*Reggae icon Buju Banton has decided to drop the 1992 dancehall hit“Boom Bye Bye” from his music catalog, according to UrbanIslandz.com.
The Jamaican-born artist has not performed the song since 2007, but the track has reportedly been called out by music fans and LGBT organizations for its homophobic lyrics. On the track he raps: “boom bye, bye inna batty bwoy head,” which basically translates to shooting a gay man right in the head.
“In recent days there has been a great deal of press coverage about the song ‘Boom Bye Bye’ from my past which I long ago stopped performing and removed from any platform that I control or have influence over,” Banton told the outlet.
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A message from BB #bujureturns pic.twitter.com/XWd3ktRhBz
— Buju Banton (@BujuOfficial) November 15, 2018
The song has been removed from streaming platforms Tidal, Apple Music and Spotify.
“I recognize that the song has caused much pain to listeners, as well as to my fans, my family and myself. After all the adversity we’ve been through I am determined to put this song in the past and continue moving forward as an artist and as a man,” he continued. “I affirm once and for all that everyone has the right to live as they so choose. In the words of the great Dennis Brown, ‘Love and hate can never be friends.’ I welcome everyone to my shows in a spirit of peace and love. Please come join me in that same spirit.”
Banton reportedly penned the song when he was teen; about a pedophile who had molested a young boy.
Buju denies feeling pressured by the LGBTQ community to ban the track.
“We don’t want it to seem as if he was pressured or that people were saying he cannot be on shows if he doesn’t give a statement,” Banton’s publicist Ronnie Tomlinson told UrbanIslandz. “We realized that there were some concerns and so we just decided to say it again.”
News of the ban comes months after the Buju was released from U.S. federal prison in Dec. 2018 after serving seven years on drug charges.
#BujuBanton performing #Driver ??? pic.twitter.com/g6TN1oYxXb
— Teddylee Gray (@RealTeddylee) March 17, 2019
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