Six months after Buju Banton banned ‘ Boom Bye Bye’ from his repertoire for good , the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has announced the dancehall and reggae superstar’s 1995 album, ‘ Til Shiloh’, as certified gold.
Though the 1992 in dispute dancehall vintage song was not part of the Til Shiloh album playlist, there are industry specialists who believe that the discredit as a result of its homophobic directive may have delayed its accomplishment.
Among them is Bobby Digital, who produced ‘Til I’m Laid To Rest, the album’s second track.
“With all the animosity back then, yuh understand, there were people who tried to keep the artistes out of the marketplace,” Bobby Digital told THE STAR.
For artistes like Buju Banton, who faced a great amount of repercussion for Boom Bye Bye, he added, “All those things come into play. It was like a punishment – trying to make a mark in the earlier days when there was stigma on popular songs (and the genre).”
He noted that with the reggae icon’s return, there is much promotion to show how he has grown up as an artist.
“He is out of the woods now and putting himself back on the global map, which has also seen changes,” the producer mentioned.
Bobby Digital, a producer for more than 35 years, has contributed to other gold-certified projects by other artistes like Shabba Ranks, Akon, Gentleman and Shaggy.
Bobby Digital explained that in the ’80s and ’90s, the audience was limited for dancehall and reggae.
“Same way Bob Marley did his music, dem people never into it … . Back then people never want to hear reggae,” he continued. “Others, like Dennis Brown and Gregory Isaacs, were singing for long, but many of the accolades were achieved over a long period of time, and most of the artistes at the time were not affiliated with or under the banner of the big-name companies.”
He said that ‘ Til Shiloh’s RIAA gold certification was long overdue but that part of the wait was because many of the lyrics and messages were not easily understood by the United States market.
“The songs he (Buju Banton) did over the years have grown on the people, suh dem seh, ‘Cho, can’t hold him back nuh longer’. So now dem start listening to the words, dem saying, ‘Yo a dat him did a try fi seh’ and fly di gate, suh a just full time now,” he said.