Words by Jesse Serwer—
If you caught tonight’s BET Awards, or have checked in with Twitter or social media in the last few hours, you probably heard about the dancehall tribute featuring Dawn Penn, Chaka Demus and Pliers, Beenie Man and Elephant Man. (Also Bobby Konders and Jabba!)
This look was not entirely unexpected, as dancehall appears to be creeping back into mainstream consciousness, via Yeezus, “Freaks” and various other sources. It is interesting to note, as one Big Black Barry did on Twitter, that this interest does not appear to extend to current dancehall. None of the tunes performed (“No No No,” “Murder She Wrote,” “Who Am I” and “Pon De River, Pon De Bank”) were newer than 2002 (though Beenie did manage to get a quick “Rum and Redbull” chant in). Just throwing that out there.
Watch the video below, and leave your thoughts on the performance (too short? too throwback?) in the comments.