Beenie Man Drags Daddy1, “If You Ah Do Dancehall You Do Dancehall”
Fresh off his comments on an OnStage interview, veteran dancehall artiste Beenie Man has seemingly contradicted himself by dissing 6ix deejay Daddy1 to make a point about the decline of Dancehall music.
Beenie Man on Saturday (May 2) told Onstage host Winford Williams that during the COVID-19 pandemic he didn’t believe artistes should be disparaging each other or warring but in an interview yesterday, May 6, Beenie lays into Daddy1.
The 46 year-old singer, who has been doing a media blitz to promote his new single Hands Up, decided to give a history lesson about the origins of Dancehall and explains why he believes the genre is not growing as much as it should be.
He was interviewed by Frenz For Real Live Radio on their weekly Mek We Reason session.
Beenie starts his assault by labeling Daddy1 a rapper, even though the 21-year-old is generally considered a “Trap” Dancehall artiste. He uses Daddy1 to draw a point about how much Dancehall music has changed.
It should be noted that Beenie’s distaste for this particular performer could be influenced by the fact that Daddy1’s Montego Bay-based 6ix clan disappointed Beenie at his Summa Sizzle show last year when they didn’t perform as scheduled, even though they were booked. The 6ix team members also include Chronic Law, Bobby 6ixx and their boss Squash.
Beenie spoke about sharing a stage with Daddy1 and claimed that most of the Dancehall artiste’s lyrics were difficult to understand because he believed they were too much like rap music. In the video, he makes fun of the lyrics by offering up his own garbled translation.
“No disrespect. If you ah do Dancehall you do Dancehall. If you a rapper you a rapper.” He added that type of blending of the genres is confusing and is causing a decline in Dancehall music.
“People ah say it all over the world you know, doh bother feel like we ah say it yuh know, cause if ah we alone nobody don’t know. Ah we, ah the people dem weh out in ah the world that love Dancehall music from 1957 until now. Ah dem ah bawl pun the music now. Not me,” he continued.
He also argued that even if producers in the genre are forcing artistes to go in a different direction for more airplay globally, true Dancehall performers should stick to their roots and believe that Dancehall can grow on its own. He said, “we supposed to be the stayers.”
He went on to say that there’s no new sound in Dancehall and that most of the beats have survived since 1985 and have been re-engineered, something he believes works to maintain the roots of Dancehall.
“Jamacian sound is that authenticity of drum and bass and likkle piano round dere so and likkle keyboard and ting and two piece ah guitar till it go to Dancehall drum and base and two likkle phrase.”
Beenie Man is not the only veteran to bemoan the direction of Dancehall in recent times as many call for the genre to stick to its roots, however others contend that for any art form to truly evolve it must incorporate elements of new influences without losing its true sense of direction, if it is to survive and grow on a world stage.