{"id":5026,"date":"2026-03-17T15:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T15:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/2026\/03\/wayne-wonder-addresses-issues-with-buju-banton\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T15:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T15:49:09","slug":"wayne-wonder-addresses-issues-with-buju-banton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/2026\/03\/wayne-wonder-addresses-issues-with-buju-banton\/","title":{"rendered":"Wayne Wonder Addresses Issues With Buju Banton"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Veteran reggae singer Wayne Wonder stepped into the spotlight on March 16 with a fiery public statement aimed at fellow dancehall icon Buju Banton, reopening a long-simmering conflict between the two artists.<\/p>\n<p>Wonder posted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WayneWonder4life\/\">lengthy message<\/a> on Facebook responding to comments Banton reportedly made during a <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/OqJqAQnEvvc?si=1jzlaln5lBAnlXuA\">recent interview<\/a>. The singer said the post would remain visible for only 48 hours, setting a confrontational tone from the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m addressing this interview, and it will only remain up for 48 hours because this DEMON Buju Banton is not worthy of staying on Wayne\u2019s page,\u201d Wonder wrote.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"et\" dir=\"ltr\">Wayne Wonder puts Buju Banton on BLAST!! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kBGR3CQG05\">pic.twitter.com\/kBGR3CQG05<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \u2608O2\u2608EAL<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2728-1.png\" alt=\"\u2728\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\"> (@_romeko) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_romeko\/status\/2033737549194166416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 17, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Despite the harsh introduction, Wonder acknowledged Banton\u2019s musical reputation in reggae and dancehall culture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen it comes to artistry, he is truly great at what he does,\u201d Wonder wrote. \u201cHowever, talent and character are two very different things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Jamaican vocalist strongly rejected accusations that he behaved \u201cgreedy\u201d or misrepresented their creative relationship. Wonder also disputed claims that he failed to support Banton during the legal case that led to the artist\u2019s federal drug conviction and prison sentence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou also said Wayne never checked on you while you were in prison. Let\u2019s tell the truth,\u201d Wonder wrote.<\/p>\n<p>According to the statement, Wonder visited Banton during his detention in a Tampa jail while the singer awaited trial. Wonder recalled that the first encounter was tense.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you were brought out and picked up the phone you saw him on the camera,\u201d the post reads. \u201cYou held your head down for almost twenty-five minutes before finally saying, \u2018You are the real surprise.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-wayne-wonder-explains-ongoing-feud-with-buju-banton\">Wayne Wonder Explains Ongoing Feud With Buju Banton<\/h2>\n<p>Wonder claimed he continued visiting Banton while the artist lived under house arrest in Tamarac, Florida.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWayne came almost every morning and spent entire days with you while the police monitored the house during your trial,\u201d the statement says.<\/p>\n<p>The singer added that he remained present until the day Banton was convicted and taken back into custody. Wonder also alleged that Banton later declined additional prison visits because he disliked security procedures.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond personal grievances, Wonder raised concerns about songwriting credits tied to reggae classics such as Murderer and Deportee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWayne, Frankie, and you, Buju, wrote \u2018Murderer\u2019 in Japan in 1992,\u201d Wonder claimed, alleging that his name later disappeared from the official credits.<\/p>\n<p>Wonder closed the statement by explaining why he rarely spoke publicly about the conflict.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mornings With Mero | HOT 97 Livestream 3-17-26\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/i0yARZ1khn4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWayne has never spoken publicly about many of these things because his heart and character would not allow him to tear anyone down publicly,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Still, he insisted the recent accusations demanded a response.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWayne Wonder continues to stand on respect, humility, and truth,\u201d the statement concludes. \u201cThat has always been his way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Veteran reggae singer Wayne Wonder stepped into the spotlight on March 16 with a fiery public statement aimed at fellow&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14044,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[10,9],"class_list":["post-5026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-rss","tag-culture","tag-hip-hop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14044"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5026\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}