It’s been almost a decade since dancehall veteran, Bounty Killer’s US visa was revoked. The self-proclaimed ‘King of the Dancehall’, Beenie Man has also had his US visa revoked. But after Friday’s epic Verzuz battle which highlighted the global impact of dancehall music, international reggae artiste Shaggy wants these two dancehall veterans to be able to travel to the United States again.

The Verzuz battle, promoted by Swizz Beats and Timbaland, racked up more than 500,000 views on Instagram although the count does not factor re-streaming on other platforms.

“This was a boost to our spirits, our tourism, our economy, our music, and, most importantly, Brand Jamaica,†Shaggy wrote in an Instagram post.

He wants the Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, and Minister of Culture Olivia Grange to intervene and lobby on the artistes behalf.

“It’s about time we rally the powers that be to free up these artistes …, allow them travelling visas and work permits so they can travel freely to promote our culture and represent our brand.

I am calling on the Jamaican Government, the US ambassador, and the United States Embassy to at least start having a dialogue where this is concerned,†Shaggy said in a post on Instagram yesterday.

View this post on Instagram As we celebrate the talents of these two legends @kingbeenieman and @grunggaadzilla and the dance hall culture which they represent, to the figure of over 500k streams last night on the verzuz platform, Instagram…we saw the likes of a Spotify, you tube, SiriusXM, Facebook,I heart media, Hot97,Applemusic,Pandora,revolt, Ciroc, tidal, plus countless stars and corporate entities, all on board to witness what was considered the best Verzuz yet!!! According to the organizers @therealswizzz and @timbaland. Fans world wide were greeted with a cultural experience of epic proportions as best as it could be delivered in these covid times. This was a boost to our spirits, our tourism, our economy, our music, and most importantly brand jamaica Ÿ‡¯Ÿ‡² .. BUT LETS NOT FORGET!!!…,.that both of these artist, these two legends, these two ambassadors of our country our music, and our culture, STILL CANNOT TRAVEL!! It’s about time we rally and push the powers at be to free up these artist allow them traveling visas, work permits so they can travel freely to promote our culture and represent our brand, I’m calling on the Jamaican government, the U.S. Ambassador and the United States Embassy @usembassyja to atleast start having dialogue where this is concerned, I’m calling on the Hon. Olivier Babsy Grange @hon.olivigrange and the prime minister the Hon. Andrew Holness @andrewholnessjm to get involve, the culture needs it, the music needs it, the economy needs it, the country needs it the fans need it. Salute DANCE HALLŸ‡¯Ÿ‡²!!A post shared by Shaggy Aka Mr Boombastic O.D (@direalshaggy) on May 24, 2020 at 8:31am PDT

“The culture needs it, the music needs it, the economy needs it, the country needs it, and the fans need it,†Shaggy said.