Ten Takeaways From Buju Banton’s New Album ‘Upside Down 2020’

Reggae and Dancehall legend Buju Banton is riding waves of many emotions in his new album Upside Down 2020, released on June 26. After waiting in vain for so long, the news of possibly hearing more original music from Jamaica’s favorite messenger came to fruition in late 2018 when Buju was finally released from US federal prison or the ‘workhouse’ as he calls it.

This is not Banton just pushing out music to slake the expectations of his fans. There is deliberate intent behind every aspect of the album, even the name. ‘Upside Down’ comes from the Gargamel’s views of how things are perceived and now accepted in the new way of life. “In a world where good is called bad and lies are accepted as truth, and the guilty can be made innocent and the innocent can be made guilty, why wouldn’t I call the album Upside Down? Banton said in an interview with Munchy at Reggaeville.

Relevant yes, but could the same be said for what’s inside the album? While things aren’t so ‘upside down’ in there, they are quite haphazard, but what great album isn’t?

Taking on global economical issues, sharing intimate feelings never heard before, demonstrating his flexibilities in music and imparting spiritual credence and knowledge to the people, Upside Down 2020 is a polygonal piece of work reflecting a more refined and quite seasoned Buju Banton.

Twenty tracks are a lot, but the fusion of contemporary sounds and throwback styles carried by that familiar thunderous and demanding tone makes a terrific reintroduction of an artist who has been gone for too long.

As we discovered some unexpected features and cruised through intimate journeys there were a few resonating elements, so let’s get into our 10 takeaways from Banton’s ‘Upside Down’ world.

First, let’s start with a prayer

Buju literally utters a prayer over his new album. The first single on the track-list Lamb of God is a humble cry to the Almighty for mercy. Through impactful lyrics, we can imagine Buju on bended knees as he messages this ‘Negro spiritual’ (Rasta don’t sing gospel) ballad. Exactly the way he started his Long Walk To Freedom concert at the Jamaica National Stadium in March 2019, just 3 months after his release.

He’s happy to be free – ‘Man deh pon street again.’

Yes, of course, he’s happy to be free, but it’s moving to hear him say it. Buju opens up to reveal what we all have assumed was one of the hardest things he has had to endure in his life. Yes My Friend with Stephen Marley and Buried Alive are heavily versed about this unfortunate journey.

Yes My Friend was touchingly put on display during the Welcome To Jamrock cruise in December 2019.

“Their walls could not hold I, so they had to turn me loose/ how in Jah world could this be? They have no no idea what they have done to me/ but I thank Jah the day I man walk free,” Buju sings in Yes My Friend.

Then to tribute a friendship that is so genuine, he thanks Marley for showing a certain kindness that is rare. “10 years of trial and trade, clean and pure heart make man prevail. For my freedom ah’ you put up di bail, now man deh a road, shout it pon the main.”

Buju also describes his experience in jail as being ‘Buried Alive’ as the single is titled. However, he’s still breathing, and there must be a reason, so with one more chance at life, he is determined to win.

Ole boy Gargamel has still got it.

With a music career spanning more than 30 decades, it’s quite an amazing talent being able to keep up with the evolving trends in music. Let’s not forget Buju has been off the music scene for about ten years now.

Listening to a few of his tracks, it’s like he was never gone, but more surprisingly, the old-timer shows off his lively up-to-the-minute musical chops. His sound and delivery on singles such as Cherry Pie, Blessed, Trust, Beat Dem Bad, and Call Me are undeniably hip and trendy.

On these fresh beats, he confidently plays with the pitches in his vocal to effectively meet the flows on the rhythms of the songs. Like his previously released single Trust says in the intro, “new style, new flow,” Gargamel’s sound is simply timeless.

Lots of songs and lots of genres

Buju has said in the past that he doesn’t see himself locked into one genre of music, and you can tell in Upside Down 2020. There is an exciting synthesis of Afrobeat, old jazz, pop, reggae /ska, dancehall, and Negro Spiritual in the album.

Yes My Friend, Buried Alive, Appreciated, Steppa, and Helping Hands all have old reggae melodies, which find Gargamel in his true element for some very seamless deliveries.

Blessed, Beat Dem Bad, Trust, Call Me, and Cheated are easy dancehall tunes, but some are lightened with soulful hooks.

Then there are his rhapsodic plays on pop and jazz with singles like Cherrie Pie and Good Time Girl respectively. Memories and Lovely State of Mind are smooth, soulful ballads, and Moonlight Love is a mingling of a little ska piped in with jazzy flows.

Lamb of God is a strong religious hymn, and The World Is Changing, 400 Years, Rising Up as well as Unity are powerful roots and culture rhythms with the latter reverberating the drumming of Afro beats. 

