Continuing the stellar legacy of the Marley family is YG Marley, 22, the son of Lauryn Hill and Rohan Marley and grandson of reggae legend Bob Marley. His first single recording, “Praise Jah in the Moonlight” was released in December 2023 and is the artist’s first appearance on Billboard magazine’s Hot 100 chart.
Co-written with his mother
The debut Hot 100 entry, which debuted at Number 74 on the list, was co-written by YG Marley and his mother, Lauren Hill, who is an eight-time Grammy winner. It samples the 1978 recording of “Crisis” by Bob Marley and the Wailers. YG Marley performed the song at some concerts by Lauryn Hill during her tour in 2023 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her debut solo album of 1998, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” Hill features in vocals on the track. “Praise Jah in the Moonlight” peaked at Number 1 in New Zealand and charted in Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the UK.[
Samples Bob Marley and the Wailers
“Praise Jah in the Moonlight” samples Bob Marley & the Wailers’ 1978 song “Crisis” and was performed at several Hill concerts during her 2023 tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of her 1998 debut solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. In response to demands from concertgoers, new fans, and users of TikTok, “Praise Jah in the Moonlight” arrived to Digital Signal Processors (DSPs )on December 27, 2023. It then rose to Number 1 on the Global and US Viral 50 charts, according to Billboard. It received more than 1.3 million streams within the first month of its release and includes intros with a vocal sample of Bob Marley and an outro by Lauryn Hill.
Continuing the Marley legacy
Joshua Omaro Marley, better known as YG Marley, is one of six children born to recording artist Lauryn Hill and Jamaican entrepreneur Rohan Marley. He is the sixth member of the Marley family to rank in the Hot 100, following Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley, Ky-Mani Marley, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, and Skip Marley. YG Marley received a writing credit on the 2011 recording of “Stay the Night” by James Blunt, a song in which Bob Marley’s 1978 “Is This Love” was inserted. Bob Marley had only one song, “Roots, Rock, Reggae,” listed on the Hot 100 before he died in 1981, but he holds the record for having the most Number 1 tracks in the 30-year-history of the Billboard Reggae Albums chart with 19. His “Legends” album is the second-longest charting album in the 58-year history of the survey and has many entries on the Hot 100 chart as a songwriter due to covers, samples, or interpolations of his songs.
Debuts prior to release of Bob Marley biopic
“Praise Jah in the Moonlight” debuted just ahead of the release of the film, “Bob Marley: One Love,” on February 14, 2024. Performances of the song by YG Marley at several stops on his mother’s tour in the winter of 2023 helped to raise interest in the official release of the biopic.
Photo by YG Marley
