my life” and has been working with him professionally since 1998 through the Ghetto Youth outfit. That kind of long-running creative trust tends to show up in the music.
The Beenie Man side of things is a different story. Cole has known Moses Davis since 1997, when they crossed paths at Bobby Digital during a session with Lt Stitchie.
But despite that friendship stretching nearly three decades, “Winning” marks the first time the two have actually worked together in a professional production capacity. That gap makes the collaboration feel overdue rather than random.
Cole’s entry into production wasn’t a sudden pivot. He made his debut in the late 1990s producing “Uchi-La” for Dadigan, the late Dutty Cup Crew member, which set the tone for a career built on deep roots in reggae and dancehall culture.
Growing up as the son of Allan ‘Skill’ Cole, who was both a celebrated footballer and a key figure in Bob Marley’s world, meant music was never far from the centre of his life.
Blake Hannah’s role as co-producer adds another layer to the project, and comments from that side of the collaboration were cut short in the available material, which leaves part of the creative picture still to emerge.
The single is scheduled for release on September 18, and with two artists of this profile attached to a concept rooted in something as universally felt as a World Cup, there’s already plenty of anticipation building around it.