He shockingly pulls-off his silky sounding collaborations

Most of the collaborations on the album start with his featured guests. Cherry Pie with Pharrell Williams especially has the rapper/singer dropping his usual sweet falsetto tones on a quick pop-infused rhythm. To imagine Buju’s powerful timbres on the track waves uncertainties but with a seamless insertion, the dancehall deejay chimes in to deliver an immaculate riddim-riding showdown.

In Memories with John Legend, the euphonious singer sweeps soft blissful pitches in this classic love song. Even though Buju stays true to his thunderous lyrical delivery, the teaming blends well for an easy listening experience.

Gargamel is in love

There are quite a number of songs (actually 8 of them) versed directly about love and his relationship with the ladies or more likely a ‘lady’. Lovely State of Mind is the most obvious, the single finds a smitten Buju lulling, “I am falling in love/ now I’m smiling all the time/ I have finally found a love that is truly mine. Happy like a kid in a candy store/ the love I am seeking is right at my door/ walk right in, my love is pure.”

In Appreciated, he mentions ‘her’ again, “No one ever touched me the way you touched, leave me wanting you so much. Girl I’ve got to let you know.” Then in Moonlight Love, he says, “Have I told you what you mean to my life, like love on a stormy night/ pinch myself wondering if I’m in a dream.”

Call Me with Stefflon Don is another story … see more about that below.

Speaking of girlfriends, sometimes they cheat

You’ll never hear this in the media or the news; it takes a long-awaited album release from Banton himself to finally know whatever happened to his relationship after he went to jail … ofcourse he had a girlfriend.

Well, he gives us the inside scoop in his single Cheated (track #14). She cheated, she lied (it wasn’t her ‘cousin’), “When di trouble tek mi, you were nowhere around/ showed di real you when I got locked up, not even a postcard,” he sings … Ouch!

It doesn’t end there; singles such as Good Time Girl says the good times are gone and so is she, “Now I’m standing all alone, no one to call my own.” When he needed that supporting shoulder to lean on, she ‘turned her back when he needed a hand’.

Memories is really about a break-up … she left a message to explain herself. He sings, “she said, I’ve tried, even avoid surrounding distractions and outside noise, but we’ve both made mistakes and we both lied.” Banton says, there’s no love lost though. No matter how many friendships come and go the spot that she touched is still tender and soft.

Buju gets sexy with Stefflon Don

This is the only time you hear Buju really let loose in the album, yes there are his torrential love songs, Lovely State Of Mind and Appreciated, even Cherry Pie boasters his prestige as a gyallis and so gets a little raunchy.

Call Me featuring dancehall vixen Stefflon Don, on the other hand, gets much more spicy. “Mi cyaa wait till tomorrow, mi a call yuh tonight/ mek sure yuh come yah so fi wine a cock up, ehh a going make sure dat yuh believe/ trust mi when mi enter yuh, you wont want me leave/ upside down the whole 40 acres”, Buju assures Stefflon as he flexes his stallion lyrics.

She then says, “Anytime mi back it up, yuh temperature buck/ pull it push it in back, yuh haffi buss a sweat/ mi badda dan a pack a cigarette/ di sum’n weh mi give yuh mek yuh body sanctified, mek yuh sing lullaby/ like dread we a go lock two a we a combine.”

Listen here –

He’s an oldies fan for sure

Buju has crafted many of his ‘new’ singles with old and nostalgic flavors. Lovely State Of Mind, Good Time Girl and Moonlight Love are soul infusions that are all quite reminiscent of classic Rhythm and Blues music from the ’70s and ’80s. The blend of American jazz and rocksteady flows undeniably expresses his love for ‘oldies’ songs.

Buried Alive and Appreciated, even though they are rich reggae compositions, also have old derivative strains of an earlier time.

Things get a little serious in the end.

The album takes on a more serious tone in the last quarter; The World Is Changing raises the topic of migrants crossing the borders and economic warfare. 400 Years is a musical Rastafarian movement, “We’ve been too long in Babylon, ‘400 years’…I man never seize my fire till Babylon was burn down, Banton says in the lyrics.

Rising Up is a fight for people’s rights and pointing out the wrongs in society while highlighting that a revolution is happening everywhere across the globe. Banton sings, “There’s low wage and high price market/ how will we feed our little boys and girls, have you ever seen water carried in a basket.” then makes his proposal for positive changes.

Helping Hand follows, and even though it sings like a traditional life lesson, “If you see your brother or sister falling, lend a helping hand,” Buju also warns, “The Spirit of Jah may not always strive with man.”

The album ends with Unity, and like the title, Banton asks the people/his listeners, “Look how long we’ve been fighting each other? … The only way forward is unification.”

Stream Buju Banton’s Upside Down 2020 below.