“ Distant Relatives was ahead of its time in terms of highlighting African culture and music, before Afrobeats became a part of global culture,” Damian continued. With its blistering exchanges between Damian’s formidable Jamaican patois-drenched rhymes and Nas’ grittily astute New York accented flow, Distant Relatives highlights hip-hop and reggae’s shared African roots. A decade later, Damian reflected on the album’s magnitude: “ Distant Relatives is one of the most important projects I’ve ever worked on, musically, lyrically it’s a cohesive project with a hip-hop legend, where we really complement each other,” Damian told Billboard on the phone from Kingston, Jamaica where he was preparing for celebrations honoring the 75th anniversary of the birth of his father Bob Marley (Feb. 6). Their last joint performance was September 2011 at Austin City Limits. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Reggae Albums tallies.
5 on the Billboard 200, selling 57,000 copies in its first week the album peaked at No. Produced by Damian and his older brother Stephen Marley, Distant Relatives was released on and debuted at No. 30–Dec. 5 and Dec. 5–10, 2020 dancehall legend Shabba Ranks will also perform on both cruises, which will have identical artist lineups, Billboard has exclusively learned. In celebration of the 10th anniversary of their visionary, genre-blurring project Distant Relatives (Universal Republic/Def Jam), reggae superstar Damian “Junior Gong” Marley and rap icon Nas will perform the album in its entirety aboard back-to-back sailings of Marley’s Welcome to Jamrock Reggae Cruise, Nov.