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On December 7, 2011 Complex.com & Boomshots.com premiered Buju Banton’s “Set Up The Mic,” the debut single from the crucial new compilation album CERTIFIED BOOMSHOTS Vol. 1.

Recorded three years ago on the “Rapid Burst” riddim for Young Blood Records, “Set Up The Mic” started out as an on-the-spot freestyle while Buju Banton waited for the engineer to fix the levels at the start of a studio session. The engineer happened to press record, and the sounds captured that day were refreshingly raw, a glimpse of the champion DJ spitting lyrics off the head as if he were toasting around a sound system—a rare treat for Buju fans who have been missing the voice of the Gargamel.

“I always told people that I have a song that I think is one of the baddest Buju tracks, but he was just freestyling,” says producer Mr. G.

“The thing about this song, it’s got a happy, playful kinda energy. The world will appreciate and love hearing Buju again, banging as the great Buju Banton. Although it’s a freestyle, if I don’t tell people it’s a freestyle, they would never know it.”

This is the first of a series of compilations officially endorsed by Boomshots Magazine. From multiplatinum hit-makers to the freshest new sounds of the Kingston streets and classic roots rock reggae, CERTIFIED BOOMSHOTS hits you with the raw uncut.

Complex.com will offer a stream of the new Buju Banton single “Set Up The Mic” today on the Complex Music Channel.