“Mr. Mention” was released in 1992 as the second album from the Jamaican Dancehall musician Buju Banton. It dropped soon after his debut (within a year) and so had him showing just how productive he could be at the time as he brought lots of his Dancehall material (that became much more Reggae-styled as his career developed and he embraced Rastafarians ways.
1. “Batty Rider”
The album opens up with one of the biggest singles that he had released in the early years of his career as you find that here you get him blasting through a fly tune that has him bringing through the sort of controversial lyrics that gave him notoriety when he broke into the game at the age of 15 with “Boom Bye Bye”. It is a hardcore tune, but one that I can’t say is really for all due to the themes.
**Five Stars**
2. “Love How The Gal-Dem Flex”
This is a big tune on the release and one that is seen to build upon the sorts of things that were heard on the first track as you find that in it, if you couldn’t really overcome the dense lyrics in the opener, the fly structure that it has is able to come through on a tune that doesn’t feature this potentially-offensive content. It is amongst the best here and one that stands out hugely from the rest.
**Five Stars**
3. “Love Black Woman”
Here you see that he comes with a track that has him bringing in aa subject that
had been brought in on one of the singles that was released before the album dropped (but ended up on the record itself as “Love Me Brownin’”). It sees him taking the time to explain exactly how he feels for his complexion and how his pride has led to him embracing females who share these similarities as a result.
**Five Stars**
4. “Look How You Sweet”
Here he brings a track that has him doing one of many on this album where he goes for a track where he does nothing but rhyme for the girls and in this one he comes out with one that you wouldn’t really expect from someone such as himself (at this time in his career) as he comes out with one that specifically goes for the girls that he considers to be sweet or cute and makes a decent one out of it.
**Five Stars**
5. “Woman No Fret”
He goes in hard with this one as you see that in it he jumps on top of some fly grooves that push him along as he toasts his way through and gets the job done this way by coming out with flows that have him giving a girl who he is looking to see just how he is able to satisfy her and how he can back up everything he says like others may say when he says that he’s going to give nothing but all of his love to her.
**Five Stars**
6. “Have To Get You Tonight”
This is a killer tune and one that you can’t really complain about if you liked all the tunes that led up to this point on the record as you see that here he gets in on some funky beats that have quite a lot more going on than the majority of what you find on the release and it shows that he not only takes from the top-quality Dancehall musicians who came before him, as he also shows originality in his overall ways.
**Five Stars**
7. “Dickie”
On this one you see that he goes in with some intense material that is bound to have a massive impression on you as in it you have him rhyming about some freaky things and not making any sort of effort to hold back as he does so. It is one that seems to blend right in with the album (as so many are done in a similar way) but I can’t say that this really holds it back too significantly at all as it is still some quality stuff from him.
**Five Stars**
8. “Love Me Brownin’”
This was one of the most popular tunes from the album and when you listen through it, it should become clear why exactly this is the case as it takes on the most prevalent rhyming style of the time and this makes for nothing apart from killer Dancehall tunes that I can’t see anyone (who is into this style) really turning it down as he talks of his love for dark-skinned girls and what they offer as opposed to others.
**Five Stars**
9. “Buju Movin’”
With this one he gets on top of some of your general bouncy Dub beats and with this he is seen to be able to come out with some smooth material where he comes out with very general flows that don’t really stick to any specific theme and so it gives him the chance to take things as his mind wanders and give him the chance to find potential new directions in what he does in addition to this.
**Five Stars**
10. “Who Say”
On this one you see that he is joined by the Lovers Rock singer Beres Hammond. You see that after he opens things up with one of his pretty typical hooks, Buju simply goes off and kills it as he gets into his groove and finds exactly what he is capable at this end of things when he has to relax what he does significantly in order to come out with something that works in with the direction of the music.
**Five Stars**
11. “How The World A Run”
His unique voice is seen to be put to its full potential here as you see that in this one he shows just how well he is able to manipulate it in order to come out with another banger of a jam that has him finding ways to build upon the sorts of things that he has brought on both this and his debut earlier on in the year. It is a grungy tune and appears to stand out for many reasons associated to its general feel.
**Five Stars**
12. “Bonafide Love”
The album ends with Buju collaborating with Wayne Wonder on a track that I felt was a reasonably decent one to bring things to a close as you see that you get a rather laid-back one where he comes out with material that has him ripping through the rhymes with his rough voice and contrasts this in the sorts of things that he brings into the mix in order to compliment the girl that he is with as others on the album have been seen to do.
**Four Stars**
This is quite clearly a big album from Buju and one that may end with one that brings things down ever so slightly, but is generally of an extremely high standard and builds upon what was heard on his debut massively to show just what he is capable of in the Dancehall scene with such an original style.
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Buju Banton is wicked. I love “Love How The Gal-Dem Flex” and “Have To Get You Tonight” AND “How The World A Run”! as well as the tune he did with Beres Hammond! x
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