Steven ‘DJ Jabba’ Beckford has been in the music business long enough to know the importance of listening to your fans.
After the 2012 Best Of The Best show at Bicentennial Park in Miami, he and co-founder Joey Budafuco decided they would cut back on hip hop acts.
“In life, mi learn from my mistakes an’ people mistakes, an’ one of di mistakes mi mek was put to much hip hop artiste pon Best Of The Best,” he told Caribbean National Weekly.
Best Of The Best 2017, which takes place May 28 at Bayfront Park in Miami, was launched Thursday at Club Iguana in Pembroke Pines.
This year has a strong Jamaican dancehall lineup, complemented by acts from Trinidad and Tobago and The Bahamas. According to DJ Jabba, while 2012 was a commercial success, the fans were not pleased with the number of hip hop artistes.
“We had Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, 2 Chainz an’ Young Jeezy an’ it draw a wicked crowd but wi core people neva like it,” he explained.
Best Of The Best audiences, he noted, love to see a diverse Caribbean package. Which is what promoters are offering this year.
In addition to current dancehall heavyweights Mavado, Aidonia, Masica, Christopher Martin and Dexta Daps, Trinidadian soca artistes Patrice Roberts and Lyrikal, and Bahamian performers Julien Believe and Dyson Knight, are on the bill.
“The Bahamian people roll out an’ support wi, like the Trinidad people, so wi treat dis as a family business. Wi have to make everybody happy,” said Jabba.
Best Of The Best was first held in 2007 at Bicentennial Park. It celebrated its tenth anniversary last year.
