Fronting his militant band Indiggnation, PROTOJE articulates the righteous anger of a generation—he’s “at the forefront of the young, talented artists redefining the parameters of what reggae music sounds like in the twenty-first century.” (LA Post Examiner) He comes by his musical bona fides honestly: Protoje’s mother is the 1970s chart-topping Jamaican singer Lorna Bennett, and his father was a calypso king from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Starting off his career with one foot in the hip hop world with his 2005 mixtape Lyrical Overdose Volume 1, he has since gravitated towards dancehall and reggae, gaining a wider audience with each of his five studio albums—beginning with 2001’s The Seven Year Itch, through last year’s GRAMMY Award-nominated A Matter of Time.
Born in Montego Bay and raised in Falmouth and then Kingston, the deeply spiritual dub singer JAH9 is “inspired by the fearless truth-telling of Nina Simone” and projects “the ethereal aura of early Erykah Badu.” (Billboard) She’s a fierce advocate for women’s rights and a practitioner of healing arts—she will lead a YOGA ON DUB class with live music before her set.
DJ TOP NOTCH & MICRO DON, regulars at Bed-Stuy’s Lovers Rock, will take to the turntables to spin throughout the night.
