Beenie Man has lashed out at Junior Gong and Stephen Marley in an interview with Chris Goldfinger of BBC Radio. The feud according to Beenie Man kicked off at a concert in The Bahamas in April of 2008 in which the performance of Beenie Man was cut short due to time restrictions.
In the Chris Goldfinger interview posted on Youtube, Beenie Man states, "Dem (The Marleys) invite mi to dem show in di Bahamas. When mi go a di show, dem gimme 25 minutes to work. .... (name deleted) Marley go pon stage and seh 'yeah, mi love Beenie Man, yes, but di people dem need more Elephant Man', when di people dem nuh want no more Elephant. Di people dem waan hear more Beenie Man, no disrespect to Elephant Man 'cause a mi artiste, no disrespect. Mi love him to death."Beenie Man apparently felt disrespected by the two Marleys as he continued, "Di fact is, yuh caan go pon stage and seh dat when yuh is a Marley, weh yuh a pay mi fi come do your show. Wah yuh do? Pay mi fi disrespect mi? Carry me come a di place fi disrespect mi fi mek yuh know seh yuh nuh rate me? So mi mek a strong statement, mi seh 'mi know di whole a unnu nuh rate me because yuh neva put me on a show in Jamaica yet, yuh put Bounty Killer and a bag of man and yet it neva work out."
"Mi definitely see seh mi a get used, the people dem a seh 'Beenie Man, Beenie Man' and yuh a call up a bag of different artistes. When di time done is 20 minutes left, how yuh can give a big man like me 20 minutes weh have over a 1,000 hit songs? Dat nuh mek no sense. A disrespect, so mi feel offended, so mi go pon stage and talk mi mind."
The feud continued at another show in Germany when the Marleys refused to work before Beenie Man and allow him to close the concert. Beenie Man stated, "When mi deh at Germany now and di promoter go and tell them seh alrite yuh have 80,000 people inna di venue weh every year when yuh come ya is 40,000 people, now yuh have 80,000 people inna di show 'cause a Beenie Man, mek Beenie Man close di show. Dem look pon me and tell me seh dem a royal family of reggae music dem nuh work before no deejay. So nobody shouldn't find dat offensive?"
Beenie Man later on in the interview said he has no issue with Bob Marley or Kymani Marley and has a lot of respect for them. However when it comes to Junior Gong and Stephen Marley he does have issues, "Dem nuh show mi no respect so why should I show dem di respect? I show Bob Marley di respect, I show Ky-Mani Marley respect 'cause him show mi respect. Stephen Marley go on like him too tough, and dem nuh tough like mi, 'cause dem nuh know nutten 'bout 'gangsta-ism' nor ghetto life. A deh so mi grow, deh so my music come from and dem nuh tougher than mi, a so my ting stay."
