Album Review: Buju Banton – Too Too Bad

At Sting 2006, Buju Banton commanded the stage for two hours, unveiling material from his then newly released Too Bad (Gargamel Music) alongside a catalogue of classics. That album is now regarded as one of dancehall’s defining works and nearly two decades later, Banton returns to VP Records with Too Too Bad, intent on recapturing the spirit and commercial magic of that era.

His previous two releases, Upside Down 2020 and Born for Greatness, ventured into broader world music territory but Too Too Bad takes him back home. The album’s ambitions are immediately apparent, but only if you choose to judge the album by its cover.

Too Too Bad album cover

Designed as a homage to Kingston’s dancehall heyday, with hand-painted street flyer aesthetic used for legendary sound system sessions. A towering Banton measures up to a wall of speaker boxes in the background. Dressed in vivid red and gold, Banton stands at its centre. (Green in the shadows of his name)

It is ‘Dancehall Night,’ general admission is $5, much cheaper than his 2024 New York City concert tickets that went for as high as US$8000.

Adversaries to defeat, women to seduce and declarations of his enduring stature within the genre. Such themes have long been part of dancehall’s vocabulary and Buju himself once delivered them with unmatched authority. Here, however, they arrive with diminishing returns. At 53, there is little reinterpretation, little reflection and few moments that suggest an artist still searching for new ideas.

At his peak, Banton balanced righteous defiance with vulnerability, social commentary and spiritual inquiry. It was that rare combination that transformed him from an exceptional dancehall deejay into one of Jamaica’s defining recording artists. Too Too Bad seldom reaches those depths.

The production however, helps to make the album listenable as he takes liberties with classic dancehall rhythms such as Love Sponge, Buy Out and Diseases.

“Eye 2 Eye”, produced by Silent Addy and Disco Neil, the duo behind Moliy’s global hit “Shake It to the Max” felt like Banton’s clearest bid to find a hit. Its riddim cleverly bridges the gap between classic dancehall and today’s global sound. Yet the opportunity is missed, as Banton falls back on familiar fantasies, admiring a woman whose “body tight, look good and smell right”, rather than matching the production’s forward-looking ambition.

Buju has always thrived within creative partnerships that refined his instincts without diluting his personality. Left largely to his own devices, nostalgia becomes the organising principle rather than the foundation for reinvention.

Songs such as “Good Pum Pum”, “Like You” and “Wild Woman” (featuring DJ Khaled) are variations on the same idea that does little for Banton’s artistry.

This is particularly striking given Banton’s own public criticism of Afrobeats artists for, in his view, prioritising entertainment over social responsibility. Too Too Bad makes a similar claim to cultural importance simply by invoking dancehall’s past, yet it seldom articulates why this return matters in the present. More surprisingly, there is no obvious hit single or inspiration required to reassert Buju’s place at the centre of contemporary dancehall.

“Be Good” provides a rare moment of emotional release, its soulful cadence recalling the warmth and restraint of Beres Hammond. Together with “Satisfy Me”, featuring Ari Lennox, it offers a glimpse of a more nuanced and emotionally generous record, one that allows Banton’s voice to convey tenderness rather than bravado. The promise, however, is fleeting. “Heavy Hitters” swiftly restores the album’s familiar emphasis on bravado and self-mythology, and the opportunity for genuine introspection slips away.

For a younger artist, Too Too Bad might have been a competent exercise in traditional dancehall but for Buju Banton, with at least five classic albums under his belt, the standard is necessarily higher.

There is no shame in revisiting one’s past but his challenge on album no. 13 is to make it fresh.

Too Too Bad never quite does.

★★★☆☆

Too Too Bad is released via VP Records/ Gargamel Music