Buju Banton - Buju and Friends

Jamaican dancehall veteran Buju Banton has featured duets with a wide array of artists on his albums right from the beginning, and this two-disc 33-track compilation from VP Records collects several of them in one convenient package. There's none of the slackness here that brought Banton his first taste of fame (and controversy), and his remarkable (and critically lauded) conversion to socially conscious material is well in evidence. Buju's gruff-voiced DJ stance has always been stronger than his singing side, and these pairings with the likes of Beres Hammond, Toots Hibbert, Garnett Silk, and Gregory Isaacs play to his strengths, as he leaves the singing to the pros and interjects his powerful raps at key junctures. Read More