In the interview, Ras Marcus joined KGNU to talk about his upcoming Denver concert and his mission as a reggae artist. He reflected on his musical journey, the inspiration behind his songs, and the role reggae plays in spreading unity and resilience. The conversation also touched on his connection with fellow reggae artist Mighty Mystic, highlighting their shared commitment to uplifting music and community. Together, these themes painted a picture of Ras Marcus as both a performer and messenger, eager to bring positive energy to Colorado audiences. (Interview: 8/23/25)
DJ Soul Rock: [00:00:00] All right, reggae family. We’ve got a real special guest here on the phone. Ras Marcus, can you hear me? Are you there?
Ras Marcus: I’m here.
DJ Soul Rock: Awesome! Thank you so much for calling in and for the amazing music you sent. We just heard Dread in the Babylon, and right now we’ve got Media Hype on the radio.
Could you share a little bit with the Bloodlines listeners about your history here on the Front Range and in reggae music? I know it’s a long and storied one.
Ras Marcus: I’ve been in Colorado on and off since 1981. I came here on a writing scholarship to Naropa Institute for Poetry, when it was called the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics.
I had the second reggae store in America, called CIA Reggae Imports, on Pearl Street back in the day.
DJ Soul Rock: Nice. I wish I had been in your store every day.
Ras Marcus: Right. That was back in ’85, ’86, ’87—something like that.
DJ Soul Rock: Amazing.
Ras Marcus: Moving forward, I used to road-manage different reggae bands—Culture, Sugar Minott, Lucky Dube. I did some merchandising for him, and for King Sunny Adé, Fela, and several other reggae acts.
DJ Soul Rock: Amazing. And that’s how we met, at Ras Marcus. If any of the listeners were at Nya Wat at Rock on the Rails or at the Julian Marley show, then you got to see the amazing power that is Ras Marcus.
How long have you been working together?
Ras Marcus: We’ve been working together 10 years.
DJ Soul Rock: Wow.
Ras Marcus: Yeah, so we’re starting our 10th year together. And this year, I’d have to say, has definitely been the most groundbreaking year for Ras Marcus. We’ve worked really hard together, and we just took on a new manager, Tall Sean, who works with HR and several other bands.
It takes a bit of weight off our shoulders. We’ll have a new line of merchandise through him. Things are growing.
DJ Soul Rock: That’s amazing. I’ve got my Ras Marcus t-shirt on right now that I got at the Julian Marley show. I was just so blown away. It’s a show—you’re getting the highs, the soft moments, and the Walking Tall album, which just came out…
Correct me on the date, but 2025. And just so many amazing tunes. We’re going to hear some more later in the show.
Ras Marcus: The album was released June 20th on VP Records. Currently, we’re at 30,000-plus plays—or even more. I haven’t had a chance to check the stats recently.
DJ Soul Rock: You’ve been busy.
Ras Marcus: The whole album’s great. There are definitely five standout tunes, I feel. One is a sleeper, Giving Thanks. And the track with Ninja Man is interesting. Winning is really hyped. A lot of good ones on there.
DJ Soul Rock: I’ve been really enjoying it, and it seems like every time I check, Ras Marcus is on tour around the world. I know you just shared about becoming a grandfather, which blew my mind because that’s such an amazing blessing.
But I heard you’ll be coming back through Boulder real soon, in early October. Can you tell me a little bit about the shows coming up?
Ras Marcus: Yes. On October 3rd, we’re playing The Wild Game in Evergreen. That’s through my good bredren, JR, who’s been putting on shows in the Evergreen area. In fact, he used to have a reggae store in Boulder back in the day, right after me. He and I have been close friends for about 30 years.
The Wild Game is actually a nice spot—holds about 500 people. This is going to be our first time putting on a show there. So we’ll have Ras Marcus along with Root Sound and DJ Blood Pressure. If everybody comes out and supports this, we’ll actually do a reggae night once a month in Evergreen at The Wild Game. And there’s enough space to bring in pretty big acts.
We’ve even been talking about a festival up there this coming summer.
DJ Soul Rock: Mm.
Ras Marcus: Amazing. People support that, and I’ll support the fans back, you know?
DJ Soul Rock: I love it. That’s why I was really excited to have you on the show, because we go see these amazing shows, but there’s this incredible group of folks behind the scenes making it happen.
You’ve been a big part of it for a long time. I just want to say thank you—I enjoy so many of these shows. And you heard it here first: new monthly reggae coming to Evergreen here on the Front Range if we all show up. I’m looking forward to it.
Ras Marcus: And then on October 4th, we’re playing Fall Fest over on Pearl Street Mall, which is kind of a big deal. It goes on October 3rd through 5th, and Ras Marcus is playing on the 4th. It’s through the City of Boulder—pretty much the same people who put on Bands on the Bricks, on the Pearl Street Mall, where Ras Marcus has played.
In fact, we’ll be there next summer. We swap back and forth with them for a variety of things. And then on the 5th, I have a show scheduled in Golden, which is kind of like an invite-only party, but it usually gets pretty packed. It’s outdoors. We’re just working out some details.
We might also be bringing in one more show on October 2nd up in the mountains. I’m just waiting for the offer, pretty much.
DJ Soul Rock: Awesome.
