Beenie, Bounty well deserving of national honour – experts

Former rivals now friends, Beenie Man and Bounty Killer, have been racking up awards together in the past few months.

After receiving the coveted Reggae Icon Award at the Grand Gala on Tuesday, the two dancehall giants will receive Jamaica's sixth-highest national honour, the Order of Distinction (OD) in October on Heroes Day. Professor of Culture Donna Hope has made previous calls for the deejays to be bestowed with the national titles.

"Bounty Killer, with his pedigree and the many artistes he has brought forward, I think he is long deserving of an award. Him and Beenie Man. I think they brought dancehall to the forefront and they still continue to do so," Hope said.

"I'm very grateful that we have got to the point where we fully understand that beyond any issues that we may have in the aspect of dancehall, that these two men, [who] are leaders in their own right in the music industry, have laid down a pathway, a cache of musical excellence, mentorship and guidance for others coming into the industry. So I'm elated that we have been able to respect that and to regard it highly enough to honour it before they are either dead or too incapacitated to even understand what they are receiving," Hope added.

On Heroes Day, the artistes will be honoured for "their contributions to the development of Jamaican music and specifically dancehall". They will join other distinguished deejays who have been previously awarded including Sean Paul, Shaggy, Shabba Ranks and Yellowman. Music scholar Clyde Mackenzie said conferring this honour on Beenie Man and Bounty Killer sends a positive signal.

"Many were wondering why these two iconic figures were being denied official national recognition," McKenzie stated. With the artistes' known personal history, the experts shared that they don't believe that this award will place any more pressure on the one-time rivals to continue promoting more positivity, maturity and unity within the dancehall space.

"Both Beenie Man and Bounty Killer in the past five to 10 years have been showing us quite clearly that they understand their roles as mentors, elder statesman in dancehall culture and they have transformed in a lot of ways how they move through the spaces and how they respond to people," Hope stated.

"Both men clearly have acceded to the understanding that they must put forward themselves in a new way - a unified front," she added.

Hope opined that the mature versions of both men came to the forefront in 2020 when they performed at the Verzuz show.

"You could see that they were doing it not only as former rivals but as two men who were highly placed in dancehall and understand the role that they play in the music industry in the eyes of their fans, friends and family members locally, regionally and internationally," Hope said. McKenzie said the rivalry had its place.

"What happened on Verzuz really demonstrated to them how important they have been to each other. Beenie Man's career has been defined by Bounty and vice versa. It is like the Nadal/Djokovic rivalry [in tennis]," he opined.

Hope expressed hope that both current and future administrators will look at the persons from the different genres and try to ramp up the number of awards that are available.

"We must show to the men and women in the music culture that we recognise, appreciate, laud and celebrate the contributions they've made to our national identity and our cultural identity over these decades," she said.