Beenie Man Says Verzuz Critics Are ‘Badmind’
Beenie Man had broken his silence from as far back as Saturday morning, regarding accusations made by Tony Matterhorn and other persons, that he and Bounty Killer were ‘sell-outs’ for opting to participate in the Verzuz clash on May 23, while avoiding any engagement with Jamaican Instagram Live events.
Now in an interview with DJ Wiz from the Wizology Show, Beenie Man, while not addressing Matterhorn by name, said Verzuz was providing a platform for the world to see himself and Bounty Killer play dancehall music.
“People always upset about stupid things. It’s a platform that everybody wants to see you on where they watch the biggest artistes in the world clash. And now you have two Jamaicans on the same platform and people upset that it’s on a platform like this. Are they serious?” he questioned.
“Do they know how much Jamaican artiste Swizz Beatz mek music for and how much time he has come to Jamaica, and how much Jamaica artiste Swizz Beatz bus in America, including myself?” the Grammy award-winning artiste added.
Beenie Man attributed the consternation of detractors to simple ‘badmindedness’, and said that they were in the minority, as the majority of Jamaicans love and support the moves that he and Bounty were making, which was not only for themselves but for the country and dancehall culture.
“Why that platform? Because we need to do this for the world. Not only Jamaican and not only our type. We need to do it for the white, Syrian, Indian, everybody who listen to dancehall music,” Beenie argued.
“Nobaddy cuss when di music deh pon BET; nobaddy cuss when it deh pon di Canadian station. Now wi a guh do dis pon a international platform, yuh a guh year ‘why dat platform’? Dat does not make any sense. That’s definitely you, nuh waa see wi pon da platform deh. You shoulda ask seh why we, and not your artiste. Dat is di question weh dem waa ask,” he said.
Veteran broadcaster and musicologist, Kurt Riley, who served as Beenie Man’s DJ during the clash, and who helped to curate the tunes for the face-off, also weighed in on the issue of the artistes participating in Verzuz, during an interview on The Fix, a Jamaican online entertainment talk show.
Asked whether he thought the clash could have taken place on any other platform apart from Verzuz and have the kind of impact that it did, Riley said the dancehall icons ought not to be bashed, as Verzuz provided access to an international audience, the scope of which no local platform currently has.
“Platforms depend on access to international algorithmic information, and this is clear. If me and two other producers did do dis, versus the Opposition Leader and the Prime Minister did it on their platform at one place, it would be bigger by default,” he explained. “I know there are some rumblings going around, but fair is fair.”
Kurt, who is the son of singer, songwriter, and record producer Winston Riley who headed The Techniques band, also said questions being bandied about as to why “it had to take foreigners to stage the clash”, as opposed to Jamaicans doing it themselves, was unfair.
He also said while the questions raised were valid, it would be partial to make such a comparison, as Jamaica does not yet have the infrastructure to really push the music internationally without external assistance.
“Let us be real. To say it takes somebody from foreign to make this happen and why we couldn’t do it if that was the case, why Jamaica couldn’t put Shabba Ranks on the international platform? Why dem couldn’t do that with Super Cat? Why dem couldn’t do it with Lady Patra? Sean Paul?” he mused.
“If that was the case then, companies from America wouldn’t be in Jamaica, black-booking studios back in the day… Arista, Virgin, Atlantic, would have a $15 million project, come to Jamaica, find a studio, and book it for a month – nobaddy else cannot use it – and dem voicing Jamaican artistes and putting them on an international platform,” he added.