Self-proclaimed King of the Dancehall, Moses ‘Beenie Man’ Davis, has voiced his obvious dislike for members of the prestigious reggae clan, the Marleys.
In a taped interview with radio personality Chris Goldfinger on the British-based radio station BBC Radio 1 (97-99 FM), Beenie Man spoke about an alleged run-in with Stephen Marley. The video of the interview is available on the Youtube website entitled Beenie Man Interview Exclusive Part 2.
The feud between Beenie Man and the Marleys is reported to have gone public during a concert in The Bahamas in April this year. According to one popular entertainment website, Beenie, while performing, said that his time was cut short.
He is said to have proceeded to describe Stephen and Damian in a derogatory manner.
In the interview with Goldfinger which was posted on www.you-tube.com on May 24, the deejay gave his side to what happened at that concert. After boasting about having 1,562 hits, more than any other dancehall artiste, he went on to say, “… Dem invite mi to dem show in di Bahamas. When mi go a di show, dem gimme 25 minutes to work. …. (name deleted) Marley go pon stage and seh ‘yeah, mi love Beenie Man, yes, but di people dem need more Elephant Man’, when di people dem nuh want no more Elephant. Di people dem waan hear more Beenie Man, no disrespect to Elephant Man ’cause a mi artiste, no disrespect. Mi love him to death.”
He continued, “… di fact is, yuh caan go pon stage and seh dat when yuh is a Marley, weh yuh a pay mi fi come do your show. Wah yuh do? Pay mi fi disrespect mi? Carry me come a di place fi disrespect mi fi mek yuh know seh yuh nuh rate me? So mi mek a strong statement, mi seh ‘mi know di whole a unnu nuh rate me because yuh neva put me on a show in Jamaica yet, yuh put Bounty Killer and a bag of man and yet it neva work out’…
Getting used
“Mi definitely see seh mi a get used, the people dem a seh ‘Beenie Man, Beenie Man’ and yuh a call up a bag of different artistes. When di time done is 20 minutes left, how yuh can give a big man like me 20 minutes weh have over a 1,000 hit songs? Dat nuh mek no sense. A disrespect, so mi feel offended, so mi go pon stage and talk mi mind.”
Who should close
Beenie Man then goes on to discuss a separate incident that occurred at a concert in Germany where he and the Marleys were booked to perform. He said “When mi deh at Germany now and di promoter go and tell them seh alrite yuh have 80,000 people inna di venue weh every year when yuh come ya is 40,000 people, now yuh have 80,000 people inna di show ’cause a Beenie Man, mek Beenie Man close di show. Dem look pon me and tell me seh dem a royal family of reggae music dem nuh work before no deejay. So nobody shouldn’t find dat offensive?”
He continued, “… Dem nuh show mi no respect so why should I show dem di respect? I show Bob Marley di respect, I show Ky-Mani Marley respect ’cause him show mi respect. Stephen Marley go on like him too tough, and dem nuh tough like mi, ’cause dem nuh know nutten ’bout ‘gangsta-ism’ nor ghetto life. A deh so mi grow, deh so my music come from and dem nuh tougher than mi, a so my ting stay.”
Efforts to get a comment from the Marleys proved futile at press time.
Source: JamaicaStar
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