"The Game respected reggae music" - Junior Reid and The Game -It's Okay (One Blood)

By: Claude Mills

It's More than Okay for Junior Reid

TheGame,JuniorReid,OneBlood,It'sOkay,HipHip,DancehallReggae.jpg Junior Reid has a big grin on his face these days. He is now in New York working on his upcoming album with Reefa, one of hip hops most talented producers. He just completed a five week swing through North America, playing in 30 cities across the western seaboard of the United States as well as Canada. And his combination single with The Game, 'It's Okay (One Blood)', the first single released for airplay only from The Game's sophomore album, The Doctor's Advocate, is generating major buzz in the streets.

The single has recently been added to the playlists of several urban radio stations across the US, and in the meantime, the video has been getting crazy love on BET and MTV.

"The video is being played worldwide. I was really pleased how The Game respected reggae music, and for him to sample 'One Blood' shows that he wants to send a powerful message of unity and peace to the world. There are a lot of things in the pipeline (with The Game), but right now, I am working on some phat reggae hip hop riddims with Reefa, we have completed about seven tracks so far," he told YardFlex.com during an international telephone interview this morning.

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Reefa was the one who produced the combination single, 'It's Okay'.

Meanwhile, according to Reid, the song is now #53 on the Billboard charts, and it has been added to the playlists of about 80 radion stations, and is being played on MTV, BET and Rap City....it's blowing up all over'.

"It is getting a lot of airplay on HOT 97 as well, they play the original and then they play The Game's hot single, it has given �One Blood' a new lease on life, the whole thing just revive," he said.

The Game's 'It's Okay' song samples Junior Reid's "One Blood" and features Junior Reid himself. According to Reefa, the producer of the song, "One Blood" was mixed by Dogg Pound affiliated producer Mike Dean. Although it is not an official single, The Game recently shot a music video for the song, which debuted on BET on August 22, 2006.
The video features revised lyrics in order to accomodate television decency standards. The Game is walking alone for most of the video to symbolize that he is the one blood. There are appearances in the video by Juice, Ya Boy, Nu Jerzey Devil, DJ Skee and even Tyrese shows up in it.

jamaican

shut the f**k up b*tch. hip hop music and reggae music runs the world .it is our culture so sh*t the f**k up. i like to see when reggae and hip hop like up . comes from a real jamaican

westside niggers straight

kingston jamaica straight

Silja

There's no way around the fact that this is such a far cry from reggae's Oneness that it amounts to a commercial distortion of the worst kind.

Is it catchy? Hell yeah. The producer's got the right mix, but the message is completely ill.

Has everyone just gone mad in the reggae community not to see what's being done here? For that matter, in the hip-hop community? (The boundaries, for me, are fluid, as they are for many of you, I'm sure ...)

Junior Reid throwing the H.I.M. banner while Bloods represent and prowl the streets? Never mind where are the Blues, where is everyone else who's NOT bangin'? Where are the women, the children? They're not there, b/c this isn't about healthy community, it's about the continuation of self-destruction of the most effective kind.

Mind you, I grew UP in L.A. and around Bloods and Crips at the height of the crack/drug war murders. I'm not coming from a point of ignorance. I lived this shit.

The blood was flowing in the streets. That's the kind of blood I smell when I see this video. Beautiful tats? Sure. Strong men? Sure. Nice to see Latinos and Blacks bangin' together? if that's our idea of race relations epitomized, we're sicker than we thought.

To see a 26-year-old perverting our riddims, our heartfelt, spirit-based reaction to the madness just breaks my heart. Jr. Reid should be ashamed of himself. I'll say it. I'll say it to him, if I get the chance. But I'll sit down to reason this one with him.

When I interviewed Michael Rose a few years ago, this is exactly what he was predicting. And here it is.

I can't be alone in feeling this.

mohamed

hola a todo mundooooooo

portion

me want to say all u brothas & sistas, dont hate the game and my rasta mr reid, its a good collaboration and shows unity between reggae music and hiphop, nuff love from zim, smokin gold grade

yes iya

portion

Jus Want to big up the tune by dem 2 bad bwoys, big up yuselfs, i personally like reggae and gansta rapping a lot, and when this choon came on here i was so full of joy dat there choon came out so irie. me a smok a big zoot to that. high grade 4 life, one blood