Ras Marcus: And then we have 27 more shows to finish out the year. We came in with just over 100, and could possibly end with a little bit more. We’ve had people who want us in November and December, but we typically tour from February through the end of October, and then do a couple shows in November and December.
Then I generally go back to Jamaica for several weeks to chill out—’cause that’s a lot of work. And if people only knew what we’ve been through to make this happen, they’d buy multiple tickets every time. It’s been a great adventure.
DJ Soul Rock: Wow. That’s amazing. And I’m so glad that this year everything has really started coming to fruition even more than before.
I know I’m excited to see Ras Marcus again. Maybe we’ll even get Ras Marcus Benjamin opening, playing some of your songs. This is amazing.
Ras Marcus: I haven’t played that in a while. I played Reggae on the River twice. I opened up for Israel Vibration once, and a few other people.
I also have another album out—it’s a dub poetry album called Dub Talking. It’s a full project with me doing poetry, Nyabinghi chants, and then we brought the band in behind us.
DJ Soul Rock: Mm.
Ras Marcus: It’s pretty interesting. That’s been out for about 10, 11, 12 years. I’m working on some new stuff. I’m currently in the process of recording pretty much every single poem I’ve ever written since 1981.
It’s going to be just raw poetry. My oldest son has a recording studio in Broomfield, so I’ll be voicing it there. He’s also an EDM producer, rapper, and does some reggae as well. That’s where I’ll be doing all my production going forward.
DJ Soul Rock: That’s amazing.
Ras Marcus: Music runs in the family.
DJ Soul Rock: Thank you so much for calling in and for all you do for reggae music. I’m so glad to share it with everyone on Reggae Bloodlines, and I look forward to seeing you real soon. Thank you so much.
Ras Marcus: And real quick—yeah, we just got added to a big festival. For all your people who know Little Stranger—
DJ Soul Rock: Yeah.
Ras Marcus: He’s doing a festival called Holy Smokes in Garrettsville at Nelson Ledges. That’s a very well-known venue, and we’re going to be playing there September 27th. Coho and Smokes and a whole heap of really good artists will be there. That’s exponential growth right there.
We’re working on some bigger things. We’ve done Reggae Rise Up Arizona, and they’re looking at Ras Marcus for some of their other Reggae Rise Ups. We’ll be getting some work pretty soon.
So you know, we put the work in—that’s the only way to make it happen. But I give thanks to KGNU—47 years strong.
DJ Soul Rock: Thank you so much. And you know, it’s the community, right? We couldn’t do it without what you do. So blessed to have you on. Thank you.
Ras Marcus: The history of Colorado reggae is pretty deep. There’s been reggae bands from the late ’70s forward. When I first moved to Boulder, there were five Rastas. Now everybody is a dread—not everybody is a Rasta, but still, you know?
DJ Soul Rock: Yeah.
Ras Marcus: Back in the day, Denver had a lot of Trinidadian dreads, so there’s a lot of history there. Some heavy cats from New York City moved from New York to Denver in the late ’70s and early ’80s.
DJ Soul Rock: It’s such a rich history. And if there are any documentary filmmakers listening, you couldn’t ask for a deeper subject. I would love to see that.
Ras Marcus: I actually know a film major in Denver. We’ve discussed it a little bit, and we’ve been toying around with our publicist about maybe making that happen. In fact, our publicist is putting out a book about the music business.
This book is going to be primarily about reggae and how to do the business side of it properly. And I’m going to be writing the foreword. That’ll be out in about a month.
DJ Soul Rock: Oh wow.
Ras Marcus: I got to read most of it the other day. Her name is Janet Raza. She’s a very good writer. She does work for us as well. So we’re just moving forward with that. We’ll talk more about it next time.
DJ Soul Rock: Yes, definitely. We’d love to have you back on again and keep us updated on all the happenings for you, Ras Marcus, and reggae on the Front Range. Thank you so much for calling in—we’ll talk real soon.
Ras Marcus: I want to big up all the promoters in Colorado that make this happen, because I’m just one piece of the puzzle, you know what I mean? The folks putting on Sizzla on 9/20—I want to say mad respect.
DJ Soul Rock: Mm.
Ras Marcus: I want tickets for that show legitimately, but I’m raising money so I can donate it to the Sizzla Foundation.
Even in Jamaica, that’s really important. Sizzla puts his money where his mouth is, so I feel safe. Everybody must support the Sizzla show.
DJ Soul Rock: Thank you so much. I was lucky enough to do an interview with Jam Rock Productions about a month ago. The same authenticity, love, and living the message we’re talking about now is true for Jam Rock. It’s a family—we’re all doing it.
Ras Marcus: Yep. It really does take a tribe. And Colorado’s got a big tribe. If everybody in the whole tribe put together a few hundred bucks, we’d have our own festival.
DJ Soul Rock: Manifesting that right now.
Ras Marcus: I put on the River Reggae Festival for seven years at ACA on my own dime. It’s too much money to do it in the present stage of things, but a homegrown festival will happen again.
Awesome. I’ll leave it at that—I know you’ve got music to play, so play on.
DJ Soul Rock: Thanks. And next up we’ve got one of your recommendations—this is Ras Marcus with Giving Thanks. And thank you so much to Ras Marcus Benjamin for calling in. Much love and much respect. We’ll talk soon.
