Rasta not into beef or passa, says Anthony B of Sting

Rastafarian entertainer Anthony B has gone from being fully excited about being on Sting 2023 – where he was billed as one of the celebrated 10 Giants – to experiencing total disillusionment about “the greatest one night dancehall show on Earth”.

After a challenging situation on the night, which led to three of the ‘Giants’ – namely Anthony B, Spragga Benz and Tommy Lee –not taking the stage, the ‘Original Fireman’ said he had no intention of performing again at the Boxing Day show, which this year celebrated its 40th anniversary.

“We, as entertainers, first have to respect the business ourselves and the fans to keep this music industry alive. We often complain about how much we are getting fight and no one wants to give us the opportunities, but we are sometimes the biggest failures to ourselves, the fans and the music business that reflects badly on our culture worldwide,” Anthony B said by way of explanation regarding his decision.

Sting founder Isaiah Laing had told The Gleaner a few days ago that Spragga Benz and Anthony B had been rostered to perform after Tanya Stephens, “but Bounty Killer didn’t wait his turn” and that action sent the running order totally out of whack.

Anthony B, as expected, was not about to join in bashing anyone personally, and noted that he was only interested in answering questions about “Jah, family, music, politics, police [and] Rastafari”.

“Rasta is not into beef or passa. Rastafarian no mix up inna bagga wrong,” Anthony B said.

And, so determined is he to put everything behind him, that he flew out of the island right after Sting.

“Trodding I & I just keep,” he posted on social media two days ago, along with a video of himself going through an airport and he is busy taking requests from fans about which countries his tour should stop during 2024.

Days before the event, Anthony B’s excitement could hardly be contained. In between sharing some history and giving kudos to Sting, he had vowed to blaze Jamworld with a performance that would not be easily forgotten.

“I am excited ... excited ... full of excitement for this Sting is really the show that gave me my break in 1995 and 1996, that’s the first two year I got a chance to go on Sting, and it launched my career. So I am always joyful, look out for the Fireman [to] come bun out the whole place ah Sting,” he promised.

He added, “Sting ah one of those shows that we fi keep it. Sting fi happen every year, it is part of our culture, Sting is part of the dancehall repertoire and the dancehall history, we mustn’t lose event like this. So Sting ... mi excited, mi happy, joyful ... full of energy, full of fire, whole heap a bomb fi come drop pon Sting.”

Sting 2023 came to an ugly end early Wednesday morning when dancehall artistes Fully Bad, given name Nicholas Bartley, and Honormosity, given name Layton Simms, exchanged blows on stage and sent patrons scampering. Both artistes were subsequently arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Also charged are Rushane Williams of Mount Ogle, Sligoville, St Catherine, and Dalton Bartley of Glen Drive, Kingston 8. They are scheduled to appear before the St Catherine Parish Court in January.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com