Toronto-based reggae artist King Cruff talks his latest EP “WHAT HAVE I ‘DON,” collaborating with Skip Marley, Runkus, Banx & Ranx and much more.
Born Solomon Marley-Spence, King Cruff has spent the last few years building a sound that feels both ancestral and new. Grandson of the legendary Bob Marley, King Cruff isn’t leaning on legacy as an identity but rather, he’s building one of his own, layer by layer, beat by beat.
Currently based in Toronto, the Kingston and London-raised emcee has formed a cross-border musical identity, one that merges his songwriting, rap and reggae vocals to create what feels like a new strain of modern reggae, a fusion of reggae, hip-hop, pop, dancehall, and EDM, amongst other sounds that somehow still feels deeply Caribbean. Immersed in Toronto’s creative scene, King Cruff has found himself working with both global and Canadian acts, from Runkus, Skip Marley to Montreal producer duo and frequent collaborators, Banx & Ranx.
All the work put into building his own legacy lead him to the release of his debut project, WHAT HAVE I ‘DON? – an EP pulsing with momentum yet founded in reflection, which is hinted in the project’s title. The EP includes notable features with Skip Marley, Banx & Ranx, Natural High Music, Stonebwoy, Jag.Huligin and Solo Yt. The project showcased King Cruff as a conductor of global sounds, pulling in collaborations from reggae, rap, dancehall and beyond while delivering creative visuals to accompany the project. “I feel like with each visual, with me, I always try to make like these little movies and with each one of the movies I want to show more and more of my personality,” he shared on the visuals for the project. “I just want to take what is expected of our reggae, Dancehall artists and their visuals to the next level.”
The industry noticed, with spotlights from Billboard and even earning a nomination for Reggae Recording Of The Year at the 2025 JUNO Awards, marking a defining moment in his career. The momentum amplified as he joined Damian Marley and Stephen Marley on the Canadian stretch of their TRAFFIC JAM Tour, a major co-sign of their continued intergenerational artistry. Closing out his 2025 year, he launched his own tour, the BANTU KNOT BUTU TOUR, a show that doubled as a mission with purpose. With participation from Skip Marley and Soul-Rebel Marley and more, King Cruff took the show through London, Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City, directing proceeds to Hurricane Melissa Relief in partnership with The Bob Marley Foundation and The Rita Marley Foundation. The tour became a symbolic reminder that reggae’s cultural lineage is a much about community as it is about rhythm.
His music releases this year include BUNCH and 6 MILLY, with BUNCH catching hype for his summer campaign “Jamaican men don’t cheat” and Cheaters-inspired video. His most recent offering, 6 MILLY, is his own take on Toronto’s dancehall feel, tapping into his experimental and creative expression. “We tapped into a space of longing when we created this song,” he shared on 6 MILLY. “I wanted to take a stab at making proper yearning music, while maintaining the badman-ism. ‘Shotta In Love’ type of energy.”
Across his music releases, tours and recognition, King Cruff is nothing short of grateful as he honours his family lineage while building a legacy of his own. He’s built a borderless sound, and with that, he’s going into the new year with what feels like is just the beginning. A new era– the next generation of thriving reggae artists pushing the sound globally. A new dawn, the dawn of King Cruff.
I had the chance to catch up with King Cruff as we talked his latest EP, WHAT HAVE I ‘DON, his collaborations with Skip Marley, Runkus, Banx & Ranx and much more. Read our summarized interview with King Cruff and stream his latest EP and singles below.
XMPL: For new listeners, how would you describe your music and your sound?
King Cruff: I feel like what I always tell people is that the King Cruff sound, first of all, is very versatile. It touches on a lot of bases. It always has a foundation of hip-hop, because that’s like my first love in music, you know? I feel like a lot of people can relate to that. Everybody nowadays kind of starts rapping at some point, whether it’s rap battles at lunchtime, which I’ve done, or making whack tracks with your friends on Audacity, which I’ve done. So it has a foundation in hip-hop. But also, I grew up in Jamaica, so there’s a lot of reggae involved as well. There’s a lot of dancehall involved. And I’m also a student of the game. I mean, I love all types of music. Sometimes you throw some disco, sometimes you throw some funk. So I feel like my music is just like a love letter to all of those styles of music that I love, across all of the diaspora, you know?
