Beenie Man Albums (19)
What The Critics Say
The proper follow-up to Beenie Man's excellent 2004 release Back to Basics falls just short of its predecessor if only because it doesn't have a track to match the wonderful "Dude" and it feels a lot more thrown together. Course, it is thrown together with a couple new numbers scattered among a lot of previously released cuts from the past couple years, but chances are, if you aren't a singles-collecting dancehall fanatic, they're new to you. With so many aggressive, swaggering club tracks to choose from, Undisputed will sound relentless to a fault to dancehall newcomers, yet there's barely any filler and Beenie brings it with every performance. The slick tracks with producer Scott Storch ("Dutty Wine Gal") and crooner Akon ("Girls") are satisfying, but the freewheeling Beenie is on fire when challenged by the more skeletal, Jamaica-sourced production of "Chacka Dance" and "My World" featuring Lady Saw. The pounding, hooky "Hmm Hmm" is infectious even if you can't keep up with his rapid delivery and patois dialect, and the massive club track "Heart Attack" playfully brings the party over one of dancehall's most techno riddims ever, the "Global" riddim. It would be a challenge for anyone to sort so much fire in a more cohesive way, so take Undisputed as a snapshot of Beenie's exciting work circa 2005-2006 and break it off in bite size chunks for best effect. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
'Hundred Dollar Bag'
Release Date 5/30/2005
Tracks 15
Label Movieplay Gold
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What The Critics Say
The world became a better place when Beenie Man released "Dude," the steamy rump shaker with a sting in its tail that kicks off the man's return to dancehall, Back to Basics. The 99.9 percent dancehall album makes 2002's star-studded Tropical Storm sound like an overly planned showcase as it trades Janet Jackson and the Neptunes for Jimmy Cheeztrix and Steven "Lenky" Marsden. Sounds like a raw deal if you're all about pop, but when dancehall fans get to hear their hero sounding so comfortable and languid they really couldn't ask for more. You can fault the album for feeling much like a scattershot collection rather than a planned full-length, but forgiving the lack of structure of dancehall albums yields spontaneous rewards when you're dealing with a talent like Beenie. Take the compressed thumper "Dr. Know" -- a wild character that both the Detroit Grand Pubahs and Kool Keith wish they thought of -- or the hypnotic "Grindacologist" with its irresistible "left, right, left, right" hook and Yaz-styled keyboards. The real find is the impromptu acoustic jam "Back Against the Wall," a nearly roots number that's proof Beenie is a reggae genius to all those who can't say anything nice about synthetic ragga. The Timbaland-produced "All Girls Party" is the lone crossover attempt, and while it's topped by the album's Jamaican tracks, its frisky beat gives Beenie plenty of lyrical inspiration. R. Kelly is the only other singer who could deliver "take off your underwear" as convincingly as Beenie does on his excellent "King of the Dancehall" anthem, and when he mimics Yellowman's faux Chinese on "Love All Girls," it's an admirable nod to an obvious influence. Good to see the man moving away from just odes to booty with these little lyrical touches and the deep "Back Against the Wall," but he still nails the naughty numbers like he was born to strut. You really shouldn't be caught in the bedroom without a copy of "Dude," and with Beenie so glad to be home throughout the album, Back to Basics is a keeper. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The latest from dancehall superstar Beenie Man is a complex and rewarding exploration of the many musical and lyrical themes that tie contemporary reggae and hip-hop together, from the increasingly similar beats to the rudeboy/gangsta continuum that has been a feature of reggae since the 1960s and of hip-hop since the 1980s. Dancehall "slackness" (i.e., sexually explicit lyrics) has its modern counterpart in hip-hop as well, as Beenie Man's duet performances with Lil' Kim and Lady Saw here demonstrate. Some of the most powerful tracks on Tropical Storm find Beenie Man chatting over rhythms provided by the Neptunes, who support him with arrangements that are both warm and aggressive; the effect is especially nice on "Feel It Boy," a sweetly romantic duet with Janet Jackson. Beenie Man does occasionally come across as a bit too eager to establish his bad-boy credentials -- too many of these songs find him repeatedly insisting on his gangsta status. It may be true that "real gangstas don't play" (as he says, over and over, on "Real Gangsta"), but they also don't waste a lot of breath saying "I'm a gangsta I'm a gangsta." Overall, though, this is an album sure to please Beenie Man's growing legion of American fans. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
