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Born For Greatness - New Buju Banton Album out September 2023

06/21/2023 by Munchy

There is no doubt that Mark Myrie, better known as Buju Banton, was born for greatness. He is one of the giants of this industry, has constantly and diligently developed, nurtured, strengthened his skills and versatility to master his craft. His fourteenth studio album entitled Born For Greatness is a testament to his lyrical talent, an opus with 17 pieces. Songs about love, about relationships, loyalty but also observations of society, experiences, emotions. With this record coming up in July, Buju Banton gives us a deep and a personal insight. Even though he shares so many words on this album already, Reggaeville still pulled a few more out of him for this interview to find out about the feelings, memories and stories behind his tracks and also what the singer was moved by since the release of his last album Upside Down 2020 three years ago.

INTERVIEW: BUJU BANTON - FROM A PLATE OF LOVE

Born For Greatness, your brand new album is coming up in September July . This is your 14th studio album, you’re in the business now for almost 40 years. Do you still feel excited when you present a new release to the fans?

I am excited whenever time I enter the studio and go around the microphone. The very thought of making music has always been a thrill and when that spirit leaves me then I know it’s time for me to step away from it.

Born For Greatness is also the third track of the album, on which you sing “Superstar, supercar, supermodels, I am beyond that level” and “I don’t follow you rules, I guess am lawless, still making big moves regardless”. Have you always been that confident or is that a mindset you’ve developed over the years?

In this life that we live, if you’re not confident in you, no one else will be. The first confidence to have is in you because all things are created twice: the mental creation and the physical creation. So, yes, I‘ve always had that confidence to know that I’m up against a mammoth, a giant. But regardless of what I am up against, I’m going to do me. I’m going to get the message across to the people. I’m going to swim across the ocean. It’s going to happen. […]

But tell me, what do you think of the state of ganja globally now with many countries or regions having it legalised or decriminalised, and also in Jamaica in particular because it sounds like you think there is still a lot of hypocrisy?

There is a lot of hypocrisy because the people who suffered the most for marijuana, especially those original farmers right in America, right in Mexico, right in Jamaica, right all over the world, nowhere is immune, they are not the beneficiaries of these new laws that has been enacted. The same oppressors now assume their role, having the licence, keeping it on cronies and take over, and the small man’s farm is still being destroyed to make sure that the man who have the dispensary herb is being sold. It come to a point even in my country that they were talking about importing marijuana from Canada and all these things. These levels of hypocrisy that we as citizens of the global community who see marijuana being commercialised in this time which we know that is a sacred herb. We just see it as wrong. It is wrong. […]

FULL INTERVIEW @ FESTIVILLE 2023

ALBUM REVIEW 'BORN FOR GREATNESS'
That you can never listen 12 of his albums and they all sound the same, is his claim and so it’s not surprising that Buju Banton’s new upcoming long player Born For Greatness appears quite different from what we’re used to from the superstar.

He takes us on a journey, wants to be reminded “of the way things was when everything was wrap up in love“ in the Stephen Marley-produced opener Ageless Time, a musically stripped-down rendition with acoustic guitar, one of Ragga’s typical abstract vocal samples and a subtle saxophone that melt into a melancholic vibration. […]

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW & BORN FOR GREATNESS ALBUM REVIEW
@ FESTIVILLE MAGAZINE 2023