9Ni9ht ft: Lee “Scratch” Perry - Black Ark (Official Video)
9Ni9ht Opens the Portal with “Black Ark” — A Sonic Rebellion Rooted in Spirit and Fire.
Debuts don’t usually hit like this.
9Ni9ht — the boundary-shattering duo of Racquel Jones (formerly of Thievery Corporation) and Chuck Doom (Crosses, Team Sleep, Saudade) — just dropped their first single, “Black Ark,” and it’s not just music. It’s a movement.
Blending Jamaican dub, alt-rock, hip-hop, and jazz, the track refuses to sit in a box. With a haunting feature from the legendary Lee “Scratch” Perry, it pulses with ancestral energy — fierce, layered, and politically charged. Released on August 1st (Emancipation Day in Jamaica), “Black Ark” is both a war cry and a spiritual offering.
The name 9Ni9ht references the Jamaican Nine-Night ritual — a celebration of life, death, and transition. That same ethos runs through the duo’s work: challenging oppression, reclaiming power, and summoning change through sound and symbol.
In Racquel’s words: “Suddenly we’ve taken steps hundreds of years back. How are we here fighting these battles again?” “Black Ark” doesn’t just ask the question — it dares you to confront it.
The accompanying video is a visual invocation. Ghostly glimpses of Perry lead us through sites soaked in history and resistance — including a slave-built tower now standing on school grounds. The message? We reclaim what was meant to break us.
And then there’s the artwork: a surreal self-portrait by Jones herself. Think Kehinde Wiley meets mystic warrior queen — a divine figure on horseback riding through collapse with clarity. “This isn’t just cover art. It’s a portal,” she says.
“Black Ark” draws inspiration from Perry’s original Black Ark Studio — which he famously burned down as an act of spiritual cleansing. That fire lives here too. Not destruction for destruction’s sake, but to make space for something freer, truer, and alive.
9Ni9ht isn’t just making music — they’re conjuring a new language of resistance. “Black Ark” is only the beginning.