As the BET Awards 2025 prepare to take over Los Angeles for culture’s biggest night, the BET Experience is already delivering the heat. Known for celebrating Black culture in all its dynamic glory, this year’s festivities welcomed none other than reggae icon Buju Banton—back in the City of Angels for the first time in over 20 years.

And the moment did not disappoint.

For any lesser artist, a decades-long absence from a major city like L.A. could’ve been a career killer or a viral disaster waiting to happen. But Buju Banton is no ordinary performer. With more than 30 years in the game, the Grammy-winning titan walked on stage and instantly reminded everyone why his name still rings bells across generations.

He opened his set with crowd favorites “Close One Yesterday,” “Wanna Be Loved,” and “Bonafide Love (Movie Star),” each track landing like a wave of nostalgia and rhythm. The standing-room-only audience was on its feet, swaying, rocking, and vibing to every beat. Backed by a full band, including a saxophonist, guitarist, drummer, and three soulful background singers, Banton gave a masterclass in what real reggae artistry looks and sounds like.

“It feels euphoric to be back in Los Angeles,” Banton said backstage to BET. That energy translated on stage, but it wasn’t just about the hits—this was also a night for reflection. Halfway through his performance, Banton shifted gears to perform “Untold Stories,” a song he recorded at 22 that digs into the gritty truths of surviving street life in Jamaica. The moment felt almost spiritual, as he paid tribute to the ongoing “awakening” happening across the diaspora.

Now a reggae elder statesman with over a dozen albums to his name, Banton remains clear on the purpose of his music. “These songs will always resonate on a deeper level,” he said. “We lay the foundation and hope that music resonates universally with the people.”

To Banton, music is more than melody—it’s a force for liberation. “As a servant of this great music, it still holds true to what the music represents. This music frees. It frees political prisoners. It frees Africa. It freed Nelson Mandela,” he explained. “This music is rebel music. It speaks to the soul.”

But he also had words of warning. As reggae continues to be borrowed, remixed, and reshaped by global pop culture, Banton believes its original purpose is under threat. Born as a soundtrack for resistance in the 1960s, reggae today, he said, is being diluted.

“We need more tenacious actions to be taken on the forefront to move the music,” he emphasized, urging both veterans and newcomers to protect the genre’s core.

He’s leading by example. Banton’s next project, he revealed, will be a return to his musical roots. “The album will be 100% dance hall,” he said, describing it as both a homecoming and a gift to his fans. “Dance hall is where I originally started, and through the passage of time, the masses grew with us, so we can keep them in the loop, [and] we try not to depart from the root.”

Buju Banton isn’t just back—he’s reigniting the genre with the same fire that made him a global force in the first place. And judging by the roar of that L.A. crowd, his rebel music is still right on time.

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