WATCH: ‘No hit in 20 years!’ McKenzie takes aim at Beenie Man
West Kingston Member of Parliament Desmond McKenzie has declared that Beenie Man’s Weh di money deh? that was released as a single earlier this month will not sell.
“You have a certain deejay, for the last 20 years him can’t make a number one hit song, and all of a sudden … left the shores of Jamaica and gone out deh and talk about ‘Weh di money deh’,” McKenzie said.
“Dat deh record nah sell at all, nobody nah buy it,” added McKenzie who is also Deputy Leader of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
He was speaking Thursday night at the annual West Kingston Constituency Conference inside the Edward Seaga Auditorium at the Tivoli Gardens High School.
His remark is the latest salvo in a dispute that erupted in October when Beenie Man, during an interview with British broadcaster ITV News, questioned how millions of dollars in donations to the Jamaican Government intended for Hurricane Melissa victims was distributed.
READ: ‘You don’t see where the money go’: Beenie Man criticises Gov’t hurricane relief spending
“This is nothing new that the Government get the money, the Government distribute the money the wrong way. The people who supposed to get the money haven’t been getting any,” Beenie Man claimed.
His remarks have met with pushback from members of the Government including Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness. But, when it was thought that the matter was settled, Beenie Man released Weh di money deh? And McKenzie ripped into him Thursday night.
Suggesting that Beenie Man was seeking relevance, he said, “Yuh have a certain DJ, fi di last 20 years him caw mek a number one hit song. And all of a sudden, him caw mek it locally caw him nah say nutten. [So] him lef di shores of Jamaica an gone out deh go talk about ‘weh di money deh…government hold on pon di money”.
The deputy leader of the JLP told the conference that, “We’re at a point in the country’s history where what matters more is substance than fluff. And what we have is a government of performance”.
He admitted that like any other government, the Holness-led Administration would have got some things wrong. “We would not be the only government in the world that makes mistakes but we admit to our faults and we do what is necessary to correct our mistakes,” he said.
-Lynford Simpson
