Kenyatta Hill has pledged to continue the work of his father and late reggae icon, Joseph Hill, known internationally as Culture. The younger Hill was speaking on Wednesday evening at the launch of Western Consciousness at the Pegasus Hotel's Talk of the Town. "I'm not the dancehall person," declared Kenyatta Hill while voicing his commitment to carry on his father's work. "So you see, I decided that his work has to go on."

Kenyatta Hill, son of the late Joseph Hill, in performance.

The erstwhile studio engineer, with no prior experience as a singer, took up the mantle after the sudden passing of Culture during a tour of Europe. With 19 shows remaining, Kenyatta Hill, for the first time as a lead vocalist, successfully completed the rather fateful tour.

"The first night I performed in London, and when I cried, they cried. And when they cried, I cried....the first night was good, the second night we went to Germany. We had like 19 shows after my dad passed. Came home and did the Ranny Williams Centre and I went back to Brazil because he had prior arrangements with the Brazilian promoters," explained the young entertainer.

Reminiscing on the last conversation he had with his father, Kenyatta recalled Culture's final words to him on the bus before he took his last breath as "You know that your dad wasn't a lazy man".
Those words, Kenyatta said, were the source of his motivation. "I decided since that he worked 33 years on the road doing what he loved and what he did best which was singing, I decided, why sit here....he worked too hard to reach where he is at right now for me to sit here, as the only son and his music, his career, his life, everything just like stop. Therefore, I just decided I must carry on, I must. That is what gives me the drive and the energy to continue. Because it not easy doing what my dad did.

"So you see I decided that his work has to go on....and I'm doing what he did for 33 years. It still need people out here, young people, to get the message across to our generation....to continue the work what Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, my father, everybody, we have to continue that trend."

For the past 19 years, the Western Consciousness roots/culture festival has become a brand dubbed 'The Celebration of Good Over Evil.' Giving an overview of his brainchild, promoter Worrell King said: "Culture was actually the first act to have been booked to perform on Western Consciousness 07. So it is quite fitting for us to present Western Consciousness in honour of Joseph 'Culture' Hill.

"And that is exactly what we are doing. We are going to be honouring Culture through music....As we speak, we're doing everything in our powers to fly home that band, that set of musicians who have played with Culture for years to make a real grand presentation in honour of Culture. And that band of musicians is going to be led by no one else than Kenyatta Hill, the son of Joseph Hill.

Following a presentation in which Kenyatta Hill received a plaque on behalf of his mother, Pauline Hill, who was his father's road manager, special guest artistes for this year's show, Ijahman Levi, gave glimpses of what he has in store for the fans. With his haunting guitar styling, the vintage reggae chanter performed two of his better known standards Jah Heavy Load and by request, We A Warrior as well as a number he was performing publicly for the first time titled Bob Marley in honour of the reggae king.

Western Consciousness takes place on Saturday, April 28, at the Llandilo Cultural Centre, Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland. Among the impressive array of artistes are Louie Culture, Luciano, Chuck Fender, Anthony B, Jah Mason, Etana, Sasha, Tessanne, Tarrus Riley, Teflon, Nanko, Natural Black, Freddie McGregor, Leroy Sibbles, and John Holt.

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