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Miami Herald

Miami's Best of the Best marks the return of dancehall as big artists get U.S. visas

Dancehall artist Vybz Kartel had just made history as the first Caribbean artist to sell out New York's Barclays Center two nights in a row after stepping onto a U.S. stage for the first time in two decades, when the co-host of The Breakfast Club asked the question many had been asking for years: What happened to dancehall? 'The late '90s and early 2000s, dancehall was crazy,' DJ Envy said during the live studio interview. 'Seems like it's slowed down a lot. Why do you think that is?' A provocative and personable Kartel didn't miss a beat. 'Because I was in prison, sir,' the artist, born Adidja Palmer, responded to laughter. 'But now I'm out and we're doing stuff.' Kartel's response may have seemed a bit self-aggrandizing — but it isn't far from the truth. For years, dancehall, reggae's rowdier and more aggressive offspring and the leader of a cultural movement, was grounded in Jamaica. Its biggest stars were unable to tour internationally due to U.S. visa denials or prison sentences. Kartel himself spent 13 years behind bars in Jamaica before his murder conviction and life sentence were overturned by London's Privy Council. Buju Banton, another cultural icon, served a seven-year sentence on a drug conspiracy conviction in the United States before being freed in 2018 from a Miami federal prison. In their absence, hip-hop stars wouldn't collaborate, while others tried to mimic the sound, opening themselves up to accusations of cultural appropriation. U.S. radio airplay dwindled, and genres like Reggaeton and Afro Beats moved in to fill the gap. 'How are you going to have a genre where pretty much all of its big artists with catalogs — major stars— cannot travel?' said Orville 'Shaggy,' Burrell, the two-time Grammy Award-winning artist who has garnered multiple Billboard chart hits through his 30-year career. Dancehall's only diamond-selling artist with more than 40 million records sold, Burrell went through a list of entertainers whose disappearance from the U.S. stage throughout the past decade led to the genre losing steam internationally. 'With maybe the exception of me and Sean [Paul], the arm of the genre, to defend and represent it on a global scale, could not move,' he said in a Miami Herald interview. 'That's why you see other genres that are going to go around it and its popularity drop. There is not a plane I know that can fly on one wing. That is a major, major part.' In Miami, the effects were particularly visible. Best of the Best International Music Festival, one of the biggest showcases of Caribbean music, was forced on a two-year hiatus before finally returning this year with its 19th edition and a highly-anticipated performance this Sunday by Buju Banton at downtown's Bayfront Park. In addition to Buju Banton, the line up also features Wayne Wonder, Beres Hammond, Marcia Griffiths, and rising stars like 450 and Chronic Law, showing the genre's generational depth and evolution. For soca music fans, there is Skinny Fabulous. 'After two years of canceling, we're back,' organizer Joey Budafuco said, adding that while the line up includes nine solid acts, they are working on getting more visas. Resurgence of dancehall Both the event's return this Sunday and the presence of artists like Kartel and Buju Banton are signs of artists reclaiming lost ground, fans and musicians say, as U.S. visas are being approved again and U.S. stages are reopening to artists. 'You're starting to see the presence of the culture and the dancehall being in people's faces,' said Burrell, who on Wednesday announced his Island Music Conference, which will take place in Feb. 2026 in Kingston, Jamaica. 'You're having coliseum shows...a lot of these artists may be having a moment and it might be a moment, but it's a moment we're going to accept anyway; it's definitely putting a lot of light and a lot of shine on the genre and we're embracing it.' Burrell isn't alone in his excitement about dancehall's resurgence. 'I thought about this for so many years,' Miami's DJ Khaled told the Herald during Best of the Best's launch. 'You see everybody getting their visas. Thank God, for the music, for the families and for the people to come and be able to travel the world and be able to spread their beautiful message and perform their beautiful songs.' 'The music,' he said, 'is such a timeless thing that you have Best of the Best doing its 19th year.' Khaled had dropped by to show his support for the event and for Buju Banton. One of dancehall's biggest stars who had collaborated with artists such as Busta Rhymes and Fat Joe, Buju Banton's career came to a screeching halt in 2009 when he was arrested in Sarasota and convicted in 2011. His release from prison wasn't just met with a crowd of adoring fans but sold out concerts in the Caribbean. His appearance this Sunday is his first show in South Florida since he performed last August at Ameriant Bank Arena in Fort Lauderdale as part of his 'Overcome Tour.' Unlike Kartel, who has spoken about his difficulties in prison and how he recorded albums on an iPhone 5s during his incarceration, Buju Banton, born Mark Anthony Myrie, shuns such discussions. He prefers to discuss where the music is headed. 'We have created a niche market for ourselves,' not just in the region, he said, recognizing the importance of being able to get the music off the island. 'If we're unable to reach the mainland to spread the word and promulgate the culture we can't grow, the culture won't grow,' he said. 'If there is an opening we need to seize the opening and do not fall asleep because the next generation is going to ask what did you do when you got this opportunity.' Veteran artist Wayne Wonder said visa constraints are not the only challenges dancehall faces. 'Our music is so powerful, the higher powers, they are scared, they are afraid,' he said, referencing his own experience and that of other artists such as Vincentian singer Kevin Lyttle and Barbados' Rupee. American record labels treated them like one-hit artists, the singer, who lives in South Florida said, even as they were gaining fans in the Caribbean and its diaspora. 'They try to limit you,' he said. 'But as I always say, our music always finds a way.' This is why, the Jamaican dancehall artist behind the 2003 hit 'No Letting Go,' says he likes events like Best of the Best and the important role it serves. 'This is a platform where every artist is coming with their best,' said Wayne Wonder, born Von Wayne Charles. 'You have artists with longevity, artists with a catalog, artists with performance, artists with delivery so it's just Best of the Best.' For Budafuco, the return of big name artists to the scene isn't just about staging a show—it's about reclaiming cultural space. Based on ticket sales, it appears that fans are ready. The VIP tickets quickly sold out, Budafuco told the Herald, but there are still general admission tickets available. If You Go: What: Best of the Best International Music Festival When: Sunday, May 25 Time: Doors open at 2 p.m.- 10 p.m. Where: Bayfront Park, 301 Biscayne Blvd., Miami Cost: Tickets start at $95, kids under 12 get in free For Tickets: or 305-438-9488 or 955-470-7666