‘Give thanks’
Stonebwoy says he feels ‘genuine gratitude’ after Beenie Man names him ‘Prince of Dancehall’
Published:Wednesday | December 22, 2021 | 12:12 AMStephanie Lyew/Gleaner Writer
For Stonebwoy to accept a title that many dancehall recording artistes have been trying to claim for more than a decade, means he knows and understands the culture he is representing. The Ghanaian recording artiste was proclaimed the ‘Prince of Dancehall’ by Beenie Man during an interview on Accra radio station Okay 101.7 FM on Monday.
“Give thanks,” said Stonebwoy, who was headed into a soundcheck on Tuesday for the BHIM Concert. “I am feeling genuine gratitude to be given that honour. It is a blessing.”
The Afrobeats, reggae and dancehall entertainer who is currently playing host to Beenie Man, the featured artiste for the concert’s fifth annual staging, shared that there is a standard of “reciprocity in action” in the music industry.
“A lot of hard work was placed into the vision; coming from an ancestry of which we all belong to. Now, this is a great responsibility of actually continuing that trait by virtue of culture and art, where music falls under that folder,” he said. “So, to be bestowed upon as the ‘Prince of Dancehall’ from the man who is the ‘King of the Dancehall’ worldwide, for many decades, is further acknowledgement of responsibility being placed on me again to represent for both cultures, or extensively for the culture of blackness and African culture that has birthed reggae and dancehall, and [Afrobeats] music.”
Stonebwoy and Beenie Man share a history. They have known each other for more than a decade, having met when the Afro-dancehall entertainer was in his late teens. The proclaimed dancehall king shared that Stonebwoy was like a son to him.
When asked if there is pressure to meet the expectations of Beenie Man’s fans, and, by extension, dancehall fans worldwide and in Jamaica, where the genre originated, Stonebwoy said, “Ideally, I am, because it is by hard work – not by a day’s work – to get to where I am and to earn the respect.”
In April 2019, the two recording artistes finally released a dancehall-Afrobeats fusion titled Shuga. It was a welcomed collaboration relating to Beenie Man’s 1996 hit single, Girls Dem Suga, blending Stonebwoy’s authentic Ghanaian dialect of pidgin with Jamaica’s patois to make an energetic and unified representation of both artistes’ cultures.
“I am single-handedly hosting the king Beenie Man in Ghana, among others I have invited in the past from South Africa and the US, to keep the BHIM Concert running. And with this year’s theme, ‘BHIM of Hope’, my team and I are aiming to do what we love to do, and give to people what they love,” he said.
“The preparation for the show [is] crazy. As you know, I am here in [a] soundcheck, and I am thankful to have a team that supports me, and the guidance of God. I must thank everybody in Ghana for helping me to take over in this Christmas season, the most expensive season, but yet a season we have to show the importance of getting together. That is part of my responsibility to my country, my home, and to dancehall,” Stonebwoy continued.