Buju vs Sizzla

Buju vs Sizzla

  • Buju

    Votes: 13 34.2%

  • Sizzla

    Votes: 20 52.6%

  • Someone else

    Votes: 4 10.5%

  • I hate reggae

    Votes: 1 2.6%
  • Total voters
    38
S

stelfox

Beast of Burden
I have this discussion quite often...
Now I know Sizzla is great, ridiculously prolific, and resposible for some of the best records to have come out of Jamaica ever.
Seriously, he's one of my favourite artists, as anyone responsible for Black Woman & Child and Royal Son Of Ethiopia deserves to be.
The thing is that I just like Buju better.
It probably flies in the face of all justification and there's really no way I can explain it other than to say that I just love, love, love Buju's voice and always have. He's the guy who got me into dancehall in the first place and it's stuck.
Listening to All Shall Be Well this morning, a Buju/Sizzla combination, only confirmed my thoughts... Buju is better!
So, straw poll - who's your favourite?
 
M

martin

----
Buju, without a shadow of a doubt. I mean, to be honest, I can't even see Sizzla coming close, though I'm not a huge fan of him anyway.
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
It's Buju for reasons of quality control alone. With Sizzla you can't see the wood for the trees.

But... Buju doing shouty deejaying is better than Sizzla doing shouty deejaying imo.

And Buju being slightly more melodic is an inviting prospect, whereas Sizzla is often best avoided on that count.

Maybe give Sizzla another 10 years, though, and see where we are then.
 
STN

STN

sou'wester
On a Stalag riddim clash though, I rate Sizzla's Aznaldo much higher than Buju's Mama Rule. I rate Sizzla's specials higher too. I like them both, though. Driver is a wicked tune and I haven't really liked any Sizzla releases for a fair old while now.

I think Sizzla's done more good LPs too, but we all know it's not really about that.

I prefer Buju's clothes on the front of Mr Mention to anything ever.
 
G

gabriel

The Heatwave
sorry, can't bring myself to vote on this one, i want both of them :)

for dancehall/bashment/ragga it's definitely buju. i LOVE his early 90s stuff, his recent 90s revival stuff has been great too, like Too Bad, Waistline, Tillly Ben, that kind of thing. and as john points out, sizzla's djing is generally rubbish

but for roots/reggae/one-drop/culture/lovers/other stuff it's got to be sizzla. i've never liked buju's singing voice (things like hills & valleys or destiny), and although sizzla does some awful stuff, when he's good he's simply AMAZING. i'm thinking recent stuff like Live & Do Right, Just One Of Those Days, Can't Keep Us Down, Subterranean Homesick Blues, Woman A Request It, the Rise To The Occasion LP, the Soul Deep LP, Ain't Gonna See Us Fall, Be Strong, Don't Have Jah... the list goes on! not to mention his classic late 90s roots recordings.

when sizzla's at his best he's so surprising, so unique, so different to ANYTHING that i've ever heard before - whereas although buju is brilliant, there are lots of other artists who are similar to him, do you know what i mean? if you deleted all of buju's songs from the world, there would be lots of other great (though some slightly lesser) tunes you could play instead, but sizzla's great works are kind of irreplaceable and unduplicated

re: quality control - that's a good point john, i can see why you think of that as being in buju's favour, though one of the things i really like about sizzla is that you have to dig through the shit to get to the gems, and the way he goes out on a limb sometimes and just produces something horrible and unlistenable. even if i don't like it, i'm always kind of pleased that someone's got the balls to do something like that, LOL
 
Last edited:
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
until buju's recent album, their careers had kind of gone completly the opposite direction- buju starting slack and becoming righteous, sizzla vice versa. buju has stayed consistent, whilst sizzla has become crazily inconsistent.


i'm with gabrial- sizzla, when on form has a voice (or voices) that astounds, shocks and amazes- his high pitched wailing developed in recent years, whilst an acquired taste, is fantastic, and the xterminator stuff is timeless.

his version of subterranean homesick blues was a real wtf!? moment


buju's exciting and has that voice, but he is a touch more of the tradition.

i don't think i'll vote either.
 
D

Diggedy Derek

Stray Dog
Definitely Buju for me. I love the dense, punchiness of this voice, like it's his normal talking voice or something. Like Bounty Killer, the fact that his voice is so dread, the lyrics can be secondary. I don't feel that so much with Sizzla.
 
S

stelfox

Beast of Burden
hmmm, you have to vote, really. no abstaining here.
besides, it's a close-run thing now, so every one counts.
buju way less controversial than i thought, but then again i only ever really have this conversation with an almost entirely deranged sizzla fanatic, so i guess i'm losing track of what normal, sensible people think.
 
Last edited:
S

stelfox

Beast of Burden
i disagree with capleton. he's not really anyone's soundalike, but i'd definitely cite chuck fender as a seriously (albeit very good) sizzla-influenced deejay
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top