Distant Relatives Live in Seattle

The time was Sunday May 23rd 9 PM, the place: Showbox Sodo. It was a sold out show for 2,000 people, and we thought getting there that early would beat the crowd. We were wrong. It was already packed and the venue was big and flat.

Opening for Damian Jr. Gong Marley and Nas was Nneka, a Nigerian singer with an excellent afro. She lulled me with her bittersweet poetic prose. But I was ready to get the energy going for the next act.

The only way for us short people to see was to push to the front. So after a couple $13 doubles and the opening act, we made our way through the audience. People were crammed like sardines in a can, but we used that to our advantage. Bouncing off the backs in front and bodies behind us, we produced a vibration of energy and spread it through the crowd, getting ready for the headliners.

"As We Enter" was the song they came one with, and the live band got us bouncing. Maybe a lot of people didn't know the new album Distant Relatives because the people around me weren't that excited. I found it enthralling and it inescapably got my feet moving and my hips gyrating.

Nas and Damian Marley preformed multiple songs from their new album and then took turns with an individual sets.

Damian Jr. Gong Marley



They delivered exactly what I needed to hear from them. Their new hip-hop and reggae influenced songs with its consciousness rooted in the African motherland are deep and true. Nas and Jr. Gong together, as well as separate, are indisputable champions.