“Testify” by Peter Tosh

"Testify" sits on No Nuclear War, the 1987 album that turned out to be Peter Tosh's seventh and final studio record. He wrote the song himself and produced it, with Marlene Tosh credited as co-producer, and it belongs to a record he had to fight for: Tosh had spent four years protesting parts of his contract before he made it, and once it came out he was upset to find it released in South Africa despite what his deal with EMI said.

The album around it took aim at apartheid and nuclear holocaust, and the Boston Globe marvelled at how firmly, and for how long, he had held on to his beliefs. Not long after its release, Tosh was murdered, having come home to Jamaica from meetings in New York about the album's lack of promotion. In 1988 No Nuclear War won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.