Ishawna Dares Bounty Killer, Beenie Man To Clash After They Tag Team Her At Charity Event
“My head nuh good an’ mi very disrespectful enuh,” Ishawna has declared. “Mi aguh tear unuh dung and drag unuh, enuh. Double bubble pon dem nastiness. If di two a dem want it dem [can] get it, enuh.”
The Equal Rights singer is clapping back at Bounty Killer, daring him to release a diss track, after he and Beenie Man thrashed her at a charity event for cancer patients at the Meca Nightclub in Kingston on Tuesday.
The Warlord, who noted that he’s “trying to act his age,” could not resist rebuking Ishawna for her controversial Reggae Sumfest stunt, which took place last Friday when she performed Equal Rights and mimicked what he regards as a taboo sex act, involving a cardboard cut-out of his likeness.
“Beenie, you know mi nuh clash wid gyal, but sometime the wrong thing is the right thing,” Bounty said, before launching into a freestyle that addressed Ishawna’s stunt.
In response, Ishawna took to Instagram Live yesterday, where she retorted that she does not regret the stunt and will only be moved if Bounty puts pen to paper and goes to the recording booth.
“This was last night at Mecca and Killa seh him perform song fi me. Memba seh girl jus’ go do har performance and siddung pon piece ah cardboard; mi neva did ah think bout no clash. But Killa, doe go inna Mecca and go sing a likkle four line. I dare you fi go inna the studio,” she said plainly.
“Doe go inna Mecca. I dare you. Mi dare yuh! Go inna di studio. Mi woulda love fi have dis unda my belt. Mi woulda love fi have da likkle sumn yah unda my belt. Tag Killa—tell him seh mi dare him. Share da live yah…doe go into Mecca an’ sing four line. I dare you to do a song. I dare you to do a diss song. I dare you to clash Ishawna ‘cause memba Ishawna head nuh good,” she continued.
Ishawna further said that her gender shouldn’t be a concern in the face-off.
“True mi ah ooman? Yuh nuh usually clash gyal; clash me! I dare you. A nuh ntn normal,” she confidently said.
“Memba my head nuh good enuh, and when me talk enuh a havoc always create. It’s OK fi everybody else talk but when Ishawna talk , a problem. Mi siddung pon piece ah cardboard ntn nuh wrong wid dat. A entertainment,” she added.
Perhaps, the most jaw-dropping moment of Beenie and Bounty’s tag team on Ishawna was the Dancehall King’s suggestion that “she fi dead.”
His stance might be a reference to his 2002 track Red Red with Robyn, in which he says:
“No gyal can sit down ‘pon me head
If a gyal try that, she dead!
She haffi run the c**ky red, red, red, red
No gyal can sit down ‘pon me head
If a gyal try that, she dead!
She haffi run the c**ky red, red, red, red…”
This struck a nerve with the Slippery When Wet singer, who questioned why Beenie took it so far.
“I was watching the video an’ mi see Beenie Man. Mi nuh understand how one girl a create so much havoc. A dem a badda mi enuh. Mi suppose to siddung pon di cardboard!”
Bounty Killer has publicly condemned Equal Rights since its release in 2016. The controversial single, which samples Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You, continues to stir the pot years later. Ishawna said she has remained silent over the years, and is unapologetically defending herself now.
“Memba five years ago dem chubble me and me feel fi address dem now. A bay mek mi address yuh! A bay mek mi siddung pon di cardboard face…Doe throw nuh stone an’ go hide and come pon Instagram bout yuh grown an’ yuh growth. Yuh nuh growth! Go into the studio—I dare you,” she said.
In the end, Ishawna said she’s ready at any moment to contest both Dancehall veterans, and is certain that she would demolish them just as Merciless did at the 2000 Sting Clash.
Ishawna had replaced Jada Kingdom on the Sumfest lineup, one week before the show. Chairman of Downsound Entertainment Joe Bogdanovich had said that the switch was “a good look” for the festival, especially since the singer had just released her mega collaboration with Ed Sheeran titled Brace It.
At the time, Bogdanovich didn’t provide a reason for the trade but hinted that Ishawna was a “stable” alternative to Jada. “She [Ishawna] was awesome and she’s stable; that’s helpful,” he told the Jamaica Star
On Monday, after Bounty described Ishawna’s stunt as a desperate act and expressed disappointment that Jamaicans laughed as she disrespected him on a global stage, Bogdanovich apologized for the performance and said the organizers of Sumfest were unaware of what Ishawna was up to.