Ziggy Marley may be known for as being the son of his legendary father, Bob Marley, but the reaggae singer has bigger things in mind than just his music. Alongside his musical career, Marley’s food activism has promoted him to create Ziggy Marley Organics Food, a brand of food that is beneficial and environmentally effective for our communities.

Marley is also an outspoken activist of the Just Label It campaign, a push for the federal government to label their genetically engineered food products.

Growing up in Jamaica, Marley has always had a passion for eating right. He tells The Root:

“It’s a tool for a bigger message and a bigger purpose, and it’s right up my alley. For me, music, culture and food — it’s a whole-body experience. We live in the culture and we have to eat properly, and food is a part of that. Also, it’s a part of how I grew up, with healthy eating and healthy food, in Jamaica. Everything was from the gardens or the farms. We didn’t go to the supermarket, growing up — I don’t remember seeing supermarkets at all until I was a teenager. We had the garden, we had the ocean and we had the farms. Everything was fresh and everything was organic. “

Coming from a homegrown food experience, Marley has always been a conscious eater, saying that food should not be a “partisan issue,” but rather a neutral decision,

“I’m sure someone is out there saying maybe it’s all the liberals, but this shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Regardless of your political party, you should want to know what’s in your food. And even if you don’t care about the food, you must care about the rights — the right to make choices, and the right to know what you’re eating. If not, this could just be the beginning of rights being taken away from people and what people don’t have the right to know. If we don’t stand up for this, then what are we going to stand up for? It’s an American concept. We have freedom of choice and freedom of religion, and we should have the freedom to know what’s in our food.”

But advocacy is only partly Marley’s passion. He is set to headline his upcoming tour this week at the Howard Theatre in Washington D.C. promoting his new album, Wild and Free.