Buju Banton Inks New Deal With Roc Nation

Buju Banton has been booked and busy ever since he got out of prison.

Fresh off the heels of the release of his new single, “Trust,” he dropped the visuals for the record “Steppa.” The music video is his first project under his new Roc Nation deal.

The reggae icon is the second Jamaican artist to join JAY-Z’s label, alongisde Damian “Jr. Gong ” Marley.

“The connection came about through my association with the great queen, Miss Rihanna herself,” Banton tells Rolling Stone. “A great guy who works alongside her, Omar Grant” — who serves as co-president of Roc Nation — “we started working together on small stuff, and the idea [of collaborating] came about.”

Buju Banton has been away from the music scene for seven years but he picked up right where he left off. In the “Steppa” video above, you see him portraying a peacemaker.

“A certain culture has taken on a life of its own and become a monster,” Banton tells Rolling Stone. “Things are not the way they used to be — crime and violence, the gap between the rich and the poor. Wasn’t that always my role, to bring some civility and some consciousness to human existence, to the music? I’ve not changed.”