Marley series goes with flow
Ride Natty Ride, a 30-minute docu-film examining how several Jamaicans began surfing and skateboarding, as well as Bob Marley’s influence on pastimes, is the latest in reggae king’s Legacy Web docu-series.
It premiered last Friday on Marley’s YouTube page.
Directed by Dezi Catarino, the documentary features interviews with reggae singer Billy “Mystic” Wilmot, principal of the Jamnesia Surf Camp located in Eight Miles, Bull Bay in St Andrew, as well as American pro skater Boo Johnson, and art director at Tuff Gong and friend of Bob Marley, Neville Garrick.
“When I got into riding waves in the 60s, there were Jamaican guys surfing already. I wasn’t the first guy. I was just the youngest kid who got into that first generation. It was never like us trying to be like what surfing was, because we didn’t know what surfing was… By the time we got exposed to the culture our thing like have it’s own flavour,” said Wilmot in the interview.
“Most of the earth is covered with water. Earth and water. Everything is dependent on each other. God didn’t make it unbalanced,” he continued.
Mystic, who is lead singer for the group Mystic Revealers, said surfing teaches character and allows people to take on the earth and its elements and master their own destiny.
Ride Natty Ride is the sixth of 12 episodes of Legacy. It features surfing and skate boarding action from Shama “Superman” Beckford, Ivah Wilmot, Froggboss WellRaggedy, and Kalya Wheeler.
Ride Natty Ride is also the name of a song on Bob Marley and the Wailer’s 1979 album Survival. Released by Island Records in late 1979, Survival was Marley’s salute to Africa, which was a hotbed of anti-colonialism during the 1970s.
Legacy documentary series marks the Marley’s 75th birthday anniversary celebrations. According to the Bob Marley Foundation, the unique YouTube series provides fans a refreshing and cinematic journey through the life, legacy and relevance Bob Marley still holds in this present day. The first episode was aired on February 28, 2020.
Marley died in May 1981 of cancer. He was 36.
