Beenie Man has taken his fight over Hurricane Melissa relief from the interview chair to the recording booth, teasing a new song that asks the question many storm-hit Jamaicans say they are still waiting to have answered.
Main image: DGBN graphic. Photo: U.S. Department of State (Freddie Everett) / Wikimedia Commons, public domain
The Grammy-winning dancehall veteran, born Moses Davis, has shared studio snippets on Instagram of an unreleased track titled We Di Money Deh, according to the Jamaica Observer. The song repeatedly asks where relief funds have gone, and touches on accountability, transparency and the slow pace of recovery after the hurricane.
“Music has always been a voice for the people,” he wrote alongside the clips, describing the track as inspired by the concerns of Jamaicans “still waiting for help as they rebuild their lives from the hurricane”. He said it would be released soon, though no date has been announced.
How the row began
The song follows comments Beenie Man made last week to Britain’s ITV News, in which he questioned how donations for hurricane victims had been distributed. “The people who supposed to get the money haven’t been getting any,” he said, adding that people “nuh see where it go” once money comes in.
He has not presented specific evidence of misuse, and his remarks reflect his own view of the relief effort rather than any official finding.
Holness hits back
Prime Minister Andrew Holness appeared to answer the artiste directly at the reopening of Black River Hospital in St Elizabeth. He said more than J$300 million of the government’s J$3.8 billion post-hurricane allocation to the health sector had gone into rebuilding the hospital.
Looking around at the dignitaries present, Holness quipped that Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton had “neglected to invite Beenie Man”, because the entertainer would then “see first-hand how the Government has been spending on the recovery”.
The exchange comes as the prime minister continues to juggle recovery at home with diplomacy abroad – including his trip to the Commonwealth summit in Antigua despite a post-Melissa travel freeze.
Why it matters
Dancehall has always doubled as Jamaica’s street-level newspaper, and when one of its biggest names questions where disaster money goes, the message travels far beyond Kingston – to the diaspora in London, New York and Toronto, much of which has been sending money and supplies home since the storm. Whether the song lands as protest or provocation, it puts relief transparency firmly in the spotlight, and raises the pressure on the government to show clearly where every dollar has gone.