May 31, 2023

Tuff Gong — the legendary music and media conglomerate founded by iconic Jamaican musician Bob Marley — and Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage have announced the first-ever “Tuff Gong Takeover” concert featuring Skip Marley and Friends to take place on Sunday, July 9 at the Coney Island Amphitheater in Brooklyn. Skip, the twice Grammy-nominated grandson of Bob and Rita Marley, will headline an all-star bill that includes Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie, plus Brooklyn-based veteran DJ Bobby Konders, and a special surprise guest Soca artist from Trinidad. The event, which is free to the public, will be co-hosted by NYC’s Shani Kulture alongside the Tuff Gong Radio on-air personalities;

DJ Sparks, DJ Brooke Bailey, and DJ Jel.

TUFF GONG TAKEOVER AT SUMMERSTAGE DETAILS HERE

“We are thrilled to bring the Tuff Gong experience to Coney Island,” said Bob and Rita’s daughter Cedella Marley, who is the CEO of the Bob Marley Group of Companies. She continued, “This lineup showcases the same diversity of genres that are represented in our Bob Marley Tuff Gong Radio suite of channels on SiriusXM. Dada would be proud.”

Offering his thoughts on headlining the inaugural Tuff Gong Takeover concert, Cedella’s son Skip said, “it’s a blessing to carry the torch that my grandfather used to light up the world.”

Sarkodie added, “I am very happy to be part of this amazing lineup in celebration of the legacy of the late, great Bob Marley.” The Ghanaian emcee received international acclaim recently for his reimagined version of Bob Marley’s classic “Stir It Up,” released earlier this year. With a career spanning almost 20 years, Sarkodie is one of the most successful African rappers of all time. He was the first winner of BET’s “Best International Flow” category at the 2019 BET Hip Hop Awards, and he was crowned Vodafone Ghana Music Award’s “Artist of the Decade.”

Adding some local flavor to the proceedings, Massive B Sound’s Bobby Konders said “we are excited to be part of Tuff Gong’s SummerStage Takeover! Brooklyn is our home and we ready to shell the Coney Island Amphitheater!”

More artists to be announced soon.

ABOUT TUFF GONG INTERNATIONAL:

Founded by cultural icon Bob Marley, Tuff Gong International is the legendary home of reggae music. The Jamaican born singer/songwriter’s life and music made a global impact that continues to influence pop culture to this day. Built under the stewardship of Rita Marley, Tuff Gong’s Kingston headquarters reflects their joint vision to use music as an instrument of inspiration and empowerment. The landmark compound includes a recording studio, music production, and distribution offices as well as the lone vinyl record pressing plant in the region. In addition to the flagship property at 220 Marcus Garvey Drive in Jamaica, Tuff Gong has now expanded its multimedia footprint to include Tuff Gong TV and a suite of channels on SiriusXM (Tuff Gong Radio, Tuff Soca, and Tuff Beats).

ABOUT SUMMERSTAGE:

Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage is one of New York’s most beloved, broadly accessible, free outdoor performing arts festivals. SummerStage annually presents nearly 80 free and benefit performances in Central Park and neighborhood parks throughout the five boroughs to 217,000 fans. With performances in genres that represent the cultural fabric of New York City ranging from jazz, hip-hop, Latin, global, indie and contemporary dance, SummerStage fills a vital niche in New York City’s summer arts festival landscape. Since its inception nearly 40 years ago, more than six million people from New York City and around the world have enjoyed SummerStage.

ABOUT SKIP MARLEY:

Skip Marley scored his first RIAA Gold certified single for the #1 global smash “Slow Down” with GRAMMY® Award-winning artist H.E.R. With over 200 million global streams, the song became the quickest and biggest-streaming song in Marley family history, and elevated Skip to over 440 million total global artist streams. It was the first time a Jamaican-born artist reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Adult R&B chart. At the same time, Skip became the first Jamaican-born artist inside the Top 15 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart in nearly a decade and a half (since Sean Paul and Keyshia Cole in 2006 with “When You Gonna Give It Up to Me”). The track spent 3 weeks at #1 at R&B Radio. Skip was nominated for two Grammy Awards (Best R&B song and Best Reggae Album) and two Soul Train Music Awards, an NAACP Image award, and Best New Artist at the iHeart Music Awards.