Interview with Samory I
The post Interview with Samory I appeared first on Reggae Vibes.
Black News 
Interview with Samory I
Where: The Rockwell Lounge, Los Angeles CA
When: August 22, 2026
Reporter: Stephen Cooper
Photos/Clips/Audio: Stephen Cooper
Editing Interview Video : Teacher
Copyright: 2026 – Stephen Cooper
Samory I: “Believe in yourself and know seh you can be great.” (The Interview)
Samory I is one of Jamaica’s most talented, modern, and conscious roots reggae singers. With the release of his Clive Hunt-produced album “Revelation,” Samory now has three albums under his belt, mixtapes, and a few popular collaborations too. On August 22, with gracious assistance from Samory’s manager, Ms. Bridgett Anderson, as well as from Samory’s fiancée, CeeCee, I interviewed Samory for about twenty-five minutes after his successful debut Los Angeles performance at The Rockwell Lounge. We spoke about numerous subjects of interest to reggae fans.
What follows is a roughly 3,800-word transcript of the interview, modified slightly for clarity and space considerations. At the end there’s also a link to the audio file of the interview which is available on YouTube. Bless up to all the reggae fans!
Samory, if you’re ready, I’m ready.
Ready, my bredda.
Samory, officially I just want to congratulate you. That was a great performance tonight!
Mi appreciate that, my bredda.
How did you feel about your performance and the response from the crowd?
You know, [it was] my first time out in L.A. [and] the experience was an amazing one. I was very nervous though. But the reception from the audience made me feel completely comfortable, you know what I’m saying?
Nice. I couldn’t tell you were nervous. You came out like a conquering lion. I know you’ve had a few shows in California already. But this was, like you said, your first time performing in L.A. And you really gave the people an experience to remember. Samory, I want to begin truly this reasoning by thanking you so much for doing this for Reggae-Vibes magazine. There’s great interest in your career because from your first recorded song “Just Believe” to your first album “Black Gold” to your sophomore album “Strength,” [and] now your third album “Revelation”—which was released just a few months ago—
Yeah.
—you’ve shown and you’ve proven you are right now one of Jamaica’s most talented modern, and conscious roots reggae singers—
Mi appreci—love.
—so it is indeed a great joy and honor to get—
Rastafari.
—this chance to talk to you, my friend.
Yes I.
Now Samory, in a recent interview with DJ 745 after you performed at “Reggae Land” in the U.K., you said you never had any formal musical training before, but when you worked on your new album “Revelation” with the legendary producer Clive Hunt, that he showed you how to read music. True?
No.
No?
No. You know seh, to tell the truth, mi can’t read music.
So, not yet?
No. You know, mi sing from a place of trauma. Mi sing from a place of sufferation. You get me?
Yeah, I do.
So, you know what I’m saying, dem places they don’t teach music. Dem places, they teach hardship.
Right. Right. Well, impressively, even with that, you’re credited as a writer on all the tracks on this new album “Revelation.” And from the jump, the song “Zion”—that first track on the album—
Yeah?
—it stands out, man. It’s a beautifully written tune.
Rastafari.
Yeah, you know? Yo the reason why mi write that song named “Zion”—share this with idrens and mi general—you know seh, [at] the time I did my album, the ones dem that don’t want to give me support. Dem never mek me feel like mi good enough. Dem make me feel where wi come from a space where dem supposed to be at the top. And mi supposed be underneath dem feet. That’s how they make me feel. ‘Cause [there] was a time when mi did feel like mi did need them. And none of dem did have my back. You see me? So that was me saying, that “Bredda, Zion is made for everybody. Not just some people.”
Respect.
*Editorial Note: Samory’s unidentified friend interjected here and said a few things that were not transcribed but are part of the audio file of the interview that is available on YouTube.
You see, where mi from mi can’t look down pon people.
That song—I love lyrics. And the lyrics to that song, especially since you wrote them—
Yeah.
—I’m glad to be able to talk to you about it. Because you [sing] movingly about “legacies” that “survive in your veins.”
Mm-hmm.
And there’s a lyric in “Zion” that goes to what you were just talking about a minute ago—about where you get your songs from. It made me think about two of your very big tunes—personal favorites of mine—from your last two albums: the song “Rasta Nuh Gangsta”—got to be one of my favorite songs—
Yeah.
—and the song “My Son”—
Mm-hmm.
