When British music publisher Kennedy Mensah and reggae artiste Ras Ajai recently spoke to each other the latter expressed a desire to record songs that honoured the music’s legacy. He never got that opportunity.

Ras Ajai (real name Brian Todd Boucher) was killed in Waterford, Portmore, St Catherine, on August 1.

The 43 year-old singjay/actor and another male victim were shot by gunmen in an area of that community known as Third World.

At press time, the police had reported no arrests being made in relation to the incident.

The other man remains in hospital.

“One of our last conversations, he was talking about wanting to do a strong reggae project, he described it as a real reggae project, because he believed the youths nowadays not dealing with the real reggae thing,” Mensah, who is based in England, recalled. “He wanted to put out some serious messages, and also to capitalise on the notoriety he got from being in the One Love movie.”

Ras Ajai.

Ras Ajai, who was from Waterford, lived in New York City and toured for several years with Sean Paul. He made his acting debut in Bob Marley: One Love, the 2024 biopic based on the reggae legend.

The dreadlocked artiste had a small role as Claudius Massop, the West Kingston enforcer who was Marley’s close friend. Massop was controversially killed by police in February 1979.

Known for songs like Well Misbehave and Vice Grip, Ras Ajai is also featured on Buss A Bubble, Sean Paul’s 2019 single. That track is from Live N Livin, Sean Paul’s album which was nominated for a 2022 Best Reggae Album Grammy Award.

In August 2024, Ras Ajai was presented with a Grammy Certificate for appearing on the album at Mensah’s Grammy Certificate Ceremony in Kingston.

Mensah said he first met Ras Ajai in 2019 during a music publishing workshop he conducted at Jamaica Promotions (Jampro) in Kingston. Shortly after, Ras Ajai became a client of Mensah’s Back 2 Da Future Limited.

“To say that the news of his passing came as a shock would be a total understatement. I can’t imagine how his family must be feeling,” said Mensah. “We’re going to miss Ras Ajai, but at least we have a body of music to remember him by.”