Beenie Man Set To Return To The United States
King of the Dancehall Beenie Man has so far been booked for two major festivals in the United States this summer. His visa petition has been filed, a source close to the Romie singer told DancehallMag last week.
The Grammy Award-winning Jamaican entertainer has not performed in the US for several years. In 2010, he was among several Dancehall deejays whose visas were revoked, the others being Bounty Killer, Sizzla, Aidonia, and Mavado. The US Embassy did not state the reason for the revocation back then but subsequently reissued Aidonia and Mavado with visas later on. In July 2011, the Jamaica Gleaner reported that Beenie’s visa was restored, which saw him returning to the US for performances, including an appearance at the BET Awards show in 2013.
However, in May 2020, there were fresh calls for both Beenie Man and Bounty Killer to be given back their United States visas, following the duo’s epic performance on the VERZUZ show. Back then Beenie had told The Star tabloid that he should not have lost his visa, and that there was a massive pent-up demand in the US for himself and Bounty Killer.
“We coulda go all 50 states and represent dancehall again. Me wah sold-out Madison Square Garden again, me wah go LA go lock it dung again, and me sure Bounty wah do the same,” Beenie Man had said at the time.
“I shouldn’t have lost the visa in the first place. I don’t know what the reason was, but America is America … If dem decide say yuh cannot go, there’s nothing much you can do about it. If dem (US Embassy) feel it in mind that we deserve to get it back, me woulda appreciate it.”
ESSENCE Festival of Culture
Beenie Man is first set to take the stage at the ESSENCE Festival of Culture on Friday, July 1, at the Caesars Superdome, in New Orleans, alongside that day’s headliner Nicki Minaj, Kes, Machel Montano, and Mickey Guyton.
The festival will take place between June 30 and July 3rd 2022 in New Orleans under the theme, “It’s The Black Joy For Me”.
In addition to Beenie, the new additions to the lineup are Wizkid, TEMS, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface, Patti Labelle, Stephanie Mills, and City Girls. They join the previously announced performers, which include Janet Jackson, Nicki Minaj, New Edition, The Roots, D Nice, Isley Brothers, Summer Walker and Jazmine Sullivan. Comedian Kevin Hart will kick off the weekend on Thursday, June 30 with a show at the Smoothie King Center.
LetsGetFr.ee Carnival
He is also set to perform at the inaugural staging of the LetsGetFr.ee Carnival, in Queens, New York, alongside Missy Elliot, Wiz Kid, Jhene Aiko and a plethora of other artists, the promoters of that event have announced.
Beenie will take the Unisphere stage at the event which is set for August 20 to 21 at the Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York, alongside Puerto Rican singer Ozuna, Nigerian singer Tems, Latina singer Maria Isabel and Pop singer Deb Never, according to the event line-up.
The two-day event is described on its official website and social media platforms as “a radical movement designed for and by Black, Brown, Asian/Pacific Islander, and LGBTQIA+ free spirits, artists, and creators”.
Also on the roster are the likes of Major Lazer, Anderson.Paak as well as US band the Free Nationals, known in Reggae circles for their Eternal Light collab with Chronixx.
The mission of the event is “to close the equity gap for Black, Brown, Asian, and other underrepresented people in the entertainment industry, with the aim of achieving a diversified workforce across all levels in the industry by 2030.”
According to the promoters, the event takes inspiration from “Brazilian carnaval, Caribbean sound system culture, and the idea that we are better when celebrating our differences together”.
Among the mission partners for the event are Diversify The Stage Inc, an organisation dedicated to creating pathways to equitable opportunities for BIPOC, LGBTQIA2+, Female & Gender Nonconforming individuals in concerts, events & touring industries; the Black Music Action Coalition, an advocacy organization formed to address systemic racism within the music business and She Is The Music, an industrywide movement to empower female creators, as well as the Asian American Collective and others.
Also on the event roster is the Brazilian group Batekoo, a party collective of promoters for the black marginalised community, originating from the Salvador municipality. Known as the “booty-shaking freedom fighters”, Batekoo is described as “a force within the Brazilian LGBTQ+ POC community ready to continue their mission of banishing homophobia and enlightening the youths of Brazil, where homophobia and hate crimes are on the rise and in which every 16 hours, a member of the country’s queer community is murdered, and every 23 minutes a member of the black youth is murdered”.
New Jersey native, Fousheé, who is of Jamaican heritage, is also set to perform. The 32-year-old whose mother was a drummer in all-female Reggae band PEP, is a multi-instrumentalkist, including the newly-learned guitar. She also sing, who raps and writes her own songs described as a unique blend of soul, hip-hop, R&B and alt-rock.