‘I wear the crown’ - Yellowman mocks tussle over King of Dancehall title

Legendary 'Zungguzungguguzungguzeng' deejay, King Yellowman, has spoken out in disbelief over the audacity of two dancehall artistes squabbling for the title of King of the Dancehall - a crown he firmly holds.

"I don't know the reason why they are making me more powerful and important by fighting over something that I already have. It all comes down to ungratefulness," Yellowman told THE WEEKEND STAR with his signature bluntness.

He continued to draw shocking comparisons, stating, "Who is the King of Pop? Michael Jackson. Who is the King of Rock and Roll? Elvis Presley. Who is the King of Reggae? Bob Marley. All of them are not here and they still have their titles. I don't know why these people keep on fighting over the King of the Dancehall title. I already have it and I am still here."

And it didn't stop there. The King of Dancehall dropped a bombshell on the whole situation:

"Yuh know that is only in dancehall that yuh find this kind of eruption and madness? I have to laugh ... you cannot put a crown on the head of a clown and call him a king," Yellowman declared, leaving no doubt that the throne is already his -- and there's no room for any imitators.

The dancehall pioneer was responding to Beenie Man's statements about who is the King of the Dancehall, ever since the release of Vybz Kartel from prison and the self-proclaimed Worl' Boss' claim to the throne. Kartel's return to the stage on his history-making Freedom Street concert and the streets seeming to hail him as the new king has made Beenie Man fiercely stake his claim to the crown. His most recent stunt was posting a decades-old video of Kartel saying, "Beenie Man yuh a King of the Dancehall from yuh come outta yuh madda belly."

From 2004, Beenie Man has been on a journey to secure kingship of the genre with the release of a song titled King of the Dancehall, and in 2016, Kartel, with a similar goal, released his album of the same name while still in prison.

However, both were following in Yellowman's footsteps with that title, because 36 years ago, in 1989, Yellowman released the first King of the Dancehall album, to critical acclaim. Prior to that, in 1985, Yellowman had released an album titled King Yellowman, which was nominated for a Grammy Award. That made Yellowman the first dancehall artiste to be nominated in the Best Reggae Album category of the Grammys. Yellowman's second Grammy nomination came in 1998 for the album Freedom of Speech.

"I am who I am ... the original. From early dancehall days people a call me King Yellowman. They cannot be like me. I am the one who put dancehall at a level that dem can live off. Dem talking 'bout Gaza [in Portmore] ... I perform in Israel, the Middle East, Egypt. Dem only go New York. I don't even know if dem can go London. Some of them trying to bleach out themselves to be a different colour, trying to be me. Dem a reptile ... one is a lizard and the other is a snake. But, if yuh is a Ole Dawg, hol' that title; if yuh is a Teacha, hol' that title; if yuh is a Doctor, hol' that title. Try as hard as yuh can, yuh can never wipe out history ... that's why we have the library and encyclopaedia and the Guinness Book of Records," the Champion singer said.

Yellowman holds a place in the Guinness Book of Records for releasing an average of five albums annually in the 1980s, while working with producer Henry 'Junjo' Lawes. In 2018, he was awarded the Order of Distinction (Officer Class) by the Jamaican Government.