Higher Bound Productions Announces World Tap In, New Akae Beka Album

Higher Bound Productions has set a worldwide May 5 release date for World Tap In, a new Akae Beka album that lands with real weight in the roots reggae catalog. Announced on April 28, the project is being framed as both a fresh release and a legacy statement, a rare combination that gives fans a confirmed date and a clear reason to pay attention now.

The label says World Tap In is the sixth Akae Beka/Midnite album it has released, and that it comes from a full-band recording session featuring members of the Akae Beka Band. The riddims were cut at Higher Bound Productions Studio in Grass Valley, California in early November 2015, and Vaughn Benjamin returned to that studio in January 2016 to record vocals. That timeline matters because it places the album in the middle of Benjamin’s active creative run, rather than treating it as a detached archival package.

Higher Bound says the album speaks to “spiritual, socially, economically and globally” relevant conditions, a mission that fits the Akae Beka name and its place in modern roots reggae. The title World Tap In also signals urgency and reach, as if the message is meant to move well beyond a narrow fan base. The album will be available on major digital platforms and on vinyl, with 11 tracks including Kingdom World, Volatile, Asking Some More, Sycamore Tree, As We Will, Across The Eons, Your Needs, Cover InI, World Tap In, In Your Hands, and Freedom Route.

Benjamin’s historical footprint gives the release added context. Reggaeville notes that Vaughn Benjamin was born on August 13, 1969, died on November 4, 2019, and co-founded Midnite with his brother Ron Benjamin in 1989. That same background also ties Akae Beka to Benjamin’s engagement with the Book of Enoch and to the Rastafari teachings that shaped his writing and delivery.

The scale of his output still stands out. Reggaeville has said Benjamin released more than 70 albums across roughly 20 years, and that his final album, Living Testament, was recorded over two days in late October 2019 at Ras Biblical’s Trinity Farm studio in Grass Valley with 11 musicians. An extensive European tour had already been planned for 2020 before his death, underscoring how active the project remained to the end. World Tap In now extends that line, adding another carefully managed chapter to one of reggae’s most significant modern catalogs.