Buju is special. If you don’t know Buju, you should!! Buju Banton is one of those artists that waves the flag for Jamaica, Reggae, Rastafari and just good music. I remember the first time I heard Buju and it was magic. Buju is one of the few Jamaican artists that is able to do dancehall tracks and roots reggae tracks. It almost seems ironic that he recorded the track Destiny because he was destined to make classic music.
Buju Banton (born Mark Anthony Myrie, 1973, Kingston, Jamaica) was born on August 20, 1973 near Kingston, Jamaica in a poor neighborhood called Salt Lane. “Buju” is a nickname given to chubby children which means Breadfruit. The name is ironic in light of Mark Myrie’s slim frame, but it is, nevertheless, the nickname his mother gave him as a child. “Banton” is a Jamaican word referring to someone who is a respected storyteller, and it was adopted by Myrie in tribute to the deejay Burro Banton whom Buju admired as a child. It was Burro’s rough gravelly vocals that Buju emulated and ultimately made his own. Buju’s mother was a higgler, or street vendor, while his father worked as a labourer at a tile factory. He was the youngest of fifteen children born into a family which was directly descended from the Maroons, a group of escaped slaves who proudly fought off the British colonialists.
As a youngster, Buju would often watch his favorite artists perform at outdoor shows and local dancehalls in Denham Town. At the age of 12 he picked up the microphone for himself and began toasting under the moniker of “Gargamel”, working with the Sweet Love and Rambo Mango sound systems.
In 1991, Buju joined Donovan Germain’s Penthouse Records label and began a fruitful partnership with producer Dave Kelly who later launched his own Madhouse Records label.[3] Buju is one of the most popular musicians in Jamaican history, having burst onto the charts there suddenly in 1992, with “Bogle” and “Love me Browning“, both massive hits in Jamaica. Controversy erupted over “Love Me Browning” which spoke of Banton’s preference for light-skinned women: “I love my car I love my house I love my money and ting, but most of all I love my browning.” Some accused Banton of promoting a colonialist attitude and denigrating the beauty of black women. In response, he released “Love Black Woman” which spoke of his love for dark-skinned beauties: “Mi nuh Stop cry, fi all black women, respect all the girls dem with dark complexion”. 1992 was an explosive year for Buju as he broke the great Bob Marley’s record for the greatest number of number one singles in a year. Beginning with “Woman fi Sex”, Buju’s gruff voice dominated the Jamaican airwaves for the duration of the year. Banton’s debut album, Mr. Mention, includes his greatest hits from that year. 1992 saw the release of a re-recorded “Boom Bye Bye“, which almost destroyed his career.[3] The song was the subject of outrage in the United States and Europe, leading to Banton being dropped from the line-up of the WOMAD festival that year.[3] Banton subsequently issued a public apology.
Now on the major Mercury label, Banton released the hard-hitting Voice of Jamaica in 1993. The album included a number of conscious tracks. These tracks included “Deportees” a song which criticized those Jamaicans who went abroad but never sent money home, a remix of Little Roy’s “Tribal War,” a sharp condemnation of political violence, and “Willy, Don’t Be Silly” which promoted safe sex and the use of contraceptives, particularly the condom, profits from which were donated to a charity supporting children with AIDS. He was invited to meet Jamaican Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, and won several awards that year at the Caribbean Music Awards, the Canadian Music Awards, and the Topeka ceremony.
Banton’s lyrics often dealt with violence, which he explained as reflecting the images that young Jamaicans were presented with by the news media, but the reality of Kingston’s violence was brought home in 1993 by the murders in separate incidents of two of his friends and fellow recording artists, the deejays Pan Head and Dirtsman. His response was the single “Murderer”, which condemned gun violence, going against the flow of the prevailing lyrical content in dancehall. The song inspired several clubs to stop playing songs with excessively violent subject matter. Late in 1994, Buju was also affected by the death of his friend Garnett Silk. Buju’s transformation continued, embracing the Rastafari movement and growing dreadlocks. He joined “conscious” deejay Tony Rebel, Papa San, and General Degree in the Yardcore Collective. His performances and musical releases took on a more spiritual tone. Banton toured Europe and Japan, playing sold out shows, and performed before 20,000 in Trinidad and Tobago.
‘Til Shiloh (1995) was a very influential album, using a studio band instead of synthesized music, and marking a slight shift away from dancehall towards roots reggae for Banton. Buju claimed to have sighted Rastafari and his new album reflected these beliefs. Til Shiloh successfully blended conscious lyrics with a hard-hitting dancehall vibe. The album included earlier singles such as “Murderer”, and “Untold Stories”. “Untold Stories” revealed an entirely different Buju Banton from the one that had stormed to dancehall stardom. It is regarded by many as some of his best work, and is a staple in the Banton performance repertoire. Reminiscent in mood and delivery to “Redemption Song” by Bob Marley, “Untold Stories” won Buju Banton many favorable comparisons to the late singer. This conscious album had a large impact on dancehall music and showed the hunger the dancehall massive had for conscious lyrics. Dancehall music did not move away from slack and violent lyrics, but the album did pave the way for a greater spirituality within the music. In the wake of Buju’s transformation to Rastafari, many artists, such as Capleton, converted to the faith and started to denounce violence.
Inna Heights (1997) substantially increased Banton’s international audience as Buju explored his singing ability and recorded a number of roots-tinged tracks, including the hugely popular “Destiny” and “Hills and Valleys“. The album also included collaborations with artists such as Beres Hammond and the legendary Toots Hibbert. The album was well-received but had distribution problems. Also, some fans were disappointed, having hoped for another ground-breaking album like “Til Shiloh.” Still, Buju’s experimentation and soaring vocals impressed many fans and this album remains a highly regarded work.
After Inna Heights, Buju went on to make other albums, but the albums he made in the 90s are about as good as it gets. I recommend you get them all, especially if you want to learn Jamaican Slang while listening to some great music.
Source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buju_Banton]
Here are a few Buju tracks that are well known…get familiar:
Buju Banton - Champion(remix)
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Buju Banton - Murderer
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Shaun Wright-Phillips
