Tarrus Riley’s Tattoos, Rude Boy Image Become Hot Topic After Release Of ‘Lighter’ With Shenseea

Reggae crooner Tarrus Riley seems to be enjoying the jokes being poked at him about his risqué Lighter collab with Shenseea.

The new video received over one million views since it was released three days ago, and attracted a comical comment from a Twitter user, which has been doing the rounds on social media and which eventually caught the eyes of the artiste himself.

In critiquing the video, Twitter user @Jhambrizco_ implicitly stated that the 41-year-old artiste had moved from the soulful rootsy sounds that propelled him to international stardom, and appeared to be focusing on not only raunchier types of material, but also a ‘rude boy’ image.

“Tarrus Riley look like him move from She’s Royal to Gyal Bring the Pvssy Come.   Man fully fashion out, tatted and loc’d in bredda… coming like Elli Goulding touch the dawg with the energy,” he wrote, referencing Tarrus’ 2015 Powerful collab with British pop star Ellie Goulding and Major Lazer, in which Tarrus and the now 33-year-old, exchanged sexy lyrics to each other.

Tarrus Riley look like him move from She’s Royal to Gyal Bring the Pvssy Come 😂😂😂

Man fully fashion out, tatted and loc’d in bredda… coming like Elli Goulding touch the dawg with the energy.

— Brizco Don! (@Jhambrizco_) September 7, 2020

Tarrus’ response to the comment, which was reposted elsewhere on Instagram, was lighthearted. “Well…Can I live… naw sey nuttn mi Jus a Seh,” he noted wrote in his reply, which was loaded with laughing emoticons.

In the Powerful single, which was almost similar to the Lighter duet, Tarrus’ lyrics had focused on the “energy” he gets when he is touched or held by Ellie, who, in turn, had toasted the She’s Royal artiste, stating that he was charging her up like electricity.

However, Tarrus’ lyrics in Lighter are even raunchier and sees him telling the 23-year-old in the two minutes and 21 seconds song to: “Gimme the fire beg yuh bring that come…” and “Yeah, tun on the pressure Mek yuh hmm! get number, And when mi blaze it up mi know yuh nah run Want it bad, bad like it Against the law Light up, bright up yes a that me wah Grip mi pon mi skin me feel the claw Pon mi body she a draw Suh mi tell yuh raw”.

The reviews of the song and the accompanying video have come fast and furious on YouTube, with many followers gushing about how enjoyable it was, devoid of the explicit lyrics for which Shenseea is known.

“Notice in this song Shenseea doesn’t use vulgar sexual language because Rasta man got her pon lock…This song is sweet,” one fan wrote.

Others contended that while it was indeed enjoyable, it was just too short and seems to be lacking at least another verse.

“Big bad nice song, one problem is that as the joy of the song start to soak it stop. Duration should be longer,” one fan wrote.

“Love the song guys.. but y’all leave me wanting more. Where’s the rest of it?” another asked while a dissatisfied compatriot noted: “Love the song but I’m tired of 2 minute look songs … artist please 3-5mins please we need more content … never the less amazing jam.”

Tarrus’ Ink

Tarrus’ tattoos also evoked surprise amongst many who saw the Lighter video.  Although the artiste has been sporting a few for more than a decade, they were not very visible, but it seems he has had additional ink-work done, in recent times.

One follower said it was evident that Tarrus, who started out in music as a deejay, was going back to his old image, while another fan shanii_bella sought to point out that the Contagious artiste was a long-time body art fan, noting: “He’s always been tatted. They hardly show.”

“He was always tattooed… that doesn’t stop him from being himself …we ought to stop looking at the outer appearance and know the person than to be always assuming,” another fan added, while in contrast, another follower quipped: “Man almost look like t pain now”.

Singy-Singy, as Tarrus is also known, has categorically declared in the past, that it matters not to him, who dislikes his tattoos.  In an interview last year, he said choosing to ink his body was his personal business and he needed to provide no explanation for his decision as “if you were to put something on your skin to last forever, it couldn’t be a joke.”

Tarrus Riley, who was born in the Bronx in the United States, is the son of reggae veteran Jimmy Riley, whose Sly and Robbie-produced reggae ballad “Love and Devotion,” made the British pop charts in 1982.

As a dancehall artiste in his early days, he was influenced by Buju Banton, Capleton, Shabba Ranks, Sizzla, and Ninjaman.  He recorded his debut single, Nowadays, at age 15.  One of his earlier songs was the dancehall single Screw Face, which was produced by Danny Browne on the Main Street label.

Tarrus is known for Reggae classics such as Lion Paw, Gimme Likkle One Drop, Love’s Contagious, Beware, and Simple Blessings, and of course, his biggest hit, She’s Royal.