Buju Banton

In March of 2003 he released Friends for Life, which featured more sharply political songs. Inna Heights (1997) substantially increased Banton's international audience. The song inspired several clubs to stop playing songs with excessively violent subject matter. It also included a single called "Murderer" which condemned the violence in Jamaican dancehall music, inspired by the murders of dancehall musicians Panhead and Dirtsman.

Till Shiloh (1995) was an influential album, using a studio band instead of synthesized music, and marked a shift away from dancehall towards roots reggae for Banton. He began supporting AIDS education and released a song called "Willy (Don't Be Silly)" (1993; The Voice of Jamaica), promoting the use of condoms. Since this time, Banton has become more socially conscious, leaving behind his old style of singing songs of violence and promiscuity. Banton, who had just signed to Mercury Records, was forced by his label to issue a statement; he refused to apologize and cited his religion (Rastafarianism) as the basis for his beliefs.

He is one of the most popular musicians in Jamaican history, having hit the charts there suddenly in 1992, with "Bogle" and "Love Me Browning/Love Black Woman", both massive hits in Jamaica and less so abroad. Soon afterwards, Banton released "Boom Boom Bye Bye", a controversial song that advocated violence and murder towards Jamaican homosexuals (called "batty boys"). "Banton" is a Jamaican word referring to someone with a superior attitude, but was also the name of a local artist (Burro Banton) that Buju watched as a child. "Buju" is a common nickname for chubby children; it means "breadfruit". He was born in a slum near Kingston called Salt Lane.

Buju Banton (born Mark Myrie 1973) is a Jamaican dancehall and ragga singer.