—off the album “Strength.” Those two songs [are] personal favorites of mine. And I say that because in that song “Zion”—why it goes to what you were just saying—you sing, quote: “Melodies, oh melodies from Jah capture my joy and relinquish my pain.” And as you’ve discussed before in many interviews, “Rasta Nuh Gangsta” and “My Son” are both songs about terrible personal tragedies—
Yeah.
—that you had to suffer: Losing both your sister-in-law and your first son to gun violence, and in the case of your son—
No. What you mean? Alright. Mi a clarify that.
Please.
[My hair may be getting] gray, but mi not that old. You know what I’m saying? My kid—[my second son]—is six years old. My first son died [in] childbirth, you get me? [He was] born and I was coming into Jamaica to see him from touring Europe, and when I got [to Jamaica after] a nine-hour flight, I heard that my son was dead. I never wanted to base the song off of just my experience to be selfish. Because mi know I wasn’t the only person hurting from the loss of a child.
Thank you so much for clarifying that—
Yeah.
—I know a lot of people will want to know that.
I know and mi want to clarify something else. Mi sing a song named “Woe Today.” [Despite the lyrics in that song] “Woe Today,” my mother is not dead.
Okay, yeah, so people don’t think that.
Yeah, [she’s] still there a-Jamaica.
Thank you for clarifying that, too. But when you sing “melodies from Jah help [me] relinquish my pain and let [me] go to a place Babylon can’t find”—
Mm-hmm.
—I wondered whether as painful as those songs are, “Rasta Nuh Gangsta” and “My Son,” that they have to be for you to sing, and I know that you even get emotional when you sing those songs—
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Well, mi can say both, you get me, because mi remember the pain, but mi release the pain through the music. So you get me? It’s both for me. [And] I’ve never sang the song “My Son” before [except] mi sing it at my manager’s son’s funeral.
But you never sang that [song] at a show before?
Yeah, mi no think that will ever be a song that I ever perform [at a show].
Too painful, maybe?
Yeah, you seem me, I’m a soldier, you get me? Mi no go out there to break down for the people, mi go out there to stand up for the people.
‘Nuff respect. Samory, the new album “Revelation” has an excellent mix of songs and compelling collaborations. One of those collabs comes on the last track with Chronic Law, the song “Victory.”
Yeah.
I believe I read this song “Victory” is really about the resilience of the Jamaican people in the face of the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa—
Yeah.
—in late October of 2025. And just a few months ago, in an interview with TNT Magazine, you said “Jamaica is still in a state of shock.”
Yeah!
“The roads are mashed up from the flooding.”
Yeah.
“There’s no lights.”
Yeah.
“No water. It’s rough.”
Yeah.
Of course you’ve been touring all over the world since “Revelation” was released, but I know you stay closely connected to Jamaica and its people.
Yeah. A-yard mi live!
Yeah. And you have specifically taken the government to task for not getting the relief money to the people.
Yeah, you know.
As we approach the one-year anniversary since the storm, do you see things beginning to improve?
No—no. Well mi a tell you the truth, from the last time mi and beloved drive go pon the coast, mi can’t say. I haven’t been there since. But since the last time I’ve been there, you know, I saw people carrying water still. You know what I’m saying. And that one billion dollars [of relief money]? Bro, one hundred U.S. dollars is 15,000 Jamaican dollars.
It could really help the people if they could just get [a likkle bit of] it?
Come on, man! You get me. I say, bro, you can give each and every person that was traumatized or that got destroyed in the storm, you can give each of them a million dollars and still thief the rest for yourself if that’s how you feel.
Unidentified friend of Samory I’s: And now dem a run people off of the land.
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Because dem want to build a “Smart City.” So that’s why dem no fix back the land for the people.
Wow. Wow. That’s terrible.
Donald Dump run the whole place, you know? Dem scared of Donald Dump.
Yeah.
Zion
Letter To My Son
Scared of Trump! No, mi a-tell ya, dem scared.
*Editorial note: Samory I and his unidentified friend speak a little bit longer here on this topic; this back-and-forth was not transcribed but can be heard on the audio file of the interview that is available on YouTube.
SDem a-build a “Smart City” and a-run people off of the land. Especially people who don’t have proof of title. Because inna Jamaica, a lot of people dem—land[s] have been passed down from generation [to generation]. You get me? So, land title, did gone and destroyed long time ago. People just know, “Yo, that’s my grandfather’s land and when my grandfather died him say a-my land that. You get me? And everybody know[s] that.” So, you know, when the storm destroyed that—
Yeah?
