Buju Banton sets July 17 release for Too Too Bad album
Buju Banton has lined up Too Too Bad for July 17, and the title points straight back to his harder dancehall edge.
Buju Banton is putting a date on the kind of comeback fans have been waiting for: Too Too Bad is set for release on July 17, 2026, and the title alone reads like a signal flare back toward the sharper, more dancehall-forward side of his catalog. It is a deliberate nod to Too Bad, the 2006 album that marked Buju’s return to hard-edged dancehall after roots-reggae touchstones like ’Til Shiloh, Inna Heights and Unchained Spirit.
The first clue came in April with Butterflies, released the same day Buju’s signing to VP Records was announced. The single was produced by Supa Dups for Black Chiney Music and issued through Gargamel Music and VP Records, riding a modern take on the classic Real Rock Riddim. Buju said he has worked with VP Records for more than 30 years, while VP Records CEO Christopher Chin called him a defining voice in reggae.
The new album rollout lands with real commercial weight behind it. Billboard said Butterflies is the first taste of Buju’s forthcoming LP and his first full-length VP Records release since 2006. Billboard also noted that Born for Greatness, released in 2023, earned Buju his eighth career Grammy nomination, and GRAMMY.com currently lists him with 1 win and 8 nominations. Across his catalog, Buju has placed 12 albums in the Billboard Reggae Albums top 10, with four crossing over to the Billboard 200. That run stretches from earlier landmarks through to Before the Dawn, the Grammy-winning album that remains one of the cleanest proof points in his late-career catalog.
The album announcement also arrives in the middle of a busy live stretch. Buju’s Roots and Rhymes Summer Tour with Stephen Marley begins June 17, 2026 at Marymoor Park in Redmond, Washington, and closes July 25 at Lakewood Amphitheatre in Atlanta, Georgia. Official tour materials call it the first full-scale tour Buju Banton and Stephen Marley have done together, with Gramps Morgan on select dates and Splackavelli DJ sets at some shows. The run includes major stops at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, and Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and $2 from every ticket sold will go to charity, split between the Ghetto Youths Foundation and the Buju Banton Foundation.
Buju returned to the U.S. for live shows in 2024 after more than 13 years away, and Too Too Bad now gives that comeback arc a sharper album edge. If the title is the tell, July 17 could mark another hard turn back to the dancehall pressure that first made Buju impossible to ignore.
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