Ras-I frames Heart of Love as a tribute to family and reggae's message

At Anchor Recording Studio in St Andrew, Ras-I used a Mother’s Day listening session to frame Heart of Love as more than a third studio album. He presented the project as a personal statement about family, gratitude and the kind of roots-reggae message he believes still has room to move people.

The emotional center of the album is his bond with his mother, Lorna Wainwright, who has backed his career since his debut album, Tsojourna, arrived in November 2019. Ras-I said Mother’s Day is kept simple in his home, with food, company and downtime taking priority over business calls, because that is the way he and his mother naturally move. Wainwright, who worked for many years with the Marley-owned Tuff Gong group of companies, has remained part of the story around his music, and she described her son as “militant, genuine, and caring.”

Heart of Love is scheduled for worldwide release on May 15, 2026, and the 13-track album was already available for pre-save on major digital streaming platforms. The listening session gave journalists, friends and industry figures an early look at a body of work Ras-I has been building with care rather than as a quick release cycle. He said the record is his way of giving something back to the universe through music, with love expressed in romantic, spiritual, ancestral, communal and self-reflective forms.

The project also widens his circle without loosening its roots. Heart of Love features collaborations with Kabaka Pyramid, Govana, Khalia and Nesta, while the first single, Reggae Mountain, has already been introduced as an uplifting cut about reggae’s unifying and spiritual power. Ras-I’s musical education was shaped by Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Damian Marley and guitarist Chinna Smith, and his own career has now stretched more than 10 years in the Jamaican music industry.

That background helps explain why he is pitching Heart of Love as a response to fatigue in the genre. Ras-I said reggae does not need more content for its own sake, but more live shows so the songs can breathe in front of an audience. In that sense, the album is being set up as both a personal tribute and a reminder of what roots reggae can still do when it is given enough room to perform its heart out.