OG Buju Banton talks his issue with reggaeton, commercialized cannabis, his next album, and DJ Khaled
On the latest episode of “Drink Champs,” N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN sat down with iconic dancehall and reggae singer Buju Banton.
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Hailing from Kingston, Jamaica, Buju’s affinity for reggae and dancehall was present since he was a young kid. In the late 1980s, he dropped his first single, “The Ruler.” But the ragga artist really started making a name for himself in the early 1990s with Mr. Mention and Stamina Daddy. Around that same time, he broke Bob Marley’s record for the most No. 1 singles in a year. Those feats established him as a legendary figure in the country's music scene.
As the years progressed, Buju’s acclaim on a global scale grew. Projects like 'Til Shiloh went gold and efforts like Unchained Spirit earned a spot on the United States’ Billboard 200 chart. In the next decade and after several nominations over the years, he even took home a Grammy award for Best Reggae Album, thanks to 2010’s Before The Dawn. His legacy has been applauded in and out of the booth by fellow acts and collaborators like Kanye West, ASAP Rocky and DJ Khaled, who have exposed Buju’s music to newer generations.
In this interview, Buju Banton talks about his journey of etching his name into music history, assessment of how reggae has impacted the world, thoughts on the current state of music and much more. Nine takeaways from the conversation can be found below and be sure to check out the full episode here.
1. On artists who get the most love in Jamaica
The “Champion” creator revealed the American artists who get the most love in his home country, beginning with his recollection of meeting The Notorious B.I.G. “When Biggie came to Jamaica, he came in a wheelchair. And it's the most gunshots he has ever heard in life,” he recalled. “The only person who gets more respect than Biggie Smalls in Jamaica is two people. We love DMX. And the last person who gets our love in Jamaica, [on] our island, [who sang] our oath, was 50 Cent. [It was] ‘Many Men.’”
2. On his issue with Afrobeats
Afrobeats is more popular now than ever before. Buju acknowledged that but also discussed his issue with the genre’s current era. “We hear our African brothers and sisters doing music that we can identify with, but we're not hearing nothing to free Africa, to free the mind of African [people]. We are concerned,” he began. “Because if we are in Jamaica, and we're singing about sexuality and violence and they can say to us, ‘My brothers in Jamaica, we remember when you used to speak to us from your heart. Now you're speaking to us from your lips. And we have to pull ourselves up from the bootstrap’... Then, we must be able to speak to our brothers across the pond and say, ‘My brothers, if we're lacking, pull us up.’”
3. On his first impression of Hip Hop
Buju has been a fan of rap music since he was a teenager. He explained, “When I was 14 years old, my friend upstairs, his mom bought him a boombox. And we got exposed to Hip Hop. We were listening to Slick Rick [and] Doug E. Fresh’s ‘The Show,’” he recalled. “So Hip Hop has always been influential. But then when I started diving into the issue of Hip Hop and realized that Kool Herc was a DJ, a Jamaican, who made the fusion more palatable, I said, ‘OK, then it makes sense.’ So, we embrace it.”
4. On his friendship with DJ Khaled
Buju and DJ Khaled have been friends since the early 1990s. Why? It was “his playing skills and how he did his thing, and his love for the music, not the money. Because in this game, if you love the music, it loves you back. And he loved the music. And it loved him back. It’s as simple as that,” Buju said about Khaled. “So, our friendship is not based on who the world says he is now. But who he truly is. And he'll always be my brother. Always be my friend.”
5. On his next album
Buju already has an idea for his forthcoming project. And though he wouldn’t reveal the title, he did give a preview on what sound fans can expect. “It's 100 percent dancehall. Why? I haven't given the masses dancehall music since I came home. And you know, they need it,” he teased.
6. On the evolution of cannabis
Buju has smoked marijuana for a long time. Through his extensive use over the years, he noted how things have changed and stamped his preferences when it comes to consumption: “What I've seen since I've gotten home is an abundance of herb dispensaries that sell good quality herb. But I still don't do commercial herb. I want my herb from the field to my hand... Because herb for profit don't inspire.”
He added, “They have commercialized the herb so much that even the potency has been reduced.”
7. On reggaeton
Buju was candid about his sentiments towards reggaeton. He explained the origin point of his disdain for the genre and said, “When I was 16 years old, I remember a song called 'Tu Pun Pun,' El General, right? The Panamanians, they showed us love... But then the music went to Puerto Rico [and other places]. And all of a sudden, it's like, you created this s**t.”
Bringing it back to the modern day, he continued, “Why do you think there's so many lawsuits currently from Jamaican producers with reggaeton? There's a major lawsuit right now with Steely & Clevie. Steely & Clevie is one of our biggest producers, and these guys have been biting this s**t because they think we're from the Caribbean and there's no intellectual property control or we have no idea what we're doing. But it's a new day in Gotham. The Batman is still alive.”
8. On the global impact of reggae music
Reggae music is essential to Jamaica, but the “Untold Stories” singer explained how it’s also been a go-to soundtrack for other places in the world. “Reggae music is international music. And it speaks a universal language… It's the king's music. It resonates with the people. It doesn't matter [what] your ethnic background [is]. And gone are the days where we can separate people along their racial [lines] or them color lines when it comes to music,” he explained before using the recent reception of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” as an example.
Buju continued to touch on the fact that even white people feel a connection to the sound. “More people in Europe love reggae music than America. Don't fool yourself... My forefathers cultivated Europe more than America in terms of making the music heard and bringing the music to the masses,” the icon stated.
9. On the negative agenda being pushed in the music industry
Buju shared his thoughts on how music has negatively changed since he first got in the game. “Music has been used against the people now as a weapon. I was here in the early 1990s, when I was a young man, and I saw the trajectory and I saw what they were trying to do. And they've accomplished it. They've accomplished killing the KRS-One. They've accomplished killing everything positive that comes through the music. And it went down a spiral to where it becomes debauchery and everything is nefarious,” he voiced.
The legend went on to discuss the importance of educating people through sound. “We are not here to convert people 'cause that's a cult. We're in [it] to open the eyes of the ones who are here on the Earth, so they can partake in the goodness of God. Not in the goodness of the devil because it only lasts for a minute,” Buju said.
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