Billboard Snubs Dancehall. Jamaicans Are Not Having It.

Who’d have ever thought that the biggest virtual music battle viewed by thousands globally, would now be at the centre of a firestorm between Jamaicans and US music executives? Well, it’s happening.

A recent Billboard Magazine feature that saw the faces of Jamaican dancehall heavyweights, Beenie Man and Bounty Killer displaced, angered Jamaicans everywhere and Caribbean people were generally ready to wage war, as for yet another time it seemed like US music execs had used Caribbean culture to garner their own gains, in the end reducing the artists’ efforts to nothing.

Over the past week, following the release of Billboard Magazine’s cover art for the VERZUZ music battle feature, the reality sunk in that Beenie Man and Bounty Killer’s spectacular show back in May seemingly did nothing in the minds of Billboard’s executives who chose to eliminate the Caribbean artistes from the cover art while showing off international acts like Jill Scott, DMX, Alica Keys, John Legend, Snoop Dogg and others. This infuriated many Jamaicans- well known radio personality, DJ Sparks arguing that the move was pure disrespect. Jamaicans beneath her Instagram post on Monday, signalled plans to “unfollow” Verzuz altogether.

Creators of Verzuz, US music producers, Timbaland and Swizz Beats, have since attempted to pacify the situation, posting a video to social media and saying that they had photoshopped themselves out and replaced their faces with those of the Jamaican artistes in solidarity with the arguments presented that Beenie and Bounty Killer’s battle had essentially promoted VERZUZ like nothing else had.

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