WATCH: The 1992 Interview that Derailed Shabba Ranks’ International Dancehall Career
Shabba Ranks, one of the biggest dancehall artiste in the 90s, a time many call the best decade of dancehall. However, his international career was cut short, after a controversial interview that went viral.
As a result of the interview, he received a lot of backlash from the same international crowd he was trying to entertain. The international community took issue with regard to Shabba’s stance against homosexuality.
In the interview, done over three decades ago, Shabba whose birth name is Rexton Rawlston Fernando Gordon was asked about fellow dancehall artiste Buju Banton. At the time Buju was a 19 years old gaining popularity because of his controversial song ‘Boom bye bye’.
According to Shabba, he supports the song, he next went on to quote the bible as a reference that man should “multiply” which does not involve the same-sex having sex. After a disagreement on the show with another male over the topic, Shabba went on to deejay the words “Boom eye eye” in his performance before the end of the show.
After the interview, Shabba was pulled from several shows and deals, he later stated in 1993 that he regretted the statements made. He was ultimately dropped from his record label in 1995.
Notably, Shaggy did an interview on the same show, weeks later, in which he distanced himself from Shabba’s comments.
Watch the viral moment below:
Youtuber Reggae Dancehall Vault also gives more details on the incident, watch more on the topic below:
