Rohan Marley: "The purpose and the principles of our business have to be the same as in our music."

Of course, this is a business talk. I'm not here to reason with Rohan Marley (40) about his career as(American) football player with the Miami Hurricanes and the Ottawa Rough Riders in the nineties, neither about his now finished relationship with Lauryn Hill. Although he doesn't mind me asking how she is, given everything we've read in the last decade about her.

'Lauryn is a great human being, a great musician and a great mother. She's working, she's writing music, she's performing, she's taking care of our five children, she's doing what she wants to do and nothing that's she doesn't have to do. Give thanks for the life we shared together, for our five children, but things don't always go as planned. And there will always be love, even if we don't share physical intimacy anymore.'

Rohan Marley seems to have two accents: Jamaican and American. The result is a juicy type of English, which resonates the voice of his father (especially when he laughs) as well as his upbringing in Florida, where he moved when he was 9, after Bob died. Except for his connection with Lauryn Hill, and contrary to most of his brothers, Rohan never entered the music business. But he did go into business, co-founding Marley Coffee (Jammin Java Corp) and House of Marley, two branches of the ever growing Marley tree.

Rohan Marley: 'We want to go places that reggae and Bob Marley never went before. To touch people that didn't know about us before. With sustainable, superior quality products, and part of the profits going to our own charity, 1Love.org, working closely together with local charities (Make A Wish Foundation in Belgium.)'

'In this resepct, Bob Marley Headphones are the first product of a line of ecofriendly audioelectronics, made out of recyclable aluminum parts and recycled plastic, but also with better highs and lows, a better sound in general, according to the professional standards of my brothers, who all have a professional studio in their house.'

'House of Marley is a physical representation of the music. It's who we are still today. You know, we are not

limited people.'

Rohan stopped playing football because he became, in his own eyes, too aggressive. No wonder they called him Rasta From Disasta in these days, being "the most ferocious tackler" of the Hurricanes.

'It was conflicting with my true energy. So I went to my brothers and joined Julian and Damian on their first European tour, 1996 or so. I carried the bags and acted as their security. It was a real joy to me to help them because I wanted to change my life. I used my heart and my mind as one and learned how to live as one.'

In 1999 Rohan Marley decided to buy a coffee farm in the Blue Mountains, Jamaica. 'There were a lot of restrictions. As a smalltime farmer, you couldn't do nothing. You had to deliver your cherries to the station where the big guys come with their truck, take your cherries and sell them as their own. My coffee also had to be organic. "Well, Mr.Marley, that won't work," the other coffee farmers said. At that time, there was only one lady producing organic coffee in Jamaica, about 1 acre. But if people say it can't work, they can't back me off. Today, we produce 100% certified organic coffee. Everything is built out of sustainable materials, certified wood, you name it. The purpose and the principles of our business have to be the same as in our music. It's the same positive vibration. No man is an island. People need each other. Everything is one.'

'Look at Ethiopia. It's not Ethiopians who built Ethiopia. The Swiss built this, the Italians built that…'

The Belgians built the railways!

'Seen. It was our brothers and sisters with the knowledge of technology who helped us to build this country. His Majesty asked them to teach his people, and himself. When His Majesty was a child, a French teacher taught him languages. When His Majesty come to Jamaica (in 1966), he don't eat ackee just like that. Somebody have to teach him, you understand? This world is so rich, a man cannot know everything, not even His Majesty.'

'So when I bought this coffee farm, I decided to go to Ethiopia first, not only to learn about myself but to also to find my life, find my way. In doing that, I learned about the origins of coffee. And I started selling Ethiopian coffee, until I could get my license and create my own coffee company. From creation, you know, through rastafari. It's the teachings of rastafari that brought me there, and I & I must start with the earth. With the beginning of earth, which is Ethiopia. The earth is the lord and the fullness thereof. Nothing came from outerspace. Everything we see was created on this earth.

'It took some years before I got my license in Jamaica but now I'm growing Blue Mountain coffee, as one of many types. I also grow coffee from Ethiopia, from Papua-New Guiney, from Guatemala and Indonesia, from all corners of the earth. If coffee is everywhere, you got to have different preferences. But it must be organic. Do you know why Ethiopian coffee is always organic? Because they cannot afford pesticides or fertilizers. That's why Ethiopian coffee is so rich in taste.'

Rastafari still seems to be largely misunderstood in the west. You and your brothers keep referring to His Majesty without really explaining the mystic.

'You know, I have a close connection with His Majesty. I can go and check Him right now. And I don't have to explain that. Life is about knowledge. It's better to explain to those who have done research. If you have no knowledge about His Majesty, we can't talk. You'll probably think I'm crazy.  Look for yourself, do your research, then we can talk. Then you will realize that His Majesty is the number one person in the world, the most photographed, the most written about. The king of kings, not just to I & I but to the whole world. Why else would he get an honorary degree at Cambridge university? If I come to your house and you give me the key, you do it because my wisdom and my knowledge surpass your home, because you acknowledge that.

