Some covers are business. This one is personal, and Blvk H3ro said so himself.

The Jamaican singer announced on Instagram that his version of “Fig Tree” by Bunny Wailer arrives this Friday through VP Records, calling it “a full-circle moment,” according to DancehallMag.

He explained that he got to tour and be around Bunny Wailer before he passed, writing, “I learned so much just by watching him, so it’s an honor to stand on the foundations of such a legend,” according to DancehallMag.

Recorded where the story began

Blvk H3ro recorded the cover in Trench Town, the Kingston community where The Wailers’ story began, according to DancehallMag.

Bunny Wailer was one of the three original Wailers, alongside Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, and he was the last of that trio still living when he died in 2021, according to DancehallMag.

That history is why a Bunny Wailer cover is never just another release. The catalogue is foundation music, and listeners protect it.

The right people in the room

The personnel answers the purist question before it is asked. Blvk H3ro tagged Cannon Fraser, Dave Primetime Green and Megah Bass as players on the track, and he also named Earl “Chinna” Smith, according to DancehallMag.

Chinna Smith’s guitar runs through decades of roots reggae, so his presence ties the new recording directly to the era it draws from.

Blvk H3ro also thanked Maxine for carrying on the legacy through The Wailers Trio, and tagged the Bunny Wailer archives account in his announcement, according to DancehallMag. That connection signals a project made with the people stewarding Bunny’s work, not a one-off homage done from a distance.

What happens Friday

VP Records, one of reggae’s most established labels, handles the release, according to DancehallMag. No further details beyond Friday’s date, the musicians and the Trench Town recording have been shared.

How a new voice sits on foundation material is the part still to come. On Friday, listeners get to judge whether the student did the teacher proud.

Photo credit: Blvk H3ro, via Jonilar.