Well it's happened again, an artiste has been found trying to import cocaine to the US... *sigh*... What gets to me the most is that this is an artiste who I have the utmost of respect for because of his music and his beliefs and that is Buju Banton. Buju an artiste who I featured in an article last week for being nominated for the grammy awards, is an artiste of an international caliber. He has released a number of albums over the years all of which have been getting steady airplay, with some people (me included) still amazed at the quality of music that this man is able to push out.

He has always been the subject of much controversy abroad due to his song Boom Bye Bye and the controversy because of this song has been recently covered in my article "The gay bashing of local artistes" and has been an ongoing one since the song's release. However it seems Buju has got himself into a situation which will not be an "easy road". As we all know, the jail time that one receives if he tries to sell the drug is not exactly what can be described as a slap on the wrist(20 years in prison), it would've made much more sense to go and beat a somebody or something, but this charge will definitely come with deportation, something which I'm sure the gays would be glad to hear (i'll get into that part in a second).

According to the reports, Buju and Ian Thomas was caught on camera with a large quantity of cocaine and were making plans to have it sold. This is the part of the case that really scares me the most (as a Buju fan), I truly doubt that he will be able to get away with much seeing as he was caught on audio and video and in another more recent article a lawyer said:

that the allegations, which are reportedly supported by audio and video recordings, show that Buju and his co-accused will have a hard fight.

"This is a very tight affidavit. However, that does not mean that there may not be information that may arise at a later stage which might factually challenge some of the claims that have been made," Rowe said.

It is alleged that in the tape Buju even went as far as to test the quality of the product, and made an order for in the area of 15 kilograms of the product.

Now I wont pass any judgement until I have seen a verdict passed, after all I'm hoping that Buju has a reason for disappointing all of his fans (you couldnt at least a sell some weed buju). However I think its kindof coincidental that this event happened at the end of a very successful tour and a grammy nomination - much to the chagrin of the gay community. Sadly I will have to join the views of the masses when I say I think he was setup, I just dont want to believe that he would do such a thing.

*sigh*...

Also Michael Pryce passed away yesterday. He was a journalist for CVM-TV and most people will have heard him once or twice if they have ever watched the station. May he Rest in peace. I shall make a writeup on him as soon as possible