Damian Marley

SOUND Marley's new album, co-produced with his half-brother Stephen Marley, is packed with roots-reggae touches but has an underlying dancehall/hip-hop aesthetic. The combination makes it feel both accessible and modern. "Dancehall music -- Shabba Ranks, Super Cat -- was my music growing up," says Damian. "And roots music is really the original dancehall. The dance hall is a place, so whatever was being played at that place was dancehall music."

HIP-HOP MASSIVE Marley is a passionate fan of U.S. hip-hop -- hence the album's cameos from Nas and the Roots' Black Thought. "I had cousins who used to live abroad, and every summer they'd play the Fat Boys -- that kind of thing," he says. "But I really started listening to it deeply when Snoop Dogg came on the scene. Snoop was an influence -- everything that I experience in my life is an influence on me."

FATHER FIGURE The album uses prominent samples from Bob Marley songs such as "Exodus," a choice that Damian says didn't take much thought: "We are big fans of our father's music, so why not sample it? Every one of his songs is a different lesson." Damian adds that hearing the voice of his dad -- who died when he was three years old -- does make him emotional: "But the emotion is happy."

GONG SHOW Marley's nickname Junior Gong stems from an incident from Damian's youth, when he couldn't get through the crowd at an event at Jamaica's Bob Marley Museum. "Security was inside and saw me outside trying to get in, and started saying to people, 'Make way, make way -- that's Gong Junior.' "