BY HOWARD CAMPBELL—
The co-promoter of last Sunday’s Best Of The Best show in Miami, is pointing the finger at one of its stars for the show’s abrupt ending. Steven “DJ Jabba” Beckford told the Jamaica Observer that singjay Dexta Daps’s unprofessional behavior caused the event to run past its midnight deadline and prevented headliner Mavado from performing.
That left thousands of fans at Bayfront Park angry and frustrated.
“I just want to apologize to di fans who came from all over di world to see Mavado. This has hurt our brand,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
According to Jabba, Dexta Daps was not at the venue at 10:50 pm when he was scheduled to go on stage. He said the artiste was at his hotel and refused to budge until certain demands were met.
“He said he wouldn’t come to the park unless he was paid his back-end (rest of his show fee), he wanted 10 extra passes, an’ US$1,000 we owed him for travelling expenses from the Love And Harmony Cruise,” Jabba explained.
Promoters agreed, but when Dexta Daps finally arrived and began his set, it was 11:15. He performed for just over 30 minutes. By the time Mavado’s band finished setting up, the police called time on the show.
Jabba, who was part of the team that promoted the inaugural Love And Harmony Cruise in March, said the unceremonious end to Best Of The Best gave the show a black eye.“We’ve never had any money issue with artistes. We’ve shown them nothing but love.”
The Observer contacted Dexta Daps’s management for comment. They said a response will be issued soon.
This was the 11th staging of Best Of The Best, which again fielded the top names in contemporary dancehall as well as soca acts from The Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago.
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