In the run-up to Reggae Sumfest 2024, Montego Bay’s Catherine Hall definitely had the craze, courtesy of the Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum Festival & Sumfest Blitz experience showcase.
The Blitz Experience is a marquis Reggae Sumfest pre-event that included a showcase of new wave artists, rum seminars, rum tastings, an artisan village, and a food court. The highlight of the 2024 showcase was a scintillating orchestra-backed performance by Beenie Man, who appeared as Moses Davis.
Before Beenie Man took the stage, Walshy Fire (from Major Lazer), Bloodline Franco, Brush 1 (the Road Marshal), and DJ Ashile provided music.
As one of the top shelf Sumfest pre-events, the Blitz Experience with Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum Festival certainly showed out, as evidenced by the full-capacity crowd of attendees who revelled into the wee hours of the morning.
Jamaicans.com was on hand to capture moments at the showcase, which took place on July 18th at the Catherine Hall Stadium in Montego Bay.
Beenie Man as ‘Moses Davis’
Born under the name of Moses Davis, Beenie Man was a musical prodigy in that at the tender age of nine years old he recorded with the famous Bunny Lee. Where Beenie is concerned, arguably his biggest crossover-style hit on the international scene was the infectious ‘Who Am I ?’ (Sim Simma…Who Got the Keys to Mi Bimma?).
And Beenie Man’s enviable vault of major hits is too long to list, but some of his most notable gems include: ‘Romie’, ‘Slam’, ‘Rum & Redbull’, ‘Ole Dog’, ‘Girls Dem Sugar’, ‘World Dance’, ‘Memories’, ‘Dengue Fever’, ‘King of the Dancehall’, and so many more.
Very recently in Jamaica as part of the nation’s 62 Independence Celebrations, Beenie Man and his former archrival, Bounty Killer were conferred Jamaica’s sixth-highest national honour. That is, the Order of Distinction (Officer Class). They both joined an iconic group of other legendary dancehall deejays who have previously received the award: Shabba Ranks, Shaggy, Sean Paul, Agent Sasco, Yellowman and Lieutenant Stitchie.
Not to say that it’s not possible, but it is doubtful that Jamaica will ever see such a dynamic duo that went at each other’s throats, and yet became so magnificent after the dust from their many skirmishes has finally settled.
In an interview a few years ago, Bounty Killer stated that it was never personal where the feud between him and Beenie was concerned. Rather, it was a constant competition and quest that they both undertook in order to show Jamaica and the world at large which one of them was ‘di baddest’!
Photos and story by Nick Ford