So tell me what it was like growing up in a music family? Do you remember that exact moment when you decided “Okay, this is what I want to do.”
Growing up in a music family was very exciting. I feel like this lifestyle that I got to see is so very rare to people, and at a very young age, I was exposed to seeing how hard my uncles and my aunties would work whenever they had to tour, whenever they do a show. I was exposed to what it was like to have that outside persona, but also juggle that with inside life, you know? A lot of the first music I’ve ever heard was from my family. So it has a very deep rooted connection to me and a very deep influence to me, if you listen to my music, I’m sure you can hear it at some point. To me, the first time I discovered I wanted to do music– it wasn’t really when I was watching my family, you know, because I was a fan of all of my relatives. To me, I always wanted to be a reggae artist, and then I tried when I was really young, and it just wasn’t coming out the way I wanted it to. And also, I’m comparing myself to all these greats so I’m like “maybe this isn’t for me.” And then years later, it was really the blog era of hip-hop. When these new musicians, around the 2010s were coming out– the Kendricks, the J. Coles, the Joey Badasses, the Tyler The Creators, you know? The Odd Futures, although that era was when I was like, “oh, yo, this rap stuff’s cool,” and it’s also relatively easy for someone to do, not necessarily the writing skill of it, because when I just started, I wasn’t the most amazing writer– I am way better now. But more so the fact that I can just record off of a USB mic plugged in and find beats on YouTube, send this off to my friend, and then all of a sudden we have a track. So that was really my first inkling of, like, “this is what I want to do.” I enjoy this writing process. I enjoy this expressing of stories in just a clever way. I enjoy mincing words. I was one of those English language kid nerds, you know, I always loved it. So that was probably when I first gravitated towards music.
What were some of the inspirations behind the music for Summer Solstice?
I think the main vibe was just getting legit songs for the summer, you know, just giving people this playlist where they can enjoy it, where they can share it with their friends. I think a lot of the music on there is amazing. And again, there’s stories in there man. Every song kind of has a message. What I like to do is try to make these clever songs where there’s a message or there’s an underlying story, but you can only really know that if you listen to the music a little bit. So yeah man, I would say that was kind of the vibe for that creation.
“I got to see the artistry, emotion, and it was kind of like a full circle moment, you know? I mean, I’m working with someone that I really look up to, I’m really thankful for that.”
How did your collaboration FALLBACK with Runkus come to be? What was your reaction when you found out that you’re getting spotlights from the likes of Billboard and other accolades?
So FALLBACK. That was a great record. I’m glad that one came out, and to work with Runkus was a blessing, because Runkus was one of those persons that I saw growing up who was killing– I don’t know if you’d call it the indie scene in Jamaica, or what we’d call it, but it’s very this more so niche audience of music in Jamaica. I always thought he was one of the more talented persons, amazing writer. So I was a fan. FALLBACK came about when I was in Jamaica with Banx & Ranx, and we’re making a couple of tracks and I was just kind of like, man, it’d be sick if we could get Runkus to do one of these tracks. And he found the time to come through and lay something down. He did it very quickly. It came to him very naturally, you know. I mean, I got to see the artistry, emotion, and it was kind of like a full circle moment, you know? I mean, I’m working with someone that I really look up to, I’m really thankful for that.
When the accolades came in. I mean, I don’t really pay much attention to accolades, you know? I mean, I feel like I get it and I enjoy it for like 10 minutes, and I’m like, “Alright, we gotta keep working.” Because there’s a place where we want to take King Cruff, and we’re getting closer, but we’re not there yet. So a little bit more work, you know?
