Buju Banton Releases New ‘Steppaz’ Riddim
After releasing Steppa in November 2019, Dancehall legend Buju Banton is back with an extended version of the single: the ‘Steppaz’ riddim, which features some veteran dancehall acts.
In recent years, it seemed as if the genre of dancehall was moving away from collaborative riddims, with many of the major dancehall acts operating as stand-along artists and doing their own thing. But in 2019, the Olympe Rose Riddim, a passion project of Usain Bolt, turned out to be one of the most successful dancehall medlies of the year, with the official video receiving over three million Youtube views.
Buju Banton, a pro in the genre and no stranger to dancehall riddims, is seemingly attempting to bring classic dancehall back, with a deliberate attempt to feature many veteran dancehall artists on an old-school riddim.
Steppaz features 11 tracks, which songs Vershon, Delly Ranx, Ghost, Nitty Kutchie, Mitch, Agent Sasco, Tony Curtis and of course, Buju Banton who appears twice on the riddim with Steppa and the Steppa instrumental. Even veteran dancehall artists like Bling Dawg and General B, who have been quiet on the local music scene for years, make an appearance on the riddim.
Vershon, the only “new-school” artist featured on the riddim showed his respect to the Gargamel for the feature. “Respect to the GOD Father @bujuofficial for putting me on this riddim”, he wrote via Instagram.
Though it’s only been one day since its release, many dancehall and reggae fans are already choosing their favorite songs from the riddim.
Stepping Out by Agent Sasco is already leading the Youtube views as he deejays of spirituality and positively on the riddim. “That mean say the almighty we nuh step without. Jah – never leff him out when you stepping out”, Sasco urges on the song.
Buju Banton also re-released the official Steppa audio on Youtube to be part of the riddim, but the original song had already racked up over 500,000 views on Youtube, while the accompanying video has received over a million views.
The riddim, produced by Buju’s label Gargamel Music and released under Roc Nation, is collated as an album and was released on all the major streaming services.
Buju has been steadily releasing new music since 2019, keeping the momentum going as he prepares to release a new album this year. According to his manager, Buju is eyeing an April release date for his new album.