Protoje, one of reggae’s premier ambassadors, doubles down on his roots.

Protoje in Paris, April 3, 2026. The musician’s latest album, “The Art of Acceptance,” features stars of reggae and fresh updates on nostalgic sounds. (Elliott Verdier/The New York Times)

By PATRICIA MESCHINO

Hope Gardens, a lush, pastoral oasis in Jamaica’s capital city, Kingston, was the setting for the third installment of the Lost in Time music festival — a fitting conclusion to February, observed as Reggae Month on the island. The dynamic up-and-comer Lila Iké performed, alongside Jesse Royal and Mortimer, all three 2026 Grammy nominees. To close the event, the much beloved, elusive singer Chronixx took the stage for his first local performance in nearly seven years.

But the two-day festival was largely a showcase for the star who runs it: Protoje. Since emerging as a preeminent figure within Jamaica’s Reggae Revival movement of the previous decade, Protoje, 44, has grown into one of the most powerful global ambassadors of the island’s signature beat.

He’s appeared on both Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert’s late-night shows, booked slots at Coachella and Glastonbury, earned a pair of Grammy nominations and performed two acclaimed NPR Tiny Desk concerts. He also secured a partnership between his independent label, In.Digg.Nation Collective, and a major, RCA, through which he’s released three albums.

At a moment when dancehall and Afrobeats-inflected music has been taking off worldwide, Protoje remains dedicated to reviving and reclaiming a particularly traditional Jamaican sound. His seventh studio album, “The Art of Acceptance,” features collaborations with reggae royalty — Damian and Stephen Marley, two artists who represent “the standard I try to match,” he said. He cited “Welcome to Jamrock” (by Damian) and “Mind Control” (by Stephen) as longtime inspirations.

During a recent interview at a Kingston hotel, Protoje was intently focused and gracious as he credited his collaborators and mentors, a golden yellow, knitted tam crowning his long dreadlocks.

“The Art of Acceptance,” due Friday, reflects a mindset of “accepting the things you can’t change,” he said. “We started recording the album with the lyrics, ‘Rastafari teach I how to forgive, I’ve been learning how to live and let live,’” he added. “So acceptance means finding a way to positively radiate through your surroundings.”

Protoje’s roots in the music run deep. His mother is Lorna Bennett, a former singer turned lawyer who topped the Jamaican charts in 1972 with her reggae cover of Dusty Springfield’s “Breakfast in Bed.” His father, Mike Ollivierre, is a former calypso king of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Protoje was born Oje Ken Ollivierre and raised in St. Elizabeth parish, located in southwestern Jamaica. After attending St. Elizabeth’s prestigious boarding school Munro College, he briefly considered studying law before choosing a musical path. In 2005 he released his first mixtape, the heavily hip-hop influenced “Lyrical Overdose Volume 1,” and his debut album, “The 7 Year Itch,” arrived six years later, featuring his breakthrough single, “Rasta Love” (featuring Ky-Mani Marley). But it was his 2015 album, “Ancient Future,” and its anthemic hit “Who Knows” featuring Chronixx, that catapulted Protoje into Jamaican music’s major league.

Produced by Philip James, known as Winta — the sonic architect behind Samory I’s 2023 LP “Strength” and Mortimer’s 2026 album “From Within” — “Ancient Future” was lauded for its fusion of roots reggae, digital dancehall and hip-hop inspirations. The album is regarded as a cornerstone of Jamaica’s Reggae Revival, a cultural and musical movement that surfaced around 2010 and was named by author Gavin “Dutty Bookman” Hutchinson. The Reggae Revival evoked the consciousness, social activism and spiritual values of 1970s Rastafarian roots reggae as interpreted by a younger generation.

Protoje followed “Ancient Future” with “A Matter of Time” in 2018, also produced by Winta James; they reunited for “The Art of Acceptance,” with Protoje taking on more of a role in the production. Moving away from the hybrid sound characteristic of their previous collaborations, this time they sought an unmistakable reggae identity. “I don’t know if traditional is the right word, but I wanted stronger reggae instrumentation,” Winta said. “Throughout, we were just playing what came naturally, trying to make great tunes like we heard on the school bus growing up in the ’90s by singers like Everton Blender, Luciano and Garnet Silk.”

The album tackles societal critiques, Rastafarian philosophy, personal reflections and romantic longings. “The Locusts,” with an evocative sung-spoken history lesson delivered by Pressure Busspipe, is reminiscent of a trap palette overlaid with crunchy guitars and shimmering keys; the bittersweet recollections shared on “Something I Said,” featuring a soulful refrain by Jesse Royal, are undergirded by a velvety ’70s-styled R&B groove.

Yet “The Art of Acceptance” remains strongly tethered to Jamaica’s musical foundation: exquisitely crafted one-drop rhythms, throbbing bass lines and dub reverbs that aren’t diluted for a globalized market. “Reggae’s sound has always been positive and palatable, Bob Marley’s music was palatable, but my music sounds like me because of my influences and the producer’s influences,” Protoje said. “I am making authentic reggae, elevating my music to global production standards so that someone who may not be a reggae fan would hear it and say, ‘this sounds good.’”

The lushly produced, resounding reggae rhythms on the LP summon the profound impact Jamaica’s late “riddim twins,” Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, have had in shaping Protoje’s evolution. “Sly and Robbie are my greatest influences pertaining to production and sound, the biggest producers Jamaica has ever known,” he said. “You can only hope to achieve a fraction of what they’ve done and carry on their tradition.”