Toots’ “54-46”, Jesse Royal, No-Madzz In Levi’s ‘Greatest Story Ever Worn’ Ad Campaign

Toots Hibbert’s mega-hit song 54-46 Was My Number, which he wrote while imprisoned in Jamaica, has been featured in Levi’s ‘Greatest Story Ever Worn,’ a global ad campaign celebrating the 150th anniversary of the brand’s 501 Jeans.

Titled Precious Cargo, the advertisement—which was created by Droga5 New York and Sao Paulo creative agencies and directed by Melina Matsoukas—shows a boat filled with barrels of 501 Jeans arriving at the Kingston waterfront in the 1970s, as excited Jamaicans gallop to the location on foot.

Reggae singer Jesse Royal, who is among the actors in the commercial, is also spotted racing his motorcycle at high speed toward the port.  As the barrels are dispatched, the delighted people open them and gleefully take out their Levis Jeans, as the synchronized 54-46 plays in the background.

“Chapter 103 – Precious Cargo: In the 1970s, the 501® jean made it to Kingston.   Then, Kingston made it their own. And that’s one influential island in the greatest story ever worn.   Explore more stories and stay tuned for the next chapter as we celebrate #150YearsOf501 as worn by you,” the company captioned the post.

“When the 501 jean made it to Kingston, Kingston made it their own,” the captions on the video note, as the visuals move on to show an ensuing dance session with jeans-wearing girls bubbling and men skanking, among them, members of the band No-Madzz of Breadfruit fame.  

“And that’s one influential island in the greatest story over worn,” the rest read.

Levi’s The Greatest Story Ever Worn, which got underway during the Grammy Awards on Sunday with the release of three short films, is aimed at depicting their product’s popularity and influence.

Over on Instagram, Jesse Royal shared the advertisement and confirmed to his compatriots that it was indeed he, they had seen in the video.

“The amount message mi get a ask if a me 😂 Yess it was I! No need to be complimenting me so much geeez Lol But yeea This was definitely an incredible experience and I am Overjoyed to be representing Ja in so many Different ways! Big up @levis for paying respect to Jamaica and highlighting the Real relationship!! Drop some 🇯🇲 flags and mek @levis feel the love!” the Small Axe artiste said.

As for the genesis of Toots’ 54-46, which synchronized in the advert, an October 2018 Gleaner article titled The Music Diaries: 5446 was Toots’ prison number, noted that his imprisonment, which took place shortly after he won the inaugural National Festival Song Competition, back in 1966, was “viewed by the singer as a deliberate attempt to sabotage his career.”

Toots was imprisoned at the Richmond Farm prison in St. Mary, on a marijuana possession charge after winning the competition. According to the article, the imprisonment “destroyed his prospects of going on his first overseas tour” at the time.

“The arrest was a thing that was planned, but I didn’t know about it until a policeman told me afterwards. A promoter planned it. They didn’t want me to go to England and hit first. That act affected my career seriously because I was about to go on the biggest tour of my career,” Toots had stated in Reggae Routes, a book by Kevin O’Brien Chang and Wayne Chen.

A saddened Toots, who was still traumatized by the incident in late adulthood, had also said in September 2018 that, at the time of his arrest, he was not yet 18, and was never a smoker up to that point, as he “grew up in the church as a spiritual youth who never smoke either cigarette or herb before”.

“When me win the festival thing, that’s where the badmind thing come in – people saying how me just come in and gone ahead a fi them artiste, and them just politics it out. Put me eight months fi stay up at Richmond fi no reason. Never smoke herb yet. It was some time afterwards that I started,” he said.

As the story is told, the incident that led to his incarceration occurred while he and others were travelling to Ocho Rios, and were trailed by a policeman, who arrested one of his colleagues “for carrying a pillion rider without a licence to do so”.

“Bail was requested, and Toots had to leave his luggage at the Linstead Police Station and ride back to Kingston to fetch their manager, Ronnie Nazrala, to bail his two friends. When they returned, Toots was greeted with the news that ganja had been found in his luggage, and he, too, would be arrested,” the Gleaner article stated.

The incarceration led Toots to pen 54-46 Was My Number, in a bid to let people know that he was innocent.   The track went on to become his biggest hit.

The ganja charges were later expunged from Toots’ record.