Jamaican recording artist Gregory “G Cole” Cole has released his fourth studio album, Black Green and Reggae, a 12-track project rooted in his connection to Jamaica and shaped by the people and experiences that have accompanied him through life.
The title itself came to Cole while driving in the rain and reflecting on the Jamaican flag. But for the Jamaican-born, South Florida-based singer, Black Green and Reggae also became a statement about an identity that can sometimes be questioned when you live outside the country.
“As a member of the diaspora your allegiance will sometimes be questioned, both by Jamaicans at home and non-Jamaicans in your new home,” he explained.
His response is emphatic: “The BG&R runs through my veins, don’t ever question that.”
That sense of Jamaicanness provides the foundation for an album that becomes increasingly personal as it unfolds, reaching back to Cole’s childhood while exploring friendship, love, loss and the gratitude that comes with getting older.
Jamaica Is Still in the Music
Throughout the album, Cole looks back on the sounds and experiences of his childhood, drawing inspiration from the Jamaica that shaped his musical tastes and first stirred his desire to make music of his own. In many ways, the album becomes an ode to the Jamaica he carries in his memories, with Cole revealing that portions of the songs are written from the perspective of his nine- or ten-year-old self growing up on the island.
He points specifically to Black Green and Reggae, Lovers Rock, Cool and Easy and Mi Caan Groove as the songs where those memories and influences come through most strongly.
Across the album, Cole revisits his affection for Lovers Rock and the rhythms he grew up with, while also considering his relationship with Jamaican music today. He touches on questions of ownership and preservation and, on Mi Caan Groove, appeals to musicians not to “change up the dancehall” so much that, as he puts it, “I can’t groove to that.”
It is a project informed by nostalgia, but not trapped in it. The Jamaica Cole remembers provides a reference point for the music he is making today, allowing him to revisit the sounds that first captivated him while adding the perspective of the artist and man he has since become.
An Album for the People Who Stay
If memories of Jamaica provide one of the album’s foundations, the people who have travelled through life with Cole provide another.
Each of his albums has been dedicated to someone, and Black Green and Reggae is dedicated to his friends, particularly the close circle that has been there through what he describes as “the sad times and the glad times.” Much of the project is consequently rooted in agape love, appreciation and the importance of telling people what they mean to you.
The idea took on greater significance after conversations with people who felt unloved, unappreciated or unheard. Cole noticed that, in many cases, what they were missing was simply affirmation from the people around them.
Though he had no reason to believe his own friends felt that way, the conversations made him want to be proactive.
“I just felt the need to be proactive just in case,” he said, adding that he hopes the album will encourage more people “to share brotherly and sisterly love.”
That emphasis on friendship also influenced who Cole invited into the project. Kumar Fyah, J. Will, Ed Robinson, Maile, Furna Burna and Hezron appear on the album, while many of the producers and musicians are also people with whom he shares a personal connection.
“Because of the undertone of love and appreciation, I wanted to work with just people I held dear, my friends,” he explained. Of the collaborations, he singles out Furna Burna’s contribution to After The Sunset as particularly special.
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From Grief to Gratitude
The album’s reflections on love and appreciation become more personal on Final Song, which Cole identifies as the song that means the most to him.
The track grew out of the loss of his mother and brother and a gradual shift in how he viewed their absence. Rather than remaining focused on the anger he felt at having them taken from him, Cole began to think about the time he did have with them.
“That song was me getting over being angry that my mother and my brother were taken from me, but then coming to terms with the fact that I was really blessed to have had them for the time that I did,” he said. “And in the grand scheme of things, I’ve still been blessed with way more than I deserve.”
That sense of gratitude also reflects where Cole says he is personally at this stage of his life. Four albums into his career, he is reluctant to describe himself as changed, but says he has become more comfortable in his own skin, less guarded and more willing to take life at a slower pace.
“I’m turning the music down a little, and driving a little slower these days,” he said. “Focusing more on the journey than the destination.”
Perhaps that is also why Black Green and Reggae needed to be an album rather than a collection of singles. Cole wanted enough room to tell a fuller story, one encompassing Jamaica, Lovers Rock, friendship, his concerns about Jamaican music, his wife and the gratitude he feels for his life.
“The vibe I wanted to convey needed time to be properly delivered,” he said.
“I needed 47 minutes for that.”
Soundtrack for The Next Chapter
After sitting with the completed album for several months while working out how best to release it, Cole finally got to celebrate Black Green and Reggae with an official album launch.
“The audience was patient with me, and I really appreciated that, especially those who knew me for the music first,” he said. “I think the moment it really hit me that the album was out, was when I saw the lines of people waiting to get their copy.”
Now his attention is turning to taking the album to the stage. Cole plans to work with his band to develop a curated live show that carries audiences through the journey of Black Green and Reggae, rather than simply performing its songs one after another.
And while a fourth album inevitably invites reflection on how far an artist has come, Cole is more interested in what it might signal about where he is going.
“I hope this album will represent more of what’s to come from me, than what I’ve already done,” he said.
“I’ve been so blessed, and I’m enjoying the blessings. I’m trying to make the rest of my life a vacation, and I’d like this to be the soundtrack for this chapter.”
