Bumbaclot! Buju Banton arrested on drug charges
(and not that drug, either.) From the Miami Herald, proof that some controversies never die:
Buju Banton, the Jamaican reggae star whose anti-gay lyrics have drawn international criticism, is in a federal lockup in Miami, facing drug conspiracy charges.
Drug Enforcement Administration agents say Banton, real name Mark Anthony Myrie, has been in custody since Thursday and will soon be transferred to Tampa, where the U.S. Attorney is charging him with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilos of cocaine.
Banton has homes both in Jamaica and Tamarac.
While legions of dancehall reggae enthusiasts view Banton as one of the most prolific voices of Jamaica’s poor masses, critics say he’s a gay basher whose lyrics incite violence by calling for attacking and torturing homosexuals. His song Boom Bye Bye, a dance-hall hit released in the 1990s, advocates shooting gays in the head and setting them on fire.
That’s drug arrest to anti-gay lyrics controversy in four paragraphs. And you thought this was a story about a drugs arrest …
Who knew “Boom Bye Bye” was still relevant? My husband and I first interviewed Buju around 1993, and watched his evolution over the nearly four years we produced a weekly reggae music television program, “Video Dub Plate,” up in New York. Buju was, like, 19 years old at the time, and still in the white hot heat of the “Boom Bye Bye” controversy. (The song was first released in 1988, and re-released in 1992, becoming a huge hit in dancehall circles and a staple at reggae clubs in New York long before the mainstream world noticed it.) He was, and is, also one of the most talented dancehall artists who probably has ever come along — the equivalent, in many ways, of a Jamaican Tupak Shakur. And his religious beliefs (he was not yet a Rasta at that time we first interviewed him, and was still sporting a “bald head” and a big, 19-year-old’s grin… although by the time we finished the show, he was wearing dreads and was a lot more serious …) were at the root of the controversial song. They were also not unique to him. Jamaican culture, like a lot of “macho” cultures, is dead set opposed to homosexuality, and JA has been dubbed “the most homophobic place on earth.”)
In fact, much of dancehall music at the time, and much of it now, is fixated on uplifting the sexual prowess of male toasters, and hailing up the joys of heterosexual sex, while putting down “mamma men,” not unlike hip-hop today, at least regarding the running sex show. (A quick stroll through Shabba’s hits: “Champion Lover,” “Wickid in’a Bed,” “Trailer Load of Girls,” etc., makes the point, and Buju was no different, although he, more than many others, also sang about issues, i.e., “Deportees…”) Still, despite the fact that he was hardly the only artist singing about “chichi men” and “licking shots in’a batti bwoy’s heads,” Buju became, and apparently still is, the focus of the gay community’s anger, resentment, and feelings of targeted rejection (although fellow dancehall star Shabba Ranks ultimately suffered more lasting career damage for defending Buju at the time of the controversy. He was the faster rising star, and so he fell harder, and Shabba was dropped by his label in 1995) …
So Buju has continued to be dogged by the “Boom Bye Bye” controversy, which gay right activists are still smarting over 18 years later, despite the fact that Buju’s entire repertoire has long since shifted to conscious music, and his management claims he hasn’t performed the offending song in years (UPDATE on that below.) Just this fall, Buju was forced to cancel a U.S. concert tour after gay rights groups objected and took to the Internets, phones and airwaves to put a stop to the shows (including a planned Halloween night show in Miami.) And now, the Herald reports:
Recently the firestorm ratched up after the Grammys announced that Baton’s album Rasta Got Soul, released earlier this year, was up for an award.
What’s amazing is, after 18 years, even a drug arrest can’t overshadow a club tune. I wish I had some activists who’d go to war against the lyrics on the radio right now advocating using women like toilet paper, or getting even white kids to walk around promoting “thug” behavior and calling themselves “niggas.” (I live in a suburb called Pembroke Pines, and there are actually kids — white, black and Hispanic — who go around calling themselves “PPGs” — Pembroke Pines Gangstas. Somebody pleeeease protest that!) And didn’t Eminem write a song or two about killing his mother and girlfriend, among others? No protests there. Maybe the rest of us just aren’t that organized?
UPDATE: Just found a Youtube video that purports to show Buju performing at least part of the controversial song in 2006 in Miami, apparently to satisfy the crowd, which is clearly singing along. If that’s the case, he’s definitely asking for a fight, (though it’s not clear what year this was recorded):
Still, since at least 1994, this has been what Buju has been about:
And it’s hard to square that conscious guy with the guy gay activists say Buju is (not to mention with a guy who would try to sell five kilos of cocaine, hardly “rasta livity,” I’d think.) Maybe that’s the biasing effect of having known someone when … Meanwhile, federal sentencing guidelines indicate that if convicted, Buju could face at least 5 years in prison for anything over 500 grams of powder cocaine. Five kils is 5,000 grams. Not a good look!
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Buju Boom bye bye song is almost 2 decades old, so why is this song still being used against him. The drug charges on the other hand is a matter for the courts the determine
Good question.