Can you tell me a little bit about the work behind your song EASY! and what it was like working with Banx & Ranx again for this track?
So EASY!– We made this one in Montreal, and I feel like this is another one of those sessions where it’s like three days. We make a bunch of vibes. First of all, let me just say that working with Banx & Ranx… if King Cruff and Banx & Ranx are in the same studio, it’s going to be a banger. And I feel like we’ve proven that time and time again, and we’re going to keep proving that, you know? I mean, so it’s very easy to work with them, and we have very similar tastes in music; a very mutual approach to the creation process. The making of that song was, ironically, very easy, you know, the lyrics came easy. I knew that we wanted to go in. A lot of the stuff I’ve made with Banx & Ranx is very pop. I was like, “Nah, guys, we need to go somewhere more aggressive with this.” And I feel like that’s something that they wanted to do too. Banx & Ranx got a lot of pop stuff, a lot of times they want to go outside of that. So it kind of fed the appetite of both of our creative beasts. You know, I mean to be like, yo, let’s do something different. Let’s see we can make it a banger. And we did!
So can you tell me the story behind the name for your EP– WHAT HAVE I ‘DON? What was the inspiration for the overall project?
There was this very candid moment of clarity, bro, where I was just having a meditation, and I was thinking about life and where I’ve been, where I’ve come from, and where I am, you know? I feel like, in that moment to have that reflection, I had to confront what a lot of us creatives go through, which is imposter syndrome. Like the self-doubt, the wondering if you’re doing the right things, etc, etc. And in that moment, I was thinking about, like I said, how far I’ve come. A lot of people hadn’t heard of King Cruff until recently, but I’ve been making music for a long time. I was independent for a long time, and I was just having this moment where I was thinking about all the little decisions and all the grinding and the nine to fives and xyz. And now I’m working with people who I used to want to work with in high school. I’m traveling to the music. I’m doing these shows that I never thought I’d do. So it was kind of like this moment where it’s meant to be sardonic, in a way. I hope I’m saying that word correctly. But it’s meant to be a very humorous take of like, “Oh, what have I done?” Because I did all these things because I wanted to get somewhere. And now I’m here, and I’m still confronting this emotion of like, how did I even get here? You know? I mean, do I really deserve this? And I feel like I made that the title, because it’s such a big question, and that question is very much answered as you listen to the EP.
You also tapped in with your cousin Skip Marley for the track, JACK’S HILL DREAMERS. What was it like working with him for this song?
Once again, a very full circle moment. I think we’ve all seen Skip’s career take off, you know? And I remember when I was seeing Skip still in those formative years of figuring out, like playing all these instruments and always doing music classes, and now he’s this global superstar. So there’s a feeling of pride in my cousin, there’s a feeling of accomplishment in that we finally have our track together– tracks crazy. Illmind also produced it, which is, once again, another full circle moment for me, because I used to rap to Illmind beats when I was back in high school, and now I have a beat with him. So it all came together, man, and I couldn’t wish for it to be any other way.
What do you hope people will take away after listening to your EP?
I think when people listen to my EP, I want them to also have this moment, to not be afraid to have that reflectiveness. To have that vulnerability with themselves, because I feel like a lot of people, I don’t want to say “they lie to themselves,” but they definitely tell themselves like half life/half lives, you know? To make their reality a lot easier. Reality is very hard. Life is hard, you know? I mean, life can be very unfair. But I want people to be able to reflect on that, actually weigh in on what their strengths and weaknesses are, because I feel like that’s one of the things you get when you think about imposter syndrome, you actually look, “Okay. Maybe I’m not the strongest here, but I know here I kill it” and what I want more than anything, is to teach people and to teach myself how to be more grateful. Because as I’m reflecting and I’m asking these questions of like, “Oh man, did I do the right thing?” I understand that I should actually just be more grateful that the Most High put me in these situations. You know, the Most High gives me these opportunities. So that is the biggest lesson, vulnerability and gratitude.
