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When you talk about rasta music, the first name that automatically comes to mind is the work of one Bob Marley. He was the one who put this type of music into a more international scale. It started out as a blending of traditional Jamaican music along with American R&B which soon developed into ska which also progressed into reggae with an influence of soul. Marley made it popular all over the world, and soon a number of artists began incorporating this kind of sound into their own music. There are quite a number of artists who do this, including Peter Tosh, Freddie McGregor and Toots & the Maytals.
This influence is also clearly seen in the music of Honey B. She is a California-based lyricist and singjay. If you’re quite new to the term singjaying, it is basically a Jamaican style of reggae vocals that combines toasting and singing in an elastic format. This encourages the production of vocal embellishments that are both compelling and texturally impressive. Of course, the performer of such vocals is called a singjay, which is a combination of singer and deejay.
The combination of both singing and deejaying has its early roots in reggae music. One of the earliest performers of singjaying is the artist Michael Rose. He integrated highly rhythmic but somewhat meaningless deejay scatting into his roots songs. By the 1980s, singjaying became a dominant way of expression in Jamaican music.
Singjaying is one of the elements to Honey B’s style of music. Her brand of sound is best described as having a positive stance with a Caribbean twist. She used a mix of West Coast American and Jamaican lingo into her artistry. She is a very talented individual who can combine different genres in a playful manner and make everyone who listens to her music want to get up and be involved.
She uses mixed-genre instrumentation in her music. This, plus her reggae vocals give you a real musical treat. The sound you hear is entirely fresh and at the same time, very futuristic.
Of course, Honey B’s current sound is the result of the music she has been influenced by while growing up. This, as well as the combination of the place where she grew up has had a major impact in the development of her artistry.
Honey B was brought up in a home that listened to lots of funk and 90’s hip hop. She has also spent more than a decade living in the West Indies. Having lived in the Caribbean, she has observed things that she has integrated into her own unique sound. In the West Indies, the “country life” as well as the island culture made a very deep impression on Honey B. Her time of living in the Caribbean has helped shape her ideals as well as her musicality. And traces of these are clearly evident in the music that she puts out.
Throughout the years, Honey B has worked with several names in the music business, and these include:
- Peppery – a Jamaican/UK dancehall artist
- Big Zeke the Politician – a producer from the Bay Area
- RealOne – a rapper from California
- Ship of Foolz – innovators of funk fusion
Honey B’s tracks are cleverly crafted and they were designed to uplift as well as “edutain” all kinds of listeners from different walks of life. Her sound is a welcome addition to the world of rasta music and the future is bright as to where her musicality and talent will take her.
Who knows, Honey B might just be the new sound to those who are interested in rasta music will be looking for in the near future. If you want to get to know her better, tune in for her Google Hangouts Live interview on The Philippe Matthews Show this coming July 23.
Download her track: [easyazon_link asin=”B008F4HAV0″ locale=”US” new_window=”default” nofollow=”default” tag=”shockpublishi-20″ add_to_cart=”default” cloaking=”default” localization=”default” popups=”default”]Rocket[/easyazon_link]!
Find out more about Honey B and her wonderful music by checking these out:
