Buju Banton
A gravel voice that helped dominate early-1990s dancehall, then opened into roots, Rastafari and confession on ‘Til Shiloh. Buju Banton’s catalog contains both transformation and harm; an honest history has to hold both.
Buju Banton emerged from Kingston sound systems and exploded in 1992 with a record-setting run of Jamaican hits and the album Mr. Mention. His huge, rough deejay voice fit the era’s hard dancehall, but ‘Til Shiloh in 1995 marked a decisive turn toward Rastafari, roots instrumentation and songs such as “Untold Stories,” “‘Til I’m Laid to Rest” and “Not an Easy Road.” That evolution does not erase “Boom Bye Bye,” an anti-gay song recorded when he was young that caused lasting harm and decades of protest. His career also includes a US drug-trafficking conviction, imprisonment, a major 2019 return and continued work across dancehall and reggae. Buju matters because his musical range and influence are enormous, not because difficult parts of the record should be softened.