Beenie Man Says Producer Politics Are Hurting Dancehall’s Riddim Culture

Beenie Man has watched Dancehall change dramatically over the course of his legendary career, but the King of the Dancehall believes one of the culture’s most important traditions may have lost its way.

During an exclusive conversation with AllHipHop, Beenie Man opened up about the current state of Dancehall riddims. The King suggested politics, artist alliances and competition are sometimes keeping veteran artists from participating in the hottest musical movements.

The Jamaican icon also explained that there are times when he hears a riddim he likes and would gladly jump on it. But by the time he returns home from touring Africa, Europe or elsewhere, the moment may have already passed.

Other times, however, Beenie said the obstacle isn’t timing at all.

“Sometime the producer them have some artist not too like you,” Beenie Man told AllHipHop. “So you’re not going to get the riddim because the producer don’t want lose them artist.”

That reality, according to Beenie, speaks to a bigger issue.

“Sometime I feel like some people are threatened by competition,” he continued.

Beenie Man comes from an era when competition was practically built into the architecture of Dancehall. One riddim could feature numerous artists, giving selectors multiple records to play while simultaneously forcing artists to distinguish themselves over the exact same musical foundation.

The strongest songs survived.

Beenie believes something has been lost as that model has changed.

“You have all of these riddim where you have 10, 15 artists and you have 10 hit song on one beat,” he explained.

The problem, as Beenie sees it, isn’t simply that there are fewer artists sharing riddims. In some cases, he believes the opposite is happening. Too many songs are being recorded without enough quality control.

“Now you have one beat with 50 song and it don’t make no sense,” he said. “It’s only one song on the beat. When you have 40 song [on] one, and 30 song say nothing and 10 song say everything, then everybody try play the 40 song,” Beenie said.

His criticism are not a veteran dismissing the new generation.

Later in the interview, Beenie Man stressed that he listens to younger Dancehall artists because remaining connected to new music is essential to longevity.

“The greatest thing in music is to adjust and adapt,” he said. “Evolution is a must.”

Instead, Beenie’s issue appears to be with the infrastructure surrounding the music.

He believes producers once played a stronger role in assembling riddims, choosing artists and creating a musical ecosystem where several records could become hits simultaneously.

“The new music can make, no problem with that,” Beenie explained. “But you need to get back to what Dancehall is, where a producer actually produce.”

That distinction matters.

Dancehall’s riddim tradition has historically created a uniquely competitive environment. Different artists could attack the same instrumental from completely different perspectives, while DJs and sound systems ultimately helped determine which versions connected with audiences.

For Beenie Man, competition isn’t something to avoid.

After more than three decades in the business, he still sees it as part of Dancehall’s DNA.

“Me and you cannot have a competition because I’m here before you,” Beenie said. “You come here and see me. Me never come here and see you.”

It was vintage Beenie Man, equal parts confidence and challenge.

And judging from his comments, the King of the Dancehall isn’t asking the new generation to recreate the past.

He just doesn’t want Dancehall to forget what made the riddim so powerful in the first place.