My respect for the heartbreaking moment in “Marley Africa Road Trip”
Much respect for the family ‘ceremony’ that David “Ziggy” Marley documented in Marley Africa Road Trip. Bob Marley’s eldest son was able to honor his father by playing a free concert in South Africa, trekking the roads with his two younger brothers, Rohan and Robbie, on bad-ass wheels (hopefully) sponsored by Ducati.
What is the heart-breaking moment (for me) was Ziggy’s inability to truly honor is mother (on the public stage) because he placed his trust and invested his time in these three “modern” chicks:
](http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/70263779?trkid=13462047 "Marley Africa Road Trip")
I’m not going to “spoil” it for you and tell you what these three did—but let’s just say that it was serious Babylon-system shit. What they did was premeditated (at least by one of them) and very, very typical of the Hollywood-tradition of the “reality” Tee Vee show.
Let’s just say that a mean-spirited, apartheid-era, classical racist could not have insulted Bob Marley’s son more—with such precise intimacy—than what these three urban kids did. What would be more painful as an artist that is truly an idealist is to suffer the insult and then appear on the same stage with these people. Unlike Ziggy, these 21st-century kids from the “real” Africa would never see me in person again.
However, since I know for a fact that I (and I) am outnumbered by Babylon-system-Africans, I will say “on the positive side” that these young people did come and apologize to Ziggy for what they did (there are tons of diva-bitches here in Los Angeles who would never apologize for doing worse). But you can tell from Ziggy’s reaction to them that their apology cannot be trusted. To use Rasta-style, Old-Testament vocabulary, it is an abomination to have such people appear on the same stage as the son of Rita Marley—but the reality is Africa and all the Americas is raped-full of such shitty people—so, for the Marleys, the show must go on… J’ah live!
I (and I) must make mention of this: the Marley brothers were united under the principle that they would not charge Africans for their African-centered works. This is a principle that should be respected (or envied) by all so-called Black “artists” around the world. To present a free concert in Africa and then passively charge for the documentary leading up to the concert in mostly western markets is (to me) the right thing to do. This is an activist business model that we self-described Africans should be notorious for…