If you haven’t seen the documentary “Marley” released in theaters on April 20, 
2012 to world wide critical acclaim, you absolutely, positively must. Bob was by far and away one of the most influential artists of modern music not just on musicianship, but on world-wide politics, culture and human evolution.
Personally, I’ve always had an affinity for Bob Marley as his music transcended the typical bubble gum bullshit we hear on the radio and hit a deep emotional chord of unity and equality among people of all genders, races and religions.
Every artist at some point in their career must confront the reasons for which they make music. Is it to get laid, to gain attention never gotten as a child, to become popular, to make money and be famous or is it to become timeless and inspire people to become better, happier and wiser? Obviously, there are good and redeemable reasons that serve the greater good and more selfish reasons, which is befitting for the majority of musicians.
Even if you seek fame for selfish reasons, there are some life changing lessons from Bob Marley’s career that we can use to really inspire ourselves to dig deep and make timeless music that never gets old and gets us the respect and financial rewards we deserve. Here are the lessons from my observation, but feel free to chime in with any comments below.
The Good Lessons
Bob was committed to his craft, writing late into the night and early in the morning. Keep in mind your mind is fresh in the morning, which is a great time to write and the creative juices flow for most of us at night.
He took any gig he could to get exposure even if it meant 10 years of sleeping and eating in crappy conditions.
He believed in something larger than himself. Albeit Rastafarianism, which we’ll talk about in a minute, he believed in serving the people over and above everything else.
He wrote about things that moved millions of people like unity, one love, ambush in the night, etc.
The Bad Lessons
Bob was a womanizer, which he rationalized through his religious beliefs. He fathered 11 children with 7 different women only one of which was his wife. Nine of these children were conceived while he was married to another wife his first and only wife Rita Marley. Morally and ethically this put a strain not only on his children and many mistresses, but himself.
This can be argued up and down, but the bottom line is no man can possibly give enough attention and love to 11 kids from 7 different women. This is purely ignorance and outright selfishness. Of course this didn’t come from nowhere as Bob himself was abandoned by his own father. But rather than turning the tables, he perpetuated the cycle of abandonment and created more angry children.
There is no doubt in my mind that Bob harbored deep guilt which later on added to the stress of cancer and his ultimate demise. And karmicly, (if you believe what comes around goes around) this recklessness had to come into play with his quick and painful demise.
Bob was a doper and mentally addicted to marijuana. Nothing wrong with a puff here and there, but as in all things in life, extremism never works to your advantage. Marijuana has been scientifically proven as an immune system depressant and most certainly expedited the spread of cancer throughout his body.
Bob was diagnosed with cancer and recommended regular check ups, but completely ignored the doctors advice. Not once did he return to the doctor until it had spread irreversibly throughout his entire body. This would obviously fall under that category of both ignorance and arrogance under the false belief that it would disappear by sheer belief in Jah.
As I watched the end of the film and saw the thousands of people crying during his funeral, I couldn’t hold back my own tears. Bob changed the world and will live in infamy as a genius lyricist and conduit for peace. As musicians, if we really want to make an impact on the world with our music we need to heed the lessons from Bobs strengths and weaknesses.
Please feel free to comment below.
-Chad -CEO Music Launch Pad