Billboard Accused Again Of Trying To Downplay Beenie Man & Bounty Killer’s Verzuz

Billboard is once again being criticized for allegedly trying to downplay the Beenie Man vs Bounty Killer Verzuz clash after they released poll numbers that show the Jamaican Dancehall duo were the top fan favorite among all Verzuz battles so far.

Last month, Billboard was criticized for snubbing Beenie and Bounty on a digital cover of a story about Verzuz.

In an article on Friday, the magazine said Beenie Man and Bounty Killer took home the winning title in their September 1 Verzuz battle poll as the all-time favorite, but they highlighted that many of the voters in the poll were actually based in Jamaica.

“And location was key here: Their Verzuz battle won with a whopping 88% of the vote, and 44.6% of the tally’s total votes came from fans in Jamaica,” Billboard wrote.  It said the dancehall battle was trailed in second place by Brandy and Monica in second place with 3.53% votes and DMX  and Snoop Dogg in third place with 2.97% votes.

Some fans regarded the note about the voters’ location as another subtle attempt to downplay the clash between the Dancehall legends.

One fan, @Marvinsparks, noted that even if Jamaican voters are excluded, Bounty and Beenie still received a great chunk of votes from fans elsewhere in the world. “I see what they did & I don’t respect it. Not a mathematician but 88% from 55% non-Jamaican still wins no?” the fan said.

https://twitter.com/MarvinSparks/status/1302193973432328194

He added, “they’re still tryna mask the fact they made a series of horrible mistakes regarding the clash. The post of them deciding a winner backfired, backlash of Verzuz cover without Killer and Beenie, now downplaying the result…”

Another commenter noted, “Billboard a smile tru dem teeth, begrudgingly giving the man dem dem flowers. If someone else won they wouldn’t mention location of where votes came from, how that relevant?”

A similar Billboard poll in May showed a 47% win for Beenie Man and Bounty Killer.  Jill Scott vs. Erykah Badu followed with 22%.

There were also calls for Swizz Beatz to link up Jamaican DJs to organize a real soundclash – “…I think @therealswizz need to holla @irishandchin and let’s show the world a real authentic CLASH original soundclash way #ForTheCulture.”