"Welcome to Jamrock" is the first single from Damian Marley

Damian Marley

Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley is a Jamaican reggae artist who has won three Grammy awards. Damian is the youngest son of Bob Marley....

's album of the same name

Welcome to Jamrock

Welcome to Jamrock is a Grammy winning reggae album by Damian Marley. The album was released on September 12, 2005 in the United States and September 13, 2005 in the United Kingdom....

.

The song was listed at #270 on Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

's "Top 500 songs of the 2000's".

Background

Welcome to Jamrock covers issues such as crime, poverty and political corruption as part of the harsh reality of "Jamrock", Marley's personification of Jamaica, as opposed to the Jamaica advertised as a popular tourist destination. Marley laments Jamaica's high crime rate and unceasing violence, demanding that those in charge do something about it. In this sense he carries on the legacy of his father

Bob Marley

Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...

 before him, in inspiring Jamaicans to stand together.

Both the rhythm (known as World Jam) and the hook are sampled from the 1984 track "World-A-Music" by Ini Kamoze

Ini Kamoze

Cecil Campbell , better known by his stage name Ini Kamoze is a Jamaican reggae singer. He is best known for his signature song, "Here Comes the Hotstepper", which was released in 1994, and subsequently topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart...

 - the original rhythm from the Ini Kamoze album was provided by Sly and Robbie

Sly and Robbie

Sly and Robbie is the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production team of drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare who joined in the mid 1970s after having established themselves separately in Jamaica as professional musicians...

.

An edited version of "Welcome to Jamrock" was featured on the popular video game franchise FIFA 06

FIFA 06

FIFA 06, also known as FIFA Soccer 06, is a video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts based around the game of football. It was released in the United States on 4 October 2005 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Windows, PlayStation Portable, Game Boy Advance, and...

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The song was also on the playlist of the video game Midnight Club 3, but on the remix version.

There are many remixes to this song. One features G-Unit

G-Unit

G-Unit is an American hip hop group originating from New York City formed by 50 Cents. G-Unit emerged on the New York scene by independently releasing several mix tapes...

 rapper Tony Yayo

Tony Yayo

Marvin Bernard , better known by his stage name Tony Yayo, is a Haitian American rapper and member of the hip hop group G-Unit...

 in a diss towards the rap group D-Block. Another features The Notorious B.I.G.

The Notorious B.I.G.

Christopher George Latore Wallace , best known as The Notorious B.I.G., was an American rapper. He was also known as Biggie Smalls , Big Poppa, and The Black Frank White .Wallace was raised in the Brooklyn borough...

 Finally, a remix called "Welcome to My Block" features 2Pac, Nas

Nas

Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...

, and Scarface. The Game released a diss song towards Tony Yayo and 50 Cent

50 Cent

Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...

 called "Body Bags" which samples the chorus, while a remix featuring 2Pac, Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg

Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...

 and Dr. Dre

Dr. Dre

Andre Romelle Young , primarily known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American record producer, rapper, record executive, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and a former co-owner and artist of Death Row Records...

 is also available on the mixtape circuit. It is also sampled in the Papoose

Papoose

A papoose is an American English loanword whose present meaning is "a Native American Indian child" or, even more generally, any child, usually used as a term of endearment, often in the context of the child's mother. The word came originally from the Narragansett tribe...

 song Let the Jamrock.

The originally-released recording contains the lyrics Funnyman a get dropped like a bad habit. A 'funny man' has in Jamaican English

Jamaican English

Jamaican English or Jamaican Standard English is a dialect of English spoken in Jamaica. It melds parts of both American English and British English dialects, along with many aspects of Irish intonation...

 the same meaning like 'batty bwoy' or 'chi chi man', both pejorative designations for homosexual men. Since the widely-spread homonegativity

Homonegativity

Homonegativity is a term, proposed for use by Hudson and Ricketts in 1980, for description of a negative attitude towards homosexuality or homosexual people, instead of the term homophobia...

 in Jamaica and its reflections in popular Jamaican music has been a subject of heavy criticisms and protests outside of Jamaica, the word "Funnyman" has been edited out on following releases and remixes of the song, and when performing the song live Marley uses the word 'Babylonians' instead.

Track listing

UK - CD: 1

1. "Roshien"
2. "Welcome to Jamrock"
3. "Jr. Gong the Dreadful"

UK - CD: 2

1. "Welcome to Jamrock"
2. "Jr. Gong the Dreadful"
3. "Lyrical .44"
4. "Welcome to Jamrock" [Video]

Awards

Damian Marley

Damian Marley

Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley is a Jamaican reggae artist who has won three Grammy awards. Damian is the youngest son of Bob Marley....

 won the Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance

Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance

The Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality urban/alternative performances...

 at the 48th Grammy Awards (Grammy Awards of 2006

Grammy Awards of 2006

The 48th Annual Grammy Awards took place on February 8, 2006 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Irish rock band U2 were the big winners, winning five awards including Album of the Year. Mariah Carey, John Legend, and Kanye West each were nominated for eight awards and won three,...

) for the song Welcome To Jamrock.

Chart success

The single made the summer rotation in 2005 and became a top 15 hit in the rap/hip hop charts. The song reached the Top 20 in the UK, peaking at #13 and made #55 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

.

Charts

Chart (2005)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	13
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	55
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...	18
U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks Hot Rap Tracks Rap Songs is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stations and sales in hip hop-focused or exclusive markets. From 1989 through 2001, it was based on how much the single...	12