'When Italy invaded Ethiopia, who do you think sat with the writers and the priests and gave them the words to be written, out of his own spirit and mind? His Majesty. We are talking about the wealth of knowledge. Of course you're going to honor this man with the highest order.'

'Why do you think the battle of Adwa was fought, in 1866? It was just like with the birth of Joshua, when the

Romans went out to kill all first borns. The Italians in the 19thcentury studied astrology, they knew when the One (Ras Tafari) was born. So they go out there and want to kill every living baby, because they don't know who it is. Just like they did in the old days. The Italians got conquered and came back, in 1936. You know what His Majesty had to fight the war with? Bees, and lions, and elephants. He didn't have weapons, there was an embargo, also for Italy, but they neglected it.'

'His Majesty went to the League of Nations and said to the world: "It is we today, it will be you tomorrow." And that is what happened, because Mussolini had a wartime brother who rose up, and together they ignited World War 2.'

Rohan Marley can't be stopped anymore. He doesn't seem to need my questions to tell his story, and surely not His Majesty's.

'"Until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes, we will have war": when a man tells you that, he must be the brightest man  that ever existed on this earth, right? Will you tell your son that he can't come into your house because he has blue eyes and you have brown eyes? No, you can't separate a man because of the color of his eyes, or the texture of his hair. Or the color of his skin. It's the same thing.'

'But then they start to spread propaganda about His Majesty. And they use the same poison that the Italians sprayed on Ethiopia during the war. They point at the land that was affected by the poison, where nothing could grow and people couldn't live, but still they did. Until there was a famine, in 1972. That's what they used to turn the people against His Majesty. They blamed him for a problem in a certain part of the country that was created by the Italians, and exalted it for the whole world to know, totally out of proportion.'

'You know why there was another famine in 1984? If you fight against the Almighty, you will suffer. The whole people will suffer. You can't fight against good. You have to accept good. Accept it and be humble. It's ok if someone is better than you. You will learn. You will become great one day. Let your ego go.'

It strikes me, when you talk about rastafari, you mainly refer to historical facts. Other rastamen prefer talking about the bible.

'I deal with reality. I only know what I know. The bible say one thing but what about your actions? It's about what you do, the way you live, measured to the standard of a proper human being. I can't tell you about Psalm 51 telling this or that. What interests me is how you live that psalm. I can only go by what I see.'

Is there a connection between all this and Mellow Mood, the reason why you are in Europe right now?

'It's the same inspiration. From creation, from the earth. With 7 natural herbs. We don't use things that will create ailment to your body. It's also a vehicle, to help people in their daily life, like you create shoes and clothes and cars and roads. We've learned how to create things that will make things better for the people.'

'Like man smoke herb. It come from the earth. Some man don't smoke herb, man drink the herb. Man eat the herb. But still they say herb is illegal. So we create Mellow Mood, to mellow you out. Mellow Mood can cure your stress.'

Is it right that your father called herbs 'mellow mood'?

'Yeah man. Mellow is a vibe, mood is the action.'

Does it bother you that herbs will always be an issue when it comes to Bob Marley, and all the products that are derived from his name? That some people will always make a connection with drugs?

'Drugs!? When you go to the drugstore, what do you by? When you take a prescription medicine, what do you swallow? Those are the real drugs, something they created with chemicals. Cough syrup, you know. If you think herb is a drug, don't use it. To each his own. But don't judge a man because he is growing herbs in his garden.'

You are working with several partners and collaborators to put Mellow Mood on the market. How do you choose them?

'It's all about the heart, and your commitment, and your consistency, and your persistency. If you work with us you have to follow our principles. We are a family company, still everywhere around the world the name of Bob Marley creates a positive vibration. It's like science. If you put up a big billboard with Bob Marley, people think love. One love. Everything is one love. We are promoting the message and the movement of rastafari. Because rastafari is the head of all these things. It couldn't be no other way. We are natural people.'

Did you consider to create a real root drink, like people drink them in Jamaica?

'It's difficult to get an FDA (US Food & Drug Administration) stamp for root drinks. Once we've cleared that, we'll come with it. Although Mellow Mood is a root drink too, there's roots in it. But the real root drink put fire in you, Mellow Mood more mellow you out.'

Do you consider energy drinks like Red Bull as competition?

'No man, we don't deal with competition. We do our own thing. They're hyper, were cool. They drive fast, we let people pass us by. They jump, we chill.'

One last question tough not about your business: you have 7 children, your brother Stephen probably even more, your father had at least 12. Be fruitful and multiply?

'I have two children with my high school sweetheart, who I live with for ten years, and five with Lauryn. It's just that we have no limit to love. The perfect union between a man and a woman is to be as one, to create one, the child. I had children with the women I loved and who loved me. We're not like rabbits, just jumping around and creating new offspring.'