Sit back, put your headphones on and have a listen to our #AOTW Beenie Man born Anthony Moses Davis.
If you have been ardent lover of the French hiphop, you definitely will have very interesting things to say about the Jamaican reggae and dancehall singer Beenie man. Isn’t it? Is he truly the worlds “King of Dancehall” or that throne has been challenged these past years I must say? He’s got a bunch of nicknames by the way: The Doctor, Ras Moses, and The Girls Dem Sugar. Let’s get to it in full swing!
Beenie Man was born on 22nd August, 1973 (45) in Waterhouse district of Kingston raised in Kingston, Jamaica, he started singing from the early age of 5 and his recording career kicked off in 1979 when he released his first studio album “The Invincible Beenie Man: The Ten Year Old DJ Wonder” in 1983 followed by his first hit single “Over the Sea” the same year. His first big break came when he was only eight years old, when he took first prize at the national Teeny Talent contest. He later met one of the most influential and prolific producers of Jamaica, Henry “Junjo” Lawes, who recorded Beeni’s debut single, “Too Fancy”.
In 1984 Beenie Man recorded some material but didn’t release until ten years later because he had to finish school, and spent time travelling to the UK, US, and Canada. He came back in the early 1990s and had his first number one single in Jamaica in 1993 with “Matie” and by 1994 he became a force to be reckoned with in the music industry as he was signed by Island Records and released the album Blessed. In 1995, Beenie Man released a remix of Barrington Levy’s “Under Mi Sensi” in the United Kingdom, and collaboration to release Three Against War and Lt. Stitchie on Mad Cobra Meets Lt. Stitchie & Beenie Man. In 1996, he dropped the seminal Maestro, produced by Patrick Roberts and shot him to UK fame.
No. 4: ‘Who Am I’ Beenie Man smash hit single released in 1998 as the second track off his album ‘Many Moods of Moses’ album. The song made it on Billboard Magazine’s “98 Best Songs Of 1998” list. Who Am I’ peaked at Number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1998.
Beenie Man achieved international attention in 1998 when the single Who Am I performed creditably in the United States and the United Kingdom. He had his first American tune -The Doctor in 1998 also. During the period from the mid to late ’90s, Beenie Man dominated the Jamaican charts to the extent that he perhaps had a good claim to the crown of “Dancehall King”, a title only bestowed previously on another topnotch artist (Yellowman) in the early 1980s.
Beenie Man signed to Virgin Records to release albums in the United States. In 2000, he teamed up with Arturo Sandoval and Wyclef Jean (The Fugees) to release The Art & Life. During the late 1990s, Beenie Man began his conquest of America with the hits, “Romie”, “Who Am I” and “Girls Dem Sugar”, which featured American R&B singer, Mya.
In 2002, he had a sizeable hit with a duet with Janet Jackson called “Feel It Boy”, but his biggest break in America came in early 2004 with the release of a remix of “Dude”, featuring guest vocals by fellow Jamaican Ms. Thing, as well as rhymes by Shawnna.
No. 3: Dude” ft Ms. Thing -the first single from his studio album Back to Basics. The music video uses the remix of the song, which features Shawnna. The song is on the Fiesta riddim. The Fiesta Riddim backing track is also used on Akon’s song Gunshot on his album Trouble.
No. 2: Weh We Ago Do by Beenie Man in 2017
Over the course of his career, he has worked as a singer, deejay, songwriter, and record producer. He has collaborated with a number of other reggae artists
Jamaican dancehall and reggae artist Beenie Man has got about 20 albums (nineteen studio albums) if not more. That alone is enough to make him King of music. He’s got about seven compilation albums and eighteen singles. How about that? We should talk about how he got started actually
Having fun is opening track of his 2016 album Unstoppable. The Album he released after 10 years of disappearing from the scene. Seems that song has got some poppy vibes and sort of telling us to take having fun more seriously.
AWARDS
- Art And Life Won Best Reggae Album at the Grammys Awards in 2000
- The Doctor (Album) Nominated for Best Reggae Album in 1999
- Many Moods Of Moses (Album) was nominated for Best Reggae Album in 1998.
On how he came about his stage name: “I was very inquisitive as a child and I wanted to know everything that the elders knew,” he said. “So my grandfather called me Beenie Man because he said I was a big kid in a little kid’s body, this is how the name came about.” The album at the time sold close to 500,000 copies in the United States with additional sales in Europe and other parts of the world. ‘Art And Life’ stayed at the top of the Billboard reggae chart for 29 weeks.
Beenie Man is undoubtedly one of Jamaica’s most accomplished artists who has experimented with a number of genres including dancehall, reggae, reggae fusion, and ragga-soca and worked with top labels such as Brookland, Island Jamaica/PolyGram Records, Universal Republic, and Virgin/EMI Records.
He began behind the turntables-DJing and since then, he has seen a lot of success throughout his career.
Beenie Man has been involved in several controversies, including criticism for his anti-gay lyrics, for which he later apologized, and a feud with Yellowman, who publicly chastised Beenie Man for his hit “King of the Dancehall” and objected to his self-labeling as “king.”
No. 1: “Girls Dem Sugar”, features American R&B singer, Mýa off his 2000 studio album Art and Life and inspired and conceptualized from his 1997 Jamaican hit single “Who Am I (Sim Simma)” “Girls Dem Sugar” was written by Beenie Man. He received an impressive number of international music awards including a MOBO Award for Best International Reggae Act in 1998. Art And Life Won Best Reggae Album at the Grammys Awards in 2000.
