Reggae royalty Ziggy Marley recently opens up about his new album “”Wild & Free” and his new comic book “Marijuana Mann.”
In an interview with Global Grind, Marley says his comic book is a super hero whose power derive from the plant itself.
Ziggy Marley to talk about his new album “Wild & Free” which is in stores today, June 14th. For Marley, the album is entirely a work of self expression and features some revamped tracks from 20 years ago that he still feels strongly about.
On Wild & Free
“Wild and Free” is my new album, it’s going to be out June 14th. It’s a reggae album, produced by Don Was and myself. It has a lot of different themes that run through the album, but I think something that I’m most concerned with enlightening people about is the use of cannabis being recreational. Not in medicinal purposes, but the industrial uses. So that’s why “Wild & Free” kind of sings about that topic. I think it’s very important that all the natural resources we have here on the earth should be put to use to benefit the people. This is one natural resource that is being neglected. I think it shouldn’t be neglected, I think it should be used. But the album has songs about revolution and materialism and my personal life.”
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On his concept of God
It’s still developing, the concept is an evolution as the more I go, the more I know, the more I learn and the more I understand what it is. But God is not an individual, God is bigger than individualism. I think God surrounds us, in all different manifestations of the energy. The name God is just a name anyway, really there’s no name for it, but I think the greatest expression of this concept is love and I think so far that is the best way to explain what this god is.
On comic “Marijuana Mann
It’s a comic, it’s a graphic novel, created by me and written by Joe Casey, with the art by an artist named Jim Mahfood. When I was real young I used to read a lot of comics and I’m still into comics. We just start out with this superhero who gets his power from the plant, marijuana but not in a stereotypical way. When I mention this most people laugh, but we don’t follow the stereotypical idea of what people think Marijuana Mann should be and he is already a superhero. It’s not like a silly comedy; it’s not a Chi-Chong Chong, or any of those types of things. He’s a superhero, he just gets his power from the plant and it’s a way to educate people and put the plant in a different light and to express yourself in a different medium rather than music. There are a lot of ways one expresses himself and so the comic book is just another way for that. And also try to educate people.
On legalizing Marijuana in California
I mean, I decided to release the first version of that song during that time. I thought it was appropriate because I think with everything that’s out there in the world of drugs and medicines from pharmaceutical companies and the amount of other things people can legally consume that can hurt them. I think it is hypocritical that marijuana is not legal. With pharmaceutical drugs, some of the repercussions of taking pharmaceutical drugs is just as bad as the illness that you’re taking it for. A lot of kids, a lot of people, use pharmaceutical drugs to destroy themselves, but you can get that right. Alcohol, destructive too, tobacco, destructive, what’s the problem with marijuana you know? What’s your issue, it’s more or less destructive than many of those things that are already destroying people. In fact, it’s a much better alternative to a lot of those things if used properly, so I thought it was appropriate to use that song just to highlight it and the prop 19 thing was happening at the time and I just thought I should make my voice be heard about that subject.
