Ricardo “Drummie” Davis, a popular musician with the 35-year-old Ruff Kutt band, says entertainers who are performing at events with a band should ensure that they get the requisite rehearsal that is required to enhance their performance.

“Once you have a show that is a band show, you have to do a band rehearsal. Don’t compromise that,” said Davis.

He made the assertion on Wednesday during an interview with the Jamaica Observer’s Splash. His comments came following an altercation between himself and dancehall rookie Jquan at Monday’s staging of the annual Sharkie’s Seafood Festival in St Ann.

In a widely circulated video on social media, Jquan and Davis traded barbs, with Jquan hurling verbal missiles at the members of the band during his performance.

In the clip, Jquan said: “Hear mi nuh a say nu badman, mi naw pree nuh negativity enuh, ‘cause mi nuh know whappen to da bredda ya.”

Davis replied: “A whappen to you, a whappen to you.”

Jquan flung back: “Mine wa ya do, yuh nuh, dat mi a tell yuh.”

Before the incident accelerated, Jquan was escorted from the stage.

Davis gave his version of the incident.

“He was slated to perform a 15-minute slot on the show. We reserved 6 hours of rehearsal for him alone. We had a week of rehearsals for him and he can choose whenever he wants to rehearse. We reached out to his people, and we were told he was off the island, and we were given all kind of stories. And we are saying, you have a performance to deliver. A part of delivering that performance is rehearsals,” Davis explained.

He continued: “Now, up to two days before the show we still can’t get a time for him. Everybody else on the show rehearsed. Everybody had six-hour rehearsal time, so we were working off his time. We tried our utmost best to get even one rehearsal.”

Davis told Splash that on the October 19 the band was sent a set list of seven songs for the show on October 21.

“We being the professionals that we are, we are gonna do our part by learning the songs, which we did. Now we got the TV tracks and this is the first time we gonna back this artiste on a show. We had other artists who drove from Montego Bay to Kingston to do their rehearsal and drove back down. That’s just how serious they take their rehearsal and their performance,” he shared.

The band member said the group learned the songs and was, nonetheless, prepared for the show.

“Now, on the night of the event, to be honest, the PA system was horrible. Whole night every artiste who performed wanted their mics turned up. We couldn’t hear them. We listened from the monitor, and if we are not hearing, we cannot execute our jobs properly. Every artiste who performed before him knew of the situation and adjusted themselves, because the sound quality was not that great, but the show has to go on,” said Davis asserted.

Davis said that the video making the rounds does not show the entire situation.

“So they actually got a part where the band got upset. But it started before that. The moment that he got on stage he didn’t give the thing a chance, he just started ranting. He came on stage. He was disrespectful to the point he was ‘bwoying’ up some big men on the stage and it reached a point where we decided we gonna stop playing, and the person that had the TV tracks, which is the keyboard player, just go ahead with the TV track. And even when it got to that point, he was disrespectful. It seemed as if he wasn’t prepared for the show itself, and he started disrespecting and you can only take so much and no more; and our cup was overflowing and we exploded too. The youth disrespected and we disrespected too.”

He told Splash that the band has been in situations in which other entertainers did not rehearse without a similar breakdown.

“We’ve been in situations with artistes who didn’t rehearse, but they’re so professional that when they’re on the stage, you wouldn’t know. Ruff Kutt has been around since 1989 we have backed many artistes over the years with no issues. This is the first time that we are working with this artiste and he should have made an effort to do a rehearsal,” Davis reasoned.

When contacted for a comment, a male who answered the telephone and who identified himself as Jquan’s manager said: “We nuh have nuh comment,” and abruptly hung up.

Alwyn Brown, operator of Sharkie’s Seafood shared a statement with the Jamaica Observer on Thursday:

“Ruff Kutt is the backing band that I work with for the event, usually about a week before the event we schedule rehearsals for the artistes. I heard from the band that Jquan didn’t turn up for any of the rehearsal sessions hence that may have been the reason for the miscoordination which led to the verbal conflict on stage. I’m just sorry that it played out in front of the patrons and my sponsors, especially my title sponsors J Wray & Nephew who had representatives there. Nonetheless, I have no ill feelings to either party, me and both parties still good,” said Brown.

Jquan, whose real name is Javien Smith, is from central Jamaica. He is known for the hit songs Chakka, Gift in Szn, Hometown, and Choppa Gospel.