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Grammy-winning artiste, Buju Banton, is preparing for another important chapter in his career as he returns to New York hot on the heels of dropping off a brand new album and ready to deliver crucial advice for young musicians as he headlines one of the biggest summer concerts for 2026.
Banton enjoys top billing for the Roots and Rhymes Summer Tour 2026 at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on Saturday, July 18, alongside his good friend, Stephen Marley, with newly announced special guest Gramps Morgan, as well as Lila Ik\u00e9 and Skillibeng, creating one of the strongest reggae line-ups to hit New York this summer.
It was on June 2 this year that Gargamel surprised thousands of music lovers with an impromptu performance that transformed New York\u2019s Times Square into a Caribbean American Heritage Month block party as he riled up fans, delivering Driver, Murderer, and his new single, Butterflies.
Few concerts in New York\u2019s reggae history matched the emotional significance of Banton\u2019s return to American soil in 2024. More than 18,000 fans packed UBS Arena for his historic Long Walk to Freedom concert \u2014 his first New York performance following his incarceration. Demand proved so overwhelming that a second show was quickly added and sold out within days. Now, Banton is returning to his old stomping ground with even greater purpose and anticipation.
\u201cIt\u2019s been two years since I performed in the great city of New York, and I\u2019m looking forward to seeing the masses,\u201d he shared with RoadBlock radio listeners.
He continued, \u201cLet us come together and celebrate this epic moment in time and be a part of history once more.\u201d
The Roots and Rhymes Summer Tour represents much more than another concert. For him, it showcases three unique expressions of reggae music sharing one stage.
\u201cThis is something that\u2019s very much needed in the reggae music community … You have Gramps Morgan giving you a smoother ballad to reggae. Stephen Marley comes with a revolutionary sound, and Buju Banton comes with that dynamic to reggae.\u201d
He believes audiences will experience reggae music in its fullest expression.
\u201cWhen you come to this concert … you\u2019re treated with a variation of musical cadence that warms your heart,\u201d he explained.
And he reminded fans why reggae continues to transcend generations.
\u201cReggae music is not something that\u2019s fleeting. It\u2019s here forever,\u201d he reminded.
The UBS concert will take place just one day after the worldwide release of Banton\u2019s highly anticipated new studio album, Too Too Bad, which officially drops today, July 17, through VP Records. For Banton, the timing could not be more symbolic.
Speaking about the project, the reggae superstar described the disc as far more than a collection of songs.
\u201cThis is one filled with entertainment. This is one filled with musical renaissance moments where one can listen to the music and remember a time when the music spoke to us and all we wanted to do was just dance … forget our troubles for a moment and dance.\u201d
The 13-track project, he explained, offers something for every listener.
\u201cThere are tracks there for the ladies … tracks there for upliftment … and tracks there to show love in a different kind of way.\u201d
According to Banton, Too Too Bad is built around \u201cdifferent emotions, different feelings, different melodies and different rhythm compositions\u201d, making it \u201ca total body of work\u201d.
More than three decades after bursting onto Jamaica\u2019s music scene with Stamina Daddy, Bonafide Love, Love How the Gal Dem Flex and Bogle, Banton said his mission now remains clear: to reconnect younger generations with authentic dancehall culture.
\u201cI personally believe that our music has not reached the apex in its natural form for us to throw anything away and adapt a new form,\u201d he shared. \u201cThere\u2019s a culture that does not need to be reinvented. It needs to be embraced … creativity needs to be poured into it.\u201d\u00a0
He said the album deliberately recreates the atmosphere of Jamaica\u2019s legendary sound system era.
\u201cThis album encapsulates that era … when the music spoke to us, and we didn\u2019t have all those fancy things … we had real turntables,\u201d he said.
Banton also reflected on the humble beginnings that shaped his career. He recalled working on legendary Jamaican sound systems like Rambo International and Sweet Love, where artistes had to master every rhythm thrown their way.
\u201cIt helped you to be extremely creative because you cannot go to every event with the same compositions,\u201d he said
That experience, he said, prepared him for everything that followed.
\u201cThe journey encompasses the achievement. There is no achievement without that journey … That journey has never been one of smoothness. It has always been tumultuous,\u201d he added.
Yet throughout every triumph and challenge, Banton said one constant has remained.
\u201cThe people have been the guiding force and strength that has helped us stay grounded because their love is immeasurable.\u201d
Even with a new album, another international tour and decades of accomplishments under his belt, Banton said his greatest hope is to strengthen reggae\u2019s future. He wants younger artistes to appreciate the culture\u2019s roots.
\u201cWe know from whence we come … Remember the fundamentals because before reggae music … it was roots music,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
entertainment@gleanerjm.com<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source jamaica-gleaner.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Grammy-winning artiste, Buju Banton, is preparing for another important chapter in his career as he returns to New York hot on the heels of dropping off a brand new album and ready to deliver crucial advice for young musicians as he headlines one of the biggest summer concerts for 2026.Banton enjoys top billing for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2505882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2505881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/\u2018Too-Too-Bad-Buju-returns-to-NY-with-new-music.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2505881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2505881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2505881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2505883,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2505881\/revisions\/2505883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2505882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2505881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2505881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2505881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}