Beenie Man Pays Homage To Legendary Producer Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee
As enthusiasts and key players grapple with the loss of Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee, one giant of the Dancehall genre is particularly disheartened. When Beenie Man chose to pursue music at the tender age of 5, he couldn’t have known that “Striker” would produce his first album “The 10 Year Old Boy Wonder’, just five years later. From there, their relationship strengthened and spanned several decades, and Beenie shared his immense sadness in a few sentimental Instagram posts.
“The man that produced my VERY FIRST Album when I was 10 years old”, Beenie began. “Mi feel deh one ya to mi heart! Bunny “Striker” Lee was a real father figure to me. He taught me how to be a true professional musician and entertainer. RIP TO A TRUE LEGEND Bunny “Striker” Lee. Rest up.”
The caption appeared under a 2014 interview clip where Beenie Man cited “Striker” as the secret to his star quality and longevity both locally and on the international scene.
“Bunny Lee is not only a producer to I, is like the father that. Mi used to live a Bunny Lee house, mi and him son dem grow and everything so a mi fada,” he said in the World A Reggae interview.
From work ethic to dress code, Beenie lauded his mentor for the many invaluable lessons that helped shape his sound and style. “You cannot go on the road as an artiste, looking like the man weh ago fix the mic, and the man weh a set up the box, zeen? You have to look like the star. A him teach me these things,” Beenie said pointing at Lee who was also present. “So without Bunny Lee, there wouldn’t be a Beenie Man”.
On Instagram, The Doctor also posted an image of his very first album cover, The Invincible Beenie Man: The Ten Year Old DJ Wonder produced by Lee and released in 1983.
The icon said of the then rookie in the World A Reggae interview, “When ah hear him ah seh bwoy is a young Admiral Bailey dis. The man was just brilliant an him nuh look back, him have greatness in him.
The mutual respect and adulation was clear, and Beenie like Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange, is indubitably grateful and indebted to Lee’s pivotal legacy.
Speaking on his passing the Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport called him “an affable person and one of the great generals of Jamaican music”.
She continued in her press release, “One of his most impressive assets was the vast knowledge he had of the music. We have lost some great champions and I want to use this opportunity to appeal to this generation to not let their work go in vain. Listen to their music, learn their styles, learn their attitudes and work ethics towards music and merge them with the modern formats.”