Although she is from Cincinnati, a city steeped in funk and soul music, Natural Onyx warms to other sounds, including reggae. She was recently in Jamaica and recorded a reggae remix of her song, Black Man, with the Mau Mau Warrior.

Her link with the Trench Town group came through a musician in her band.

“My recent trip to Jamaica was filled with special moments, meeting the Mau Mau Warrior being at the top. In Jamaica, we connected through a mutual friend, ‘Jah Chris’, bass player of my band The Luv Locz Experiment. Chris and ‘Mau’ are good friends, and hadn’t seen each other in years,” Natural Onyx told the Jamaica Observer. “Who would have known their reconnecting would unleash such magical moments and at divine timing.”

The energy of that reconnect played out instantly. Black Man ft Mau Mau Warrior was recorded and released shortly after.

The original version of Black Man was released in February and bears the funk sound for which Natural Onyx’s hometown is synonymous. It is her second reggae remix. The first, Faded, was done to the melody of Alton Ellis’s Breaking Up.

Cincinnati has produced several funk legends including bassist Bootsy Collins; his brother, guitarist Catfish Collins; The J B’s (James Brown’s band); and The Deele, which was led by Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. Natural Onyx’s father was lead singer in two reggae bands — Buffalo Soldiers and Lifeline.

“Reggae has been a big part of my life. Since I was a little girl, it was heard in my household more than any other genre of music. Some of my faves I remember were Alton Ellis, Mutabaruka, Luciano, Steel Pulse, Sister Nancy, Sister Carol, Bob Marley, and many others,” she said.

The black American connection with Jamaican music can be traced to the 1960s when impresario Danny Sims and Johnny Nash visited Kingston and conducted a number of recording sessions with Nash and The Wailers. Guitarists Donald Kinsey and Al Anderson brought a blues flavour to Bob Marley and Peter Tosh’s roots-reggae sound in the 1970s, while funk singer Gwen Guthrie from New Jersey had a successful partnership with Sly and Robbie.