RM: Everyone knows that “Love So Nice” was based on the [Bob Marley] “Stir It Up” rhythm – I wanted to ask you about your early influences as an artist.

JK: Well, inna the early stages, what influence I was, not only the love for the music but mainly the older artists dem – back then, they wasn’t so old! [laughs] But the older artists dem, like Burning Spear, Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Dobby Dobson, Ken Bob, Bob Andy, you name it. And yes, you done know say Bob inna it too. Peter Tosh in deh too. Israel Vibration inna it too. A mainly dem mi listen too, star.

RM: And out of the contemporary artist dem who a record today, who do you listen to, as a fan?

JK: Well, I wouldn’t go as far as to say I collect their music. I guess it’s because mi busy. But mi have contemporary artist whey mi listen to, yes. Mi a listen to Beres from him a do “One Dance,” and I follow his career from ever since. You know, Luciano, and that youth dey whey get incarcerated, um, Jah Cure. Jah Mason, Richie Spice, Warrior King. And mi listen to my youth ya [Desmond Brown]. Mi listen to him a whole lot. A good youth, you know? A good soul. And him can sing too, you know? Him just destined for greatness, as long as him a do whey him a do and continue.

RM: Your brother Jim Kelly used to voice with ‘Jaro, right?

JK: Yeah, yeah.

RM: How involved are you in the sound system business? You record a lot of dubs? Did you ever travel with a sound early on?

JK: Aright, mek mi tell you how it go now. The sound system now, as you know, from back in the ‘80s is totally different. They did go through a revolution, musically, to put dem at the stage whey dem at now. I get the tail end of being on the sound system, toasting the mic, when it was in transition, changing from being Rub-A-Dub sound systems - having artists toasting the mic - to just disco sounds, just playing music, and playing dub plates. I never had a sound whey mi personally assigned to, like mi bredda. It was more like freelance. A function a gwaan, somebody invite me, and him tell me the sound that’s gonna be played down there, and mi just go, and mi deh pon di poster, so when it’s working time, we work. I want tell you something, Milo, mi apprecilove it, because, you know, it’s not like nowadays artists whey nuh understand, and only hear about it, but never experience toasting the mic from parish to parish. Mi go through that likkle phase deh, you know? So, mi grateful for that.

RM: You have tunes like – like on Love So Nice you had “Boom Draw,” and pon dis one you have “Just Another Blend.”

JK: Yeaaah, man, mi love herb, man! [laughs]

RM: Would you advocate legalizing Ganja?

JK: Of course! It’s not a gateway drug. It’s not even a drug. Nothing wasn’t added to it. It’s not like the cocoa plant [that is processed to make cocaine]. Now, I’m not saying that there isn’t plants that grow up from scratch whe nuh toxin, you know? But tobacco have more toxin inna dat than all the drugs put together! And yet still, it’s legal. And the surgeon general state that this and that can be harmful to your health, but, at the same time, dem nuh put no laws against it. And the amount of medicinal purposes that that same herb have inna it, whey pharmaceutical companies ah mek millions offa - billions! - so then, legalize it, and then put on the bottom of the box - just like dem do with the cigarettes - say “the surgeon general states that pregnant woman must not smoke it and what have you. Do that then! Them just a beat it down on one end, and suck it dry on the other end. I don’t see why dem do that.

And is not just the smoking just for smoking purposes. Mi drink herb wine. Mi drink herb tea. Herb brownies mi eat. Herb cake. You understand? And they’re so many things about it - Hemp, hair oil, make garments. When dem use the seed and crush it, and extract the oil from it, the amount of things the oil can do! So I can’t understand the hypocrisy on herb. So, I nah just advocate and lobby for the smoking of herb, you know - just so I can walk down the road with a spliff inna mi hand and no police can’t do me nothing. Hey, I agree with them: Large quantities of it, OK, it’s tax free, I agree the state should be able to say, “Listen, if mi nah get no money off of it, mi a go destroy it.” So only unless you have a pharmaceutical lab or something, you can only have X-amount. It can work! So the people dem can boil dem tea freely, and nobody nah come with no search warrant to search up dem house and find out say dem have herb deh and lock dem up! Dem can decriminalize it, Rasta. It’s the least of our problems in the world right now.

RM: How do you feel about performing live? Do you enjoy the live performance as much as you enjoy crafting the album in the studio?

JK: Performance, for me, is the ultimate. I mean, studio is one of my favorite place to be. I enjoy creating, piecing together the song, you know. It’s like a puzzle, and it’s a challenge. Mi enjoy that. That have its own rewards. And mi enjoy going to the studio and putting together what was once in my head down on track! It’s a feat! It’s enjoyable. That is another reward. And then, the cream of the crop is actually performing.

RM: How often do you perform within Jamaica? I know you perform a lot in Europe.

JK: Not as much as I would love to perform. One of the things that I regret most is actually... in Jamaica, somebody may say “Junior Kelly - “Love So Nice.” Police stop me inna di street: “W’appen? How mi nuh hear nuttin’ more from you, Rasta? From you put out “Love So Nice?” And, mi say, it’s a shame. Di tune dem a play pon di radio and they [the disc jockeys] nah call no name, so dem can’t attach a name to the song! You know, the people dem whe a hear it pon di radio! You understand? It reach a frustrating level when people see you and say “Cha! a one song you do, man,” or I realize that’s a problem in Jamaica, so, henceforth, I’m doing some shows in Jamaica for the season. I cancelled some lucrative offers overseas just fi do some shows in Jamaica because it was like this in Bob’s time, so I guess I am no different. You need your likkle notoriety from the Jamaican audience. So, mi a do HotShots, mi a do Rebel Salute, mi a do Sting. And some local events that happen annually, but not as big as Sting. The thing is to do some local videos. Local videos don’t yield profit in Jamaica, but it stirs up a lot of notoriety and pins a face to the song. It’s just promotions, you know.

RM: I believe that’s it. I know I took a lot of your time. Respect for the time whe you give me.

JK: No probs, man. Respect, Milo.