Over the years, the presence of artiste entourages has been of concern to promoters and media. Two recent incidents involving entourage members of entertainers have left members of the entertainment fraternity fuming.

In one incident, which happened late last month, it is alleged that members of dancehall artiste Popcaan’s entourage attacked music producer DJ Mac outside a popular nightclub. Videos, reportedly of the incident, have made their way onto several social media platforms.

Earlier this week, there was an incident at the just-concluded Summerjam Reggae Festival in Germany, where it was reported that members of Afrobeats recording artiste Burna Boy’s security team disrespected veteran reggae act Steel Pulse.

The band’s guitarist David Electric wrote under a post on World A Reggae’s Instagram account: “@burnaboygram and security crew fully disrespected us @steelpulseofficial trying to kick us out of our dressing room so he could have 4 dressing rooms for his massive entourage. Selwyn Brown [original member of Steel Pulse] was livid, and our team stood our ground and told them to beat it and you can’t do that to people, especially to a band that has paved the way for Reggae Music. It’s @summerjam_festival_official why do you have a full security team that think they can come in and bully people? Who the hell does @burnaboy think he is. And because of us refusing to leave, the security team proceeded to build a barricade of a blacked-out chain linked fence that split the hallway between our dressing room and his dressing room making it feel like we were in prison or something. I hope that these legendary reggae festivals realize that this can’t be a part of the reggae culture. That’s Babylon business. We don’t treat people like that. Please recognize this because Steel Pulse was fully disrespected. Reggae promotes Peace, Love, Unity. Stand up for your rights, we must never give up the fight.”

Lester Gayle, former manager for dancehall duo RDX, shared his experience with members of the duo’s entourage.

“When I was managing RDX, the entourage numbers varied. The most we brought on the road at any one given time was 25 in total. That can consist of me, the dancer, RDX, their women, my woman, and the dancer woman. That’s eight people and then an additional 25 people. So, if we are going to a garrison we carry certain people with us. If we are going to the country a different thing,” Gayle told the Jamaica Observer on Thursday.

Gayle went on to explain that, “In an unpredictable climate like Jamaica’s entertainment industry and Jamaican culture, as well as the Jamaican landscape, it is highly important. It gives the artiste some relevance, it gives the artiste relativity, great protection, and it make yuh look like suppen a gwaan fi yuh… Your entourage is there to protect you and to screen certain people from having access to you.”

Still, Gayle said he took responsibility of keeping entourage members in check and urge other managers to do the same.

“The first thing is you as the manager haffi know who you a carry and why yuh haffi carry dem… I also tell each member of the entourage what is expected of them; they have to dress properly, dem cyaan smoke nuh weed and dem cyaan do certain tings. Most times yuh have some managers who behave like groupies, but you as the manager, the onus is on you,” Gayle shared.

Eddy Edwards, of Jamaica Jerk Festival Inc USA, the promoters of the annual Grace Jamaican Jerk Festivals in South Florida and New York, shared his experience:

“Some artists genuinely require a large entourage with duties such as road manager, backup singers, band members, and the artiste’s assistant, who ensures that all arrangements are in place and communicates with the promoter and stage manager/production manager to ensure a smooth production and performance. On the other hand, there are some artistes who will pad the travel list and travel with girlfriends and bredrin’s who are not integral to their performance. These additional people increase production costs such as airline tickets, rooming, and per diem and this drives up the budget and can put the profitability of the show at risk.”

He continued: “Some artistes understand and travel with the bare essentials, others act as if it is a right and pile on the extra personnel without any care. Finding a balance can be a challenge, and sometimes we have to bear the extra costs even though we know the additional members are unnecessary to the performance.”

Music producer, artiste manager and event coordinator Romaine “Luigi Society” Brown said familiarity with artistes and their entourages often makes interactions smoother and typically non-problematic, but this may not be the case for those who are not in my field.

“Entourages add significant value to an event indirectly by supporting the artiste in various crucial ways. They often include essential personnel such as personal security, producers, DJs [to play their tracks] and drivers… While entourages can sometimes be viewed negatively, their presence is typically beneficial and necessary for the artiste. Problems usually arise only when entourages include members without clear purposes,” Brown reasoned.

Music marketer Sean “Contractor” Edwards concurs with Brown that entourages can be of benefit to the artiste.

“It is good to a team of people playing vital roles such as security, personal manager, stylist, and sound engineer, etc. Entourage becomes a problem when there are people on the team playing no specific role, but just being there. If an artist prefers to have a large entourage then he has to have an entourage manager whose job is to keep the team at a certain number and make sure everyone knows their roles and boundaries…” Edwards posited.

Reggae Sumfest’s Deputy Chairman Robert Russell said that having a strong security detail to handle artiste entourage helps to curtail issues.

“If you don’t have strong and tight security then the question of entourage behaviour could become a real problem. So, we understand the fact that artistes depend a lot on their entourage to give them support and the need for the artiste to make a good impression and to create hype. At times some people in the entourage are not a part of the entourage but they hop on the bus hoping to get into the festival for free. We are mindful of that, so as I said before our security has to be tight but courteous to ensure a safe and smooth operation and not to offend anyone as that would only add to what is usually a very complex situation,” Russell shared.

Sean “Contractor” Edwards.

Eddy Edwards.

Lester Gayle.

Romaine “Luigi” Brown.