—there’s no proof of that is your land. That is your grandfather’s land. There is no proof.
They [don’t] respect—
No! So your land is just another house—or two houses—or three house in the “Smart City.”
Let’s talk a little bit more about the government. Close to eight years ago when I interviewed Protoje, Protoje said, quote: “The government can be doing way more for local music and local artists.”
Mi not talk about the music. Government no have to do nothing about music. We are Rasta.
Right.
Mi, the I, Protoje, and everybody else who[’s] there work and give Jah the praise and get the raise. What the government need fe do is something for the poor people dem.
So you don’t want the government to support you or other reggae artists?
Support me!?
Yeah. I’m saying in terms of helping you with traveling—
Help me how?
Well, by supporting you with money. With government funds. From the tourism industry—
Government do that?
Well, should they is what I’m asking you?
Mi can’t tell the government fe support me fe come work. [In order to] get a better life. Government need to support the people dem who don’t have the opportunity like me and Protoje.
Yeah. See what Protoje said was he is an ambassador of Jamaican music—an ambassador of Jamaica. And they should be supporting him.
Hey, you know, to each his own, you get me? Mi no feel that the government fe support me. [But] if the I feel that the government [should] support him, you get me, the I should feel like that. Because you know, Protoje have the right to feel like that. But me? Me feel like the government need fe do is more for the people.
Respect.
Because me, we a-come out here so [and] then a-do the right thing: Give the people dem the music. Mi not need the government.
‘Nuff respect.
You get me? What me need the government to do is to sign documents for me. For it to not be as hard as it is to come here—
Visas and things?
—for work. You get me? Because my intention is not to run off.
Do they make it difficult to come here?
Bro, look, mi nah really go deep or in depth into that. But mi a-go tell you seh, you have to know seh, it[’s] very difficult to get—every Jamaican know it is very difficult to come to America. The hardest thing for a Jamaican is to come to America.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
On the “Frankie B. Reggae Session,” you talked to Frankie B. about that album. And my understanding—and I think you said—that that album Black Gold is about your understanding of the Bible.
Yeah.
In fact, you even brought your Bible to the studio—
Yeah.
—as you were recording—
Yeah. ‘Cause you see, Rory Stonelove is no fool. Him [is] very serious when it comes to Rastafari. You get me? So you haffi prove that it is not deception. You get me? A matter of fact, working with him, working with the I, Rory, is what get I close to the Most High in a way since I-man come forth to the faith of Rastafari.
You just answered another question of mine, but I’m gonna ask it probably still about—but let me hold off on that. But I guess I want to ask you though—and I think I may have mentioned to [your manager] Bridgett [Anderson] and I hope she told you I would ask [this] just so you could think about it—but, as a man who reads the Bible, looks at the Bible, what’s your favorite passage? Or saying?
We just a-talk about this you know, bro?
Yeah?
A man passed me and [said], “Yo, son, read Matthew 5, verse 5.” And mi a-say, “Why?” Mi humble. You know, because Matthew 5, verse 5, says ‘Blessed [are] the meek. For they shall inherit [the Earth].’ And mi a-say, “Yo, but mi humble. Why?” Mi a-go to a radio station to do an interview like a few days after, and a man a-sleep on the roadside and just rise up and say “Continue to pray. Read Matthew 5, verse 5.”
(Laughing)
[It] shake me! Me think about it the whole night! Mi say, “Bro, mi need to work pon myself.”
Nice. Nice. Now in my own life, I’m blessed to be friends with the legendary Ras Michael.
Yes I.
And I bring up Ras Michael—Bob Marley’s spiritual brother—because it’s Ras Michael who I credit for persuading me that I-man has to read the Bible—
Yeah!
—he’s the one who convinced me. So in your own life—[and] you might give the answer you just gave [a moment ago]—but Samory, who is the person or people, you mentioned one of them [already], Rory Stonelove, I think—
Yeah. Yeah.
—who you credit for teaching and showing you the Rasta way of life, including the importance of the Bible?
Not even the Rasta way of life, but fe life itself. Because the Bible is a guideline to a man’s life, you know? When mi say “man,” mi mean man or woman. The Bible is the guide to a man’s life. So you get me? The Bible is very important to me. My mother instilled the Bible in me because my mother is a Seventh Day Adventist woman. You get me?
Yeah.
