Word: banton
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Brian wears sunglasses to hide his gray and lifeless left eye-damaged, he says, by kicks and blows with a board from Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton. Brian, 44, is gay, and Banton, 32, is an avowed homophobe whose song Boom Bye-Bye decrees that gays "haffi dead" ("have to die"). In June 2004, Brian claims, Banton and some toughs burst into his house near Banton's Kingston recording studio and viciously beat him and five other men. After complaints from international human-rights groups, Banton was finally charged last fall, but in January a judge dismissed the case...
...rights activists attribute the scourge of homophobia in Jamaica largely to the country's increasingly thuggish reggae music scene. Few epitomize the melding of reggae and gangsta cultures more than Banton, who is one of the nation's most popular dance-hall singers. Born Mark Myrie, he grew up the youngest of 15 children in Kingston's Salt Lane - the sort of slum dominated by ultraconservative Christian churches and intensely anti-gay Rastafarians. Banton parlayed homophobia into a ticket out of Salt Lane. One of his first hits, 1992's Boom Bye-Bye, boasts of shooting gays with Uzis...
...Banton's lyrics are hardly unique among reggae artists today. Another popular artist, Elephant Man (O'Neil Bryant, 29) declares in one song, "When you hear a lesbian getting raped/ It's not our fault ... Two women in bed/ That's two Sodomites who should be dead." Another, Bounty Killer (Rodney Price, 33), urges listeners to burn "Mister Fagoty" and make him "wince in agony...
Rancid, like the Clash before it, often looks toward the Caribbean for rhythmic inspiration; on this album the group wisely enlisted the help of Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton, who contributes guest vocals on the anthemic title track, Life Won't Wait. In the past Rancid's songs have dealt with issues of class and race in America; this album seems to have more of a global viewpoint, with lyrics that touch on Bosnia, Iran-contra and other foreign affairs. The real message, however, is in the insurgent energy of the music, the hammering drums, the fierce guitars: Resist, question...
...prevalence of guests on the album can beoverwhelming at times. Add up Banton, TheSpecials, Dicky Barrett from the Mighty MightyBosstones, Hepcat and a few others, and you mustwonder whether Rancid has a lot of friends theywant to show off or if they needed a significantamount of help in making the reggae transitionappear more plausible. Only time will tell,especially whether the next album features more ofan individual reggae sound or a flat regurgitationof the authentic vibe...