Buju Banton Announces New Album ‘Too Too Bad’
Buju Banton has announced his new album, Too Too Bad, set for release on July 17.
The Reggae and Dancehall veteran, who will celebrate his 53rd birthday on July 15, shared the title and release date on Instagram on Thursday, declaring that it will be a “Real Dancehall Ting 💯🔊”.
The title is a nod to Too Bad, his 2006 album that had marked a hard return to Dancehall after the more roots-reggae direction of earlier projects such as ’Til Shiloh, Inna Heights, and Unchained Spirit.
Too Bad was built around the kind of sharp, physical dancehall that first made Buju one of the defining Jamaican acts of the 1990s. Its 17 tracks included Your Night Tonight, Try Offa Yuh, Nothing, Too Bad, Waistline, Jig, Me & Oonu, ’Til It Bend, and Hey Boy. The best-known cut, Driver A, became one of the album’s lasting records, with Buju riding Sly and Robbie’s Taxi riddim in a smoother, late-night style.
If Too Too Bad follows that thread, it would signal another dancehall-forward turn from Buju, whose recent albums have moved across reggae, soul, R&B, and crossover production.
The first single from the new album, Butterflies, was released in April. Produced by Supa Dups for Black Chiney Music and issued through Gargamel Music/VP Records, the track rides a remake of the Real Rock riddim.
Buju has placed 12 projects in the top 10 of Billboard’s Reggae Albums chart, with four of them also reaching the all-genre Billboard 200: Voice Of Jamaica, ’Til Shiloh, Unchained Spirit and Friends For Life.
His last album, Born For Greatness, released in 2023, did not enter the Reggae Albums chart. Upside Down 2020, released in 2020, reached No. 2.
Buju has won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album once, for Before The Dawn, which won at the 2011 ceremony. His other nominated albums were Rasta Got Soul, Too Bad, Friends For Life, Inna Heights, Upside Down 2020, and Born For Greatness.
The highly acclaimed ’Til Shiloh, widely regarded as his defining album, has spent 104 weeks on Billboard’s Reggae Albums chart, where it peaked at No. 2 in 1995. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2020, around its 25th anniversary.
Too Too Bad will arrive during Buju’s Roots And Rhymes Summer Tour with Stephen Marley. The North American run opens June 17 in Redmond, Washington, and closes July 25 in Atlanta, with stops including Oakland, Dallas, Chicago, Boston, Bethel, Elmont, Atlantic City and Charlotte.
Gramps Morgan is listed as a special guest on select dates.