Buju Banton emerged as one of the most popular dancehall reggae artists of the 1990s. Debuting with a series of popular "slack" singles, which drew criticism for their graphic sexuality and homophobia, Banton later converted to Rastafarianism and revolutionized dancehall by employing the live instrumentation and social consciousness of classic roots reggae. He first adopted the approach on 1995's career standout 'Til Shiloh and its 1997 follow-up, Inna Heights. Over the next decade, Banton remained a high-profile star, branching out with elements of R&B, hip-hop, and folk, and eventually becoming disillusioned with record labels and launching his own for releases like 2010's Grammy-winning Before the Dawn. A conviction on drug trafficking charges in the U.S. curtailed his career for most of that decade, but upon his 2018 release from prison, Banton made up for lost time, touring and issuing singles over the following year and releasing the highly collaborative Steppaz Riddim in 2020.

Buju Banton was born Mark Anthony Myrie on July 15, 1973, in the Kingston slum of Salt Lane. Buju was his childhood nickname, a word for breadfruit that was often applied to chubby children; he would later adopt Banton in tribute to one of his earliest musical influences, Burro Banton. He was one of 15 children; his mother was a street vendor, and he was directly descended from the colonial-era freedom fighters known as the Maroons. Banton first tried his hand at DJing and toasting at age 13, performing with local sound systems. He made his first recording not long after, with the 1986 Robert Ffrench-produced single "The Ruler." He continued to record through 1987, then took some time off to allow his voice to mature. Banton returned in the early '90s with a rough growl comparable to that of Shabba Ranks.

In 1991, he began recording for Donovan Germain's Penthouse label, often teaming with engineer/producer/songwriter Dave Rude Boy Kelly. Debuting for the label with "Man Fi Dead," his first major hit was "Love Mi Browning," an ode to light-skinned women that drew the ire of Jamaica's sizable darker-skinned population. As penance, he released a follow-up single called "Love Black Woman," but he courted even more controversy with "Boom Bye Bye," a notoriously homophobic track that seemingly advocated violence against gays. Other hits of the period included "Batty Rider," "Bogle," and "Women Nuh Fret," among many others; in fact, 1992 saw Banton break Marley's record for the most number one singles in one year. His debut album, Mr. Mention, was a smash hit that year as well, and he signed an international major-label deal with Mercury.

The Voice of Jamaica album, released in 1993, introduced Banton to the world outside Jamaica, and gave him a huge hit in the celebratory safe-sex anthem "Willy (Don't Be Silly)." Other singles from the record included "Operation Ardent," a critique of police corruption, and "Deportees (Things Change)," which castigated emigrants who refused to share their overseas earnings with the family back in Jamaica. In early 1994, Banton released the monumental single "Murderer," an impassioned indictment of dancehall culture and gun violence recorded after the shooting deaths of fellow dancehall DJs Panhead and Dirtsman.

As well-received as Voice of Jamaica was, it was his 1995 follow-up, 'Til Shiloh, that would rank as Banton's masterpiece. A fusion of dancehall with live instrumentation and classic roots reggae, 'Til Shiloh consolidated his move into social awareness and adopted a more mature, reflective tone that signaled Banton's arrival as an artist able to make major creative statements. 1997's Inna Heights continued in a similarly rootsy vein and won only slightly less acclaim than its much-heralded predecessor. In 1999, Banton recorded with the punk band Rancid and subsequently signed with punk label Epitaph's eclectic Anti- subsidiary. In 2000, he delivered the LP Unchained Spirit, which found him growing more eclectic in a quest to cross over to the international market; it also featured a successful duet with Beres Hammond on "Pull It Up."

After a three-year break from album releases, Banton returned on Atlantic in 2003 with Friends for Life, a crossover-friendly record with elements of hip-hop, R&B, and pop (and very little of the roots-dancehall hybrid that had catapulted him to stardom). Unhappy with the support he was given at the major labels, Banton started his own label, Gargamel Music, and released the single "Magic City" in 2004. The track was a preview of his next album, Rasta Got Soul, but an arrest on ganja cultivation charges sent him into legal battle for the next two years. When it all ended in a fine, he unleashed his strictly dancehall album Too Bad, featuring the huge Jamaican hit "Driver A." After releasing the much more traditional Rasta Got Soul in 2009, Banton was arrested in Miami on charges related to drug dealing. Over a tumultuous two-year period, he went in and out of custody, endured a September 2010 mistrial, released his tenth album, Before the Dawn, and was allowed to perform a single sold-out Miami concert before his next trail in February 2011. Mere weeks after winning a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album, Banton's drug charges stuck and he was sentenced to ten years in American prison for cocaine trafficking.

Upon his release in December 2018, he hit the ground running, kicking off a tour with a March 2019 show at Jamaica's National Stadium in Kingston and releasing new material including the singles "False Pretense" and "Country for Sale." At the end of the year, Banton entered a partnership with Jay-Z's Roc Nation, and he produced the full-length Steppaz Riddim in early 2020. Upside Down 2020, his first full-length outing in a decade, arrived that June and included guest spots from John Legend, Pharrell, Stefflon Don, and Stephen Marley. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi