Stephen Marley Launches Hills of St Ann, Roots Tribute to Jamaica’s Heritage

Stephen Marley opened his next chapter with “Hills of St Ann,” a single released May 8 through Ghetto Youths International and positioned as the first official release from an upcoming Stephen Marley-produced compilation project. The song does more than announce new music. It ties Marley’s voice directly to St Ann, the parish that holds Nine Mile, Bob Marley’s birthplace, and turns a single rollout into a statement about place, ancestry, and reggae memory.

That setting gives the record instant weight inside the Marley catalog. “Hills of St Ann” lands as a cultural marker as much as a song, with its focus on Jamaica’s landscape and identity making clear that Stephen Marley is aiming beyond a routine release. For longtime reggae listeners, any track that points back to Nine Mile carries history with it, and this one arrives with the kind of recognition that immediately connects the family name to the land that helped shape reggae’s most famous lineage.

Musically, the track is built as an inspiring guitar ballad anchored by powerful Nyahbinghi drum rhythms, a combination that keeps it firmly in roots-reggae territory while still aiming for a polished contemporary audience. Marley handled far more than the vocal lead. He is credited on drums, bass, and Nyabinghi drums, underscoring how hands-on the recording was and how closely he is shaping the sound of the project that will follow. Ranoy Gordon played guitar, Llamar Brown handled keyboards, Sherieta Lewis provided background vocals, and Adiambo Riley was credited with recording and mixing.

That lineup matters because it suggests control as well as intention. Stephen Marley is not just fronting a single; he is building a broader work that sounds designed to carry his role as both artist and custodian of reggae culture. With “Hills of St Ann,” the message is already clear: this next phase is rooted in family legacy, grounded in Jamaica’s geography, and built to speak to fans who expect Marley music to carry history as well as melody. If the compilation follows this opening statement, it will likely stand as one of the more deliberately crafted Marley projects in recent memory.