In Brief

* * * Buju Banton, “Voice of Jamaica,” Mercury. The 20-year-old reggae rapper’s American major-label debut makes no concessions to the uninitiated. Produced by virtually every studio wizard on the Jamaican music scene, it’s a paradigm of hard-core “deejay” style. In his gravelly bass voice, Banton, who also works with singers Beres Hammond and Wayne Wonder, raps authoritatively, and those patois lyrics are well worth deciphering.

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