Dancehall put on full display at 2023 BET Awards
Halfway through his performance on Sunday, iconic Hip-Hop star Busta Rhymes put Jamaica and dancehall music on full display at the 2023 BET Awards.
Shifting gears at the event geared at celebrating 50 years of Hip-Hop music, Busta Rhymes made it unequivocally clear that without Jamaica, Hip-Hop would not exist and so he paid tribute to the island’s great musical influence in a most fitting performance.
“Let me be clear, we celebrating Hip-Hop 5. Kool Herc, the founder and father of Hip-Hop, he’s a bl**dcl**t Jamaican. Make sure yuh know dat,” he told the audience at the awards show. “Jamaica is in my blood so as much as we gonna rep Hip-Hop tonight, we gonna represent this dancehall culture.”
Bringing out the Queen of Dancehall, Spice, alongside Dexta Daps, Skillibeng and veteran artiste Cutty Ranks, Busta Rhymes and the small yet powerful Jamaican contingency had the audience dancing and ‘bussin’ blanks through their entire set.
Dexta Daps who was the first of the Jamaican quartet to perform, offered up a rendition of his hugely popular hit, Shabba Madda Pot before handing over the mic to the Queen of dancehall herself, Spice.
Staying true to her raunchy, risque dancehall persona, Spice performed her mega-hit single So Mi Like It to loud cheers from the crowd.
Skillibeng who has been enjoying a huge amount of international attention in recent years also graced the stage and had the audience singing along to his catchy single, Whap Whap.
Dancehall veteran Cutty Ranks brought the old-school flavour by delivering his hit single, A Who Seh Me Dun (Wait Deh Man).
Busta Rhymes, a 12-time Grammy Award-nominated rapper, producer, and pioneering hip-hop figure was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by Swizz Beatz on Sunday.
