996: 'TIL SHILOH | BUJU BANTON

 

Buju Banton’s album 'Til Shiloh was released in 1995 and is considered a groundbreaking album that changed the trajectory of the dancehall artist’s career and also transformed dancehall and reggae forever. The album was a bridge that combined digital programming with roots reggae-inspired instrumentation, like acoustic guitars and Nyabinghi drums specifically used by the Rastafari community. It proved that dancehall was an adaptable sound that could live in harmony with reggae. The album was a moment of maturity for Banton, whose road to consciousness found him with a newfound sense of ancestral pride.

Bianca Gracie at Udiscovermusic writes: One cannot discuss the history of Jamaican music without Buju Banton. Born Mark Anthony Myrie, he grew from a lanky teen studying local Kingston deejays to an artist that propelled dancehall and reggae to international heights.

Banton emerged in 1987, and quickly became a leader in dancehall – a genre in its infancy in Jamaica. With albums like 1992’s Mr. Mention and 1993’s Voice of Jamaica, Banton created a “rude bwoy” persona laced with a raspy vocal tone and streetwise lyricism. By 1995, however, Banton was in search of something much bigger. He was in the process of converting to Rastafarianism. He began growing out his locs, studying the words of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I, and spiritually cleansed the hard edges that surrounded his previous music. The musical result? A melodic Rasta reggae classic called ‘Til Shiloh.