Yaksta bats for marijuana farmers on new single

On his latest single, No More Sales, recording artiste Yaksta said that he wanted to give a vivid depiction of the issues that local ganja farmers have been facing since the introduction of medical marijuana and dispensaries.

"The message is, it doesn't matter the problems as long as it has a profitable margin, the system is designed to capitalise legally and penalise the inventors or the smaller man, so to speak. It is, unfortunately, the unfair bias of our society," said Yaksta. The video for the single, which was shot in Kingston and Manchester, was directed by Jesse James.

The director said that he had to think outside of the box to bring the song to life on film.

"The song itself came with a powerful message, so I felt my job as the director was to just bring that to life in a way that was true to the artiste's intentions. The reality of unreliable governance, nepotism in circles of wealth, and disregard to the average Jamaican's plight is something we're all too familiar with in this country. I wanted the visuals to tell the story of a government official and a foreign investor who opened a marijuana dispensary, contrasted with the anger of the general public," James disclosed.

James said the locations for the video shoot provided the authenticity that was represented in the song.

"We did a couple of pickup shots in the hills of Mandeville, but most of the video was done in Kingston. The city just has that raw authenticity which pervades throughout the visuals -- from the record store to the community shots to the dancer -- all locations in their natural states just seemed perfect without us doing too much," James explained.

The video for No More Sales premiered on December 15. The single is featured on the 'Ganjaville' rhythm. The project also includes songs from artistes such as Alborosie, Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Eek-A-Mouse.