Mr. Kelly

I was influenced by Rastafari by around 12 years old, by the time I reached 14 or 15, I was a Rastafari myself. Living the life of Rastafari. Bob Marley was a very influential person during these times, singing Reggae music and singing about Rastafari. Bob Marley was a real Rastaman. He lived the philosophy. So during those times a lot of Rastafari bredren would come up here to 56 Hope Road, and sit here, and reason with Bob. About livity, culture, Rastafari, Haile Selassie. Those days you had a set of Rastafari called the 12 Tribes of Israel, you had another set called the Nyahbinghi, those bredrens used to come around here and reason with Bob. A lot of Rastafari used to come here and reason with Bob Marley.

The first time I saw Bob Marley was around 1975. I went to Wolmer’s High School, and as a school youth I’d pass through sometimes and listen, because as a youth seeking, you want to know, and you want to know from the highest level. Even though you get the inspiration from within, you want to hear and compare what you know with what other bredren say. A lot of what Bob Marley said was familiar to me, because I saw the truth. So when Bob Marley said it, it was like a reinforcement of what I was thinking, of my faith. Because the philosophy was going strong in those times. Bredren was strengthening bredren. You have a saying: “As iron sharpens iron so a brother strengthens his brother.”What we learn from those days, I’m still living out right now. Because times change, and the whole atmosphere changed, but there are certain basic things that will never change.

In those days the youths was doing a lot of reading, it was like a Rastafari explosion during the 70s when I was going to school, like ’74 / ’75 coming up right around ’79. That was when the Rastafari vibe really took off in Jamaica. Going around, most youths in the high schools during those cite Rastafari, dreadlocks were in school, reading a lot of books about Marcus Garvey, about Ethiopia, about Haile Selassie. Communism and Socialism was also popular in those days, a lot of youths were also being influenced by them too. But Rastafari was a powerful spiritual philosophy, and the majority of youth at that time in the 70s was being influenced by Rastafari. Bob Marley played a very important role musically, real Rastafari messages, so a lot of youths would identify with Bob Marley, Burning Spear, Big Youth as a DJ, artists like those. They had a heavy influence during those times.

I as a youth, used to come in and sit in and reason, listen mostly, and Bob Marley was a powerhouse in those times, he was like a spiritual teacher of Rastafari philosophy. He was a musician, but he really used his music to put forth his Rastafari philosophy, because he was first, before anything else, a Rastaman. That was his strongest motivation, being a Rastafarian. So he used his music really to sing of Rastafari, to sing songs of Haile Selassie, show the people how to live right, to live Rastafari livity. That was really what Bob was about. We as Rasta see him as a prophet. As an angel the almighty Jah use him to put forth his word and sing praises to him. That others might have these songs that they can also sing praises to Jah, sing songs that enlighten people, more than just songs to dance to. He was teaching and enlightening people of themselves and the culture.

As a person, Bob Marley was a humble person who believed in fitness and health. Eating ital food, good health food without meat. He was a person who would exercise and play football a lot. Because our philosophy is that the fittest of the fittest shall survive—you have to be mentally, physically, and spiritually fit to survive in this judgment. So that is why Bob lived that way, he would run and jog, and play football, and he would read his Bible a lot for spiritual enlightenment and spiritual fitness, read of them psalms and proverbs, and know his Bible. He was a humble person, even though you could say that he was rich and famous, in the way how he lived, you wouldn’t know that. He lived a simple life, like any one of his bredren. That was the Bob Marley that I know. He walked among the poorest of the poor, simple humble people.

Looking back, and realizing that Bob Marley touched my life so closely, it’s a blessing. It made me be more conscious of myself everyday, and made me more conscious of the people around me. Because you never can tell who you are amongst really, you never can tell who is in your presence, it can be another great person. Because Bob was such a humble person, me really didn’t check him at that level at that time. But it make me aware now, don’t think of people simple. There could be great angels among you, so be aware of yourself and be aware of the people around you, because you never can tell. Bob was a powerful being, and he was just like an everyday person. We knew that he was a great musician, and he was a Rastafari, and he was doing Jah works. But the magnitude of his greatness, never really sink home during those days. It was after his passing, and even more now, 26 years later, and the world is still talking about Bob Marley, the world still wants to know about Bob Marley. When he was here, we never really took him for granted, but he was a musician and he was a Rastaman, so we used to give him that recognition. But the great power of his work, after him leave now and up to this day, that you see his work getting bigger and bigger and bigger.  His message is even more important now. Because the truth never dies, fashion and dem thing come and go, and lies fade away, but the real truth will live forever. And it is relevant in every generation.