For international star Beenie Man, one of the highlights of his ‘Welcome to Jamrock’ performance aboard the cruise ship, Norwegian Joy, was his duet of the song, Winning, alongside Stephen Marley.

The two veteran artistes transformed the occasion into a powerful celebration of resilience and perseverance.

“It was magnificent; it was a beautiful feeling to know that Stephen was in it with all his heart, is not something him just walk up on and say him ‘ok mi ah go do this because mi ah go do this’. Him walk up with all smiles and love and everything and deliver with feeling. I appreciate it so it was magnificent,” Beenie Man told Observer Online afterwards.

The song was produced by David “Swipes” Cole (son of Allan ‘Skill’ Cole) with co-production by Makonnen Blake Hannah.

The Stephen Marley duet was merely one of the highlights of a marquis performance from an artiste who is still at the top of his game.

Indeed, the ‘Doctor’ as Beenie Man is also called, was in his element during his onstage stint at the ‘Welcome to Jamrock’ cruise. Looking dapper in a dark suit with a green haze around him, he took the crowd down memory lane with a barrage of his earlier hits.

He immediately energised the crowd with the words…’Gal from yu born, yu never walk wid no mowlie arm….hold up you hand mek me smell yu cologne…”. The females obliged, and the air was thick with Jamaican flags, UK flags, Trinidadian flags and flags from other Caribbean nationalities being flown from the upper and lower decks.

He segued neatly into ‘Memories’ with the crowd singing: Memories don’t live like people do/They always ‘memba you/Whether things are good or bad/
It’s just the memories that you have’.

Beenie Man soon chimed in: “Boy, stop live down inna de past /Just member when man a ride ‘orse / Now yuh dead that mean yuh soul lost…”

And the crowd roared.

Beenie Man also got a great ovation for ‘Feel It Boy’ – his Billboard-charting collab with Janet Jackson – and all he had do was sing ‘whenever I got no money… before the crowd took over belting out the rest of the song.

The crowd sang in one clear voice: “she is still my honey…two wrong don’t make a right…’.

As the temperature rose, Beenie Man removed his jacket to reveal a white shirt. The deejay lowered the mic and asked the crowd if he could leave now. They groaned a loud ‘no’, and called for ‘more’ and Beenie obliged.

He did crowd favourites like Healing where he invited deejay and television personality Press Kay onstage to sing Lady Saw’s lyrics. The crowd loved every minute of it.

One of the highlights of his performance was his rendition of his controversial hit, ‘Weh De Money De’ which has ignited political debate in recent weeks because of his comments regarding Hurricane relief funds during an interview with a British broadcaster.

Beenie Man deejayed the lyrics slowly as the crowd stood entranced.

“People ah live outta door, everybody haffi ah watch the rainbow, and when the rain fall, dem nuh know how it flow…man ah live under zinc, under sheet, tarpaulin, ah that a dweet, caan dress up, caan look neat, nah nah no clothes, no food, children nah no shoes pon dem feet…tell me weh the money de,” he said to loud cheers of approval and then segued neatly into Kette Drum.

The crowd screamed its approval.

He then did the Weh De Money De song again, this time delivering the lyrics a capella to more cheers.

“Remember that I am a Jamaican that live in Jamaica…(repeated three times)….say this is the land of my birth, now this is….,” he crooned before the crowd began singing “my Jamaica, the land of my birth.

He then invited Stephen Marley to join him onstage to do Winning.

He rounded out his performance with a slew of his major hits over the course of his career, putting an exclamation mark on the night.