She no really play when it comes to the Bible. My old man, my father, loved the Bible, you get me? Mi grow up in a Seventh Day Adventist household. A youth named Kush McAnuff—
Son of [singer] Winston McAnuff?
Yeah. Yeah. The I dem helped me come closer to the faith.
Nice. Nice. Now I read that [the] first single that you recorded for Rory Stonelove—the irie and passionate song “Take Me Oh Jah”—
Yeah.
—was derived from a song your father wrote called “Africa Is Calling Me.”
(Laughing) How you know that? I’ve never said that before.
Ah someone must have—you must have. Ha-ha. Because I researched, so I know it. But that song alludes directly to Marcus Garvey and repatriation. As far as you know in Jamaica right now, is repatriation a desire that Rastas in Jamaica still have—including yourself? Going back to Africa?
Mi just explain to you how it is. One, the poor forget everything dem need fe be great. So of course mi feel like repatriation is a must.
The only thing that we need, bredda, we need people fe a-stand pon business for Jamaica and for [all] Black people, too. Because Marcus Garvey wasn’t just for Jamaicans. Marcus Garvey was for every Black person around the world. So of course mi agree with that 150 percent. I never even know seh that did a-gwan, ‘cause—
It’s brand new—[Kumar’s] song. He just came out with it [with] Black Uhuru. Just two days ago.
No, mi not talk about the song. Mi a-talk about the petition.
Oh, the petition. Yeah.
Mi never did know [about] that. Because, you know, mi not a big fan of social media. That’s why my social media is so lame, you know?
Social media is terrible. It’s like the devil.
Yeah, yeah. See? You hear that beloved?
CeeCee (Samory’s fiancée): Word.
Samory, I know it’s late, so I just have two last short questions. Though of course I hope someday you and I can reason once again a little bit longer.
Yes I.
My second-to-last question is, I read there’s some unreleased material from the “Revelation” [album] sessions that you’re gonna release sometime soon as singles—
Who tell you that!?
You told me that—somewhere.
Me and you?
Nope. On the internet. (Laughing) Once you say something [on the internet] it goes out to the world. So, you have some new songs, true, that will be coming?
See it’s a good thing mi a good youth, you know? Because—
(Laughing) But you have some new songs; you’re gonna drop some songs that you recorded—
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mi have some songs. Mi have a song named “Poor Man’s Cry.” And another one—what’s the lovers rock song named?
CeeCee (Samory’s fiancée): Which song?
The one that mi never release from the album. What’s it called?
CeeCee (Samory’s fiancée): “Never Give You Up?”
Yeah.
CeeCee (Samory’s fiancée): That’s my song.
Samory I: (breaks out singing the song)
Whoa. A capella! Nice. You have to sing that one—
Yeah.
—for sure. I’m looking [forward] to that one. Now you also have a mixtape that I think you’re gonna drop at the end of the year. And then you’re gonna start a whole new studio album. Now the big question is, because you’ve worked with three different producers now—
Yeah.
—and so there’s a brethren of mine, he has a reggae radio show here in the United States [that’s] very popular. It’s called “Sounds of the Caribbean.” He plays your music frequently. And he told me specifically he wanted to know, is there a chance you might go back—he loves “Black Gold”—that’s his favorite album [of yours] still.
Yeah. Yeah.
And he wants to know will you go back—
You hear that? Bloodclat, man. “Brown Man.” You see: everybody wants me to do [another album with Rory].
So he wants to know, will you do another album with Rory Stonelove? Who will be the producer for the next album?
Bwoy, mi not know. You see, me and “Brown Man” did a link. Mi and Rory did a-talk about doing my next album for real.
*Editorial Note: Samory’s unidentified friend interjected here and said a few things that were not transcribed but are part of the audio file of the interview that is available on YouTube.
I think we’re all just gonna have to wait and see, right, who’s gonna be the producer [for your next album]. Samory, it’s been great to meet you and it’s [been] a great reasoning with you. Is there any final message that you want to send out to all your many, many fans all around the world?
Yeah. Believe in yourself and know seh you can be great.
‘Nuff respect. ‘Nuff respect. Bless up, Samory, we’ll be following your career very closely at Reggae-Vibes [magazine]. We wish you all the success, my friend.
Yeah, mi family, big up yourself. You hear that? Rastafari. [That] was a good one, you know?
‘Nuff respect. Thank you.
The post Interview with Samory I appeared first on Reggae Vibes.
