10. Steppa – Buju Banton
Song #10 on our ReggaeMania.com Awards ‘Top 10 Songs of 2019’ dancehall-reggae chart belongs to Jamaica’s most beloved living legend, Mark Anthony Myrie AKA Buju Banton. ‘Steppa’ is a good comeback song and video for Buju, a good re-start for the restoration of his rightful place as ruler in our reggae-dancehalls.
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‘Steppa’, officially released November 15th of 2019, sees Buju picking up from where he left off. It is a lyrical characterization and expose of the secret ‘steppa’ code versus the philosophically opposite and notorious ‘shotta’ lifestyle, as seen through the Buju Banton ‘window’. If there is a difference between the two, Buju seems to be saying that ‘steppas’ are entitled to a little more ‘respect’ and understanding due to their survivalist nature, versus the ‘shotta’, who are feared, heartless, murderous, and who kill for no reason.
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‘Two degrees cold , Man A step when it hotta, Nuh make no mistake, Confuse steppa with shotta
Steppa step and survive, Shotta brain get splatta…Weh mi say steppa, Steppa a nuh petty thief, Steppa a nuh taker,
Man nah step fi the worst , Man ago step fi the betta…’
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Even though ‘Steppa’ is well liked and made more for radio and video than to tear up dance floors, there are better things to come for Buju, who is just beginning his comeback trail. His latest single shaking the reggae foundations and rising up the charts is ‘Trust’, which sees Buju sounding incredible after changing up his dee-jay styles and patter to emulate and keep pace with today’s trending artists while appealing to the new generation of fans whom he may have lost while spending time away.
As dancehall fans will attest, there is nobody else like Buju, and since the 90’s, his voice, patter, and overall sound, continue to have a distinct, magical place in our dancehalls. About to enter his 4th decade as one of Jamaica’s most eccentric and prolific dancehall artists, Buju has has carved his own niche in the scene. No doubt, when a dee-jay/selector drops a classic Buju in a dance or sound clash, there is no other vibe like it. Buju, our crowned and so highly decorated ‘king’ of dancehall’, seems knighted, adored, forever young, forever relevant, forever dominant, a constant – linking quondam old school reggae sounds and styles with the new.
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2019, of course, was a redemption year for Buju, recently back on the scene after his December 8th 2018 release from US prison for drug charges. In a 2011 trial in Tampa, federal prosecutors used audio and video recordings and testimony from a Drug Enforcement Administration ‘infarma’ to convince a jury that Buju was guilty of attempting to purchase 11 pounds of of cocaine valued at US $135,000 from this same ‘Babylonian’ informant.
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There was no escape for Buju – despite frantic efforts from lawyers and ‘free Buju’ endorsements from hi-end celebrities, colleagues and fans, it was more or less an an open-shut case for US authorities, and eventually, Buju was convicted, and had to serve 8 years of a 10-year sentence after being found guilty for illegal possession of a firearm, dismissed later by a judge, and conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute.
Jamaicans and Buju fans alike were stunned, left scratching their heads in disbelief; how did Buju allow himself to get caught, why did he ‘fire’ the ‘Driver’? And why was Buju, one of our industry’s more financially secure artists, playing the drug game? It was both a shock and a bit of an embarrassment not just for Buju, but for a defiant culture where hustling is seen as survival, and a marginalized dancehall populous refuse to conform the rules and ideals of a flawed and unjust Babylonian system.
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What we saw next was a case of ‘American justice’ vs ‘Jamaican justice’, two completely different monsters. One just has to look at the case of Jamaica’s Vybz Kartel and how, despite being imprisonment for the more serious crime of murder, mind you, in a Jamaica prison, continues to be free to release music on a weekly basis while behind bars, literally turning his jail into a recording studio.
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In the case of Buju – no such privileges, no celebrity pass! Unlike how things worked in Jamaica, spending time in a US prison would represent a completely different experience. On TV, we saw glimpses of US authorities handling Buju the same as they would common criminals. In America, his Jamaican superstar status pulled little weight, and other than periodical updates from his legal team, fans would not hear a peep from Buju during his time of incarceration, no new music, no dub plates for clash sounds, no live press conferences, no behind-bars concert, and very little, if any, social media – nothing!
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Fast forward to 2018 – on what Jamaican’s called a ‘glorious’ day, crowds gathered at the airport for Buju’s long awaited and triumphant return to Jamaica after almost eight years of US imprisonment; the story makes news around the world, and as he is being released, there are arguments from various Caribbean stakeholders as to where his first concert should be. Within a relatively short period after his release, fans see Buju back where he belongs, re-uniting with friends and family, in the studio recording new music, doing dub plates, and of course, planning, producing, and performing at his own sold out mega concerts inside Jamaica and the Caribbean.
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For now, there would be no Visa for Buju to perform in Canada or the US, prompting many people, including celebrities from all over the world, to flock to Jamaica and join a congregation who could later say with bragging rights that they were there to see Buju live in concert performing for the first time after imprisonment. On the first night alone of his ‘Long Walk to Freedom‘ tour, reports had it that Jamaica’s National Stadium was full beyond capacity with over 40,000 people in paid attendance.
Hopefully, serving time has made Mark Myrie a better person, and that he has learned from his mistakes. Although there is no proof for this, experts suspect that if one puts personal ‘greed’ aside, it is Buju’s history of having written and performed some of dancehall’s most popular yet homophobic lyrics, and the offsetting damage done to the surging international LGBT movement as a result, that is the likely undercurrent for Buju being ‘set up’ and imprisoned.
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Today, Buju is back – and it’s great to hear his voice once again reigning in our dancehalls. I am a firm believer that his sound and tone, just like with Vybz Kartel, is already ingrained into the fabric, tone, and overall DNA of Jamaica’s reggae music. One thing is for sure, the entire going-to-prison and coming back a ‘hero’ ordeal has certainly helped cement Buju Banton’s place as a true ‘king’ in Jamaican and international dancehall, past present and future.
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Our ReggaeMania.com Award for song #10 on our ‘Top 10 10 Songs of 2019‘ chart goes to ‘Steppa’. Congrats Buju!
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