Alpha Steppa
Raise The Ark

Akae Beka's inimitable style of rich, deep, multi-layered songwriting, uncompromising devotion to RasTafari and soulful healing melodies developed over decades performing with St. Croix based band Midnite and countless recordings. At the point of his untimely passing in 2019, he had released over 70LP's. He is without a doubt one of the most prolific reggae artists ever known.The stellar production trinity that is Zion I Kings have been involved collectively and individually in creating some of the most highly regarded contributions to the vast Akae Beka catalogue. Beauty For Ashes was not only a contender for the best reggae album of 2014, it was the most popular, most played, and most purchased reggae album of the year according to iTunes. A monumental achievement for undiluted, uncompromising RasTafari roots reggae music this side of the millennium. Two of the LP’s tracks, Weather the Storm and Same I Ah One, have been catapulted into global notoriety in part due to the viral success of the YouTube video of the ‘Dub in the Rainforest’ session organised in St. Croix by Tippy I in 2014. The video offered an unparalleled audio visual insight of the powerful, captivating, energy of Vaughn Benjamin, Pressure Buss Pipe, Ras Batch, and many of the bredrin and sisterin of St. Croix rallying around the I Grade Dub living dub experience.Following 8 years of anxious anticipation, for the countless Akae Beka fans that are also vinyl connoisseurs, this LP is now being released on as a 12" vinyl LP courtesy of Before Zero Records. This offers the listener not only the chance to enjoy this LP in an analogue form, but also the chance to hold the artwork as a 12" square masterpiece, created by the hands of Ras Marcus, the artist who gave the powerful visual presence that became synonymous to much of the I Grade / Akae Beka works over the years.

EN.New life for a tune that hold a special place in the discography of one of the greatest rub-a-dub and fast-chat specialists in the history of the UK sound system movement, here comes a fresh version of Tippa Irie's powerful “I’m An African” ! First making an appearance as the highlight of O.B.Fs album “SIGNZ” in 2020, this fresh reworked version of “I’m An African” features on Tippa’s brand-new album of the same name. To celebrate this, the track was pressed onto 7” vinyl alongside its dub version “African Dub” ! RufffffFRNouvelle vie pour un tune qui occupe déjà une place de choix dans la discographie de l’un des plus grands rub-a-dub et fast-chat specialists de l’histoire du mouvement sound system UK ! Morceau phare de l’album « SIGNZ » d’O.B.F sorti en 2020, le puissant « I’m An African », voicé par l’original Tippa Irie, prend une nouvelle couleur avec une version retravaillée signée O.B.F again. Ce mix tout frais figure sur le nouvel album de Tippa sorti le 15 septembre 2022, album auquel il a par ailleurs donné son nom ! Pour fêter ça, le tune est aussi dispo en digital et en édition limitée single 7 inch, accompagné de sa version dub ! Rufffffcréditsparu le 16 septembre 2022Produced & mixed by Rico O.B.F @ Dubquake StudioVocals by Anthony HenryArtwork by Laska & Rico O.B.FMastered by Joker Kapsize