When gal praisin’, high flossin’ Beenie Man is in the house, you’re guaranteed a performance packing the crackle of unpredictability and sweet jolts of non-stop excitement. The reggae rapper (“deejay” in Jamaican) boasts an astounding 60-plus number one singles, scores of hit albums - including Virgin Records releases Art and Life (2000) and Tropical Storm (2002) - and who knows how many of the platinum standard stage shows that crowned him long ago as reggae dancehall’s undisputed King.
For his last two Virgin Records sets, the versatile “Doctor” flowed over joints produced by American studio names like The Neptunes and Irv Gotti and worked that roiling boundary between dancehall, pop, and hip hop alongside superstars Wyclef, Kelis, Lil Kim, Mya (for Art’s irresistible “Girls Dem Sugar” smash hit) and Janet Jackson (for Storm’s rump-shaking “Feel It Boy” chart-dominator).
Now Beenie is Back to Basics for his third Virgin CD, banking not only on his awesome riddim-riding skills and the bottomless well of his songwriting talent. Basics also counts on the formidable power of straight-no chaser, hardcore Jamaican dancehall, with booming, machine-drum dominated tracks produced by the island’s top digital artists - Dave Kelly, Tony Kelly, Don Corleon, a host of the island’s younger mixing board wizards, and Beenie Man himself.
Beenie Man’s spirit has been tested countless times in the past, but never so sorely as the first two months of 2004. On January 15, he was driving alone out of Kingston, heading for a dancehall party in Mandeville, about an hour and a half away, when his Hummer overturned as he tried to negotiate new road construction. His life-threatening injuries included broken ribs and a collapsed lung that required emergency surgery and extended hospitalization. Only 6 weeks later, on February 24th, Paul Tyrell, Beenie Man’s longtime road manager and a close member of the Shocking Vibes studio/management family, was shot to death as he drove his Toyota in Kingston.
Despite these devastating loses, as always, Beenie Man insists on keeping on keeping on. “I always take the negative and make it a positive because it makes me stronger,” he says. That resolve to spin gold out of straw, plus his faith in his musical roots, is already being confirmed with the runaway success of Back to Basic’s wicked dancehall grinder, “Dude,” currently number one in Jamaica and headed for the same on Stateside urban music charts. That roots spirit and resolves motors the entire tour-de-force that is Back to Basics. Beenie’s vivid turn on the bad bwoy-sexy-hilarious “Dude” is just the first of a series of knock-you-out hits this album delivers, like the equally hookalicious “Love all Girls” and “King Of The Dancehall” (the album’s first single). Back to Basics doesn’t just ensure the Dancehall King’s reign back home, it’s also guaranteed to catapult Jamaica’s most appealing entertainer into front, center of the world stage. And this time, for good.
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Beenie Back! Fighting fit with New ...