'Heavyweight Dancehall Clash'
Release Date 7/16/2002
Tracks 16
Label Varese
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What The Critics Say
Give Beenie Man credit -- he keeps moving on. Just because he's one of the stars of dancehall doesn't mean he's rested on his laurels. Instead, for The Magnificent he's brought in plenty of new beats and continues to strip his sound to a minimum while keeping plenty of humor; "Tom Bully," for example, uses the first four notes of The Addams Family theme as its melodic line, while another borrows from a TV western. But always at the center is the man himself. Of course there's plenty of braggadocio to tracks like "The Magnificent Beenie Man," "The Greatest," and "Do the Bennie Shuffle," but often his tongue is planted firmly in his cheek, too. He can get more serious, as on "Follow Mi Lyrics" or "Murder," and on "Mocking Bird Song" he flirts with singing and melody without ever firmly grasping either, but still offering something quite irresistible. Produced by Bunny Lee, this is an album that pushes Beenie Man back to the forefront of dancehall artists. ~ Chris Nickson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Released in the United States in 2001, this album is actually a collection of mid-'90s Beenie Man tracks recorded before he signed with Virgin and went on to win a Grammy. These tracks were recorded with producer Maurice Johnson (also known as Jack Scorpio) back when Beenie Man was still making his way in the dancehall world, popular but not yet a superstar. Listeners expect then, and they get, a younger, rawer Beenie Man than that of his recent releases, which have erred on the side of playing it safe. Johnson's production is stripped down and sparse, obviously not slicked up for a foreign market. The set kicks off with "Selassie," a call to arms for pan-black solidarity. Most of the material is of a similar strength, solid early-era Beenie Man. The best tracks, however, are the final two, which will give even serious fans pause. Here are two very early, highly rare tunes -- "Mek Use a Life" and "Unu Fi Follow We" -- featuring a teenage Beenie Man who sounds both delighted and desperate. Really interesting stuff. Mega Banton, Admiral Tibbett, and Yellowman all make guest appearances. ~ Brian Whitener, All Music Guide
'Art and Life'
Release Date 5/9/2000
Tracks 17
Label SVP/Miles Ahead In Reggae/Virgin
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What The Critics Say
Old-school toaster Beenie Man, a.k.a. Moses Davis, has performed professionally since the age of 5, and at 26 he's long been considered a veteran in reggae terms. But his appeal is not founded as much in his experience as it is in his vocal and musical flexibility and his ability to balance hard-hitting rawness with feel-good commercial sense, which he proved with his '95 Blessed and again in '97 with Many Moods of Moses, yielding hits on both the R&B and country-western charts. His latest finds the Jamaican lyrical wizard working Rasta magic on a humorous pastiche of sexual posturing and socially conscious manifestoes, all nailed down on a canvas of ass-shakin' ragga, hip-hop, reggae, and dancehall jams. Beenie casts a wide net with the Latin dancehall beats of "Tumble," featuring Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval atop Beenie's raps in Spanish and English, and "I've Got a Date," which maintains a laid-back groove throughout by borrowing the bassline from the Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There." He switches gears to team with Wyclef Jean on the dancehall/hip-hop hybrid "Love Me Now," lacing the mellow funk of "Girls Them Sugar" with his trademark catch phrase "sim simma," and dropping slick rhymes against the whispered croonings of ghetto diva Mya. The rest of the album features fun midtempo reggae tracks like "9 to 5," "The Best I Got," and "Analyze This," along with the rap-savvy dissin' of "Haters and Fools" and the title cut's soulful homage to reggae harmony. ~ Derrick Mathis, All Music Guide
