Curly Loxx Says Buju Banton Should Be Quiet Until He Owns Up To Wrongdoing

Curly Loxx, half of the duo Twin of Twins, says Buju Banton is in no position to play watchdog when he’s yet to admit to the wrongdoing that led to his 10-year incarceration on drug-related charges. 

Footage of the Reggae singer, whose given name is Mark Myrie, licking a dab of cocaine and commenting ‘I like it’ to an informant was released to the public in 2018. It was part of the evidence used to convict the Destiny hitmaker in 2009, though he has maintained that it was a government conspiracy to take him down.

Since being freed in 2019, Banton has occupied his time with a few releases, performances, and occasional Instagram Lives blasting the government’s performance. His latest lashing surrounds the government’s handling of the continued probe into the alleged fraud at investment firm Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL), but Curly Loxx has had enough. 

“You cuss bout SSL and who and who rob up money and wah and wah taxpayer haffi go pay fah, but yuh really think your opinion effective inna dah saga yah, or any other saga right now when your reputation shaky with the people dem?” he asked on his latest podcast episode. “Cause yuh come from jail a gwaan like seh a weh Mandela do dem lock yuh up fah.”

For reference, Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa, spent 27 years behind bars for opposing the country’s apartheid system. 

Curly Loxx continued, “Yuh words nah go carry no weight til yuh own weh yuh do. There’s a cloud over your head. There’s an elephant in the room. All of this effort weh yaa put into rewrite history fi tun wrongdoing inna a different story, like a true yaa rasta weh sing Boom Bye Bye mek yuh go a prison, coulda avoid if yuh did just own up to it as a man. Yuh wouldn’t need all of dah energy yah weh yaa put into this ‘innocent man weh dem set up’ narrative weh yaa try be the truth. Babylon cya set yuh up if yuh nuh tek the bait weh dem use set the trap. Dem entice yuh, yes, dem entrap yuh, yes, but a you deh pon video a taste coke. Mi never see a gun at your head.” 

The ‘Gargamel’ permanently banned Boom Bye Bye from his catalogue in 2019. Recorded by a teenage Banton in 1988 and released in 1992, the controversial track promotes violence towards homosexuals which was denounced by the queer community. Besides lobbying for his ban at several concerts in North America, the backlash has been used to support theories that the singjay was targeted by the State. 

Curly Loxx made it clear that he is not insinuating that Banton cannot be flawed, but that he should be accountable for his actions. 

“People weh truly love yuh disappointed inna yuh, not necessarily inna wah yuh do, but how you handle it – like a likkle boy bredda. Yuh tek a long 10-year walk to freedom, yes, but it look like yuh never tek a long 10-minute thought bout what freedom truly is… You think seh you not addressing this tension between you and your true fans, starting with me as number one, mek you any different from any politician weh ignore we feelings for decades?

“A love mek me a tell yuh this bredda. You a my artist…a you mek mi do music. Your embarrassment, a my embarrassment. A man can say anything fi tek shame offa themselves still enuh, and that’s why people who love you haffi deh deh fi hold you accountable to whatever confession or testimony yuh mek. But it’s pathetic bredda fi watch yuh mek excuse.”

He wished Banton had taken Flippa Mafia’s approach. The latter was released from a US prison in October after being found guilty of operating an international drug trafficking and money-laundering ring in 2016. Though the Dem Yah entertainer said he had no involvement in the activities leading up to the charges, he has publicly embraced his stint as life-changing, even using his testimony to help keep youth on the straight and narrow. 

“Flippa dem a likkle bwoy fi yuh, somebody people woulda consider secular – having no particular belief or moral direction – and yet you, weh consider yourself as spiritual and who most of we consider the same, find it difficult fi bend yuh knee to the truth,” Curly Loxx said.

“Embarrassing. Yaa coward until yuh do it and yuh nah get back yuh voice until yuh do it. And to weh Jamaica deh yah now, it need yuh strength, it need yuh voice, but dah voice deh haffi a come from an authentic place and mi seh that with love and respect. Mi a advise yuh fi quiet til yuh face your own f**kery before yuh talk bout other people bro…”