Beenie Man (born Anthony Moses Davis August 22, 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica), is a well established Deejay. Contents [hide] 1 Career 1.1 Early start 1.2 The "War" with Bounty Killer 1.3 United Kingdom 1.4 USA 1.5 Anti-Homosexual Controversy 1.6 Personal 2 Discography 2.1 Albums 2.2 Singles 3 References 4 External links [edit] Career [edit] Early start Beenie Man was involved in the music industry from a young age when he won the Tastee Talent contest in 1980. Only one year later (1981), when he was eight years old, he recorded a single, "Too Fancy", with record producer "Junjo" Lawes. By 1983, Beenie Man was recording with heavyweight DJs, such as Dillinger and Fathead and released his debut album, The Invincible Beenie Man: The Ten Year Old DJ Wonder and the single "Over the Sea". After such a prodigious start the artist`s career lost momentum in the middle of the eighties decade. Beenie Man continued performing and honed his craft beside the then dominant dancehall figures including Ninjaman, Admiral Bailey and Shabba Ranks. He found his artistic home at the Shocking Vibes studio where he continued to record singles with only moderate success towards the end of the decade. [edit] The "War" with Bounty Killer In 1991 he was booed off stage at a show celebrating the visit of Nelson Mandela. After this crushing event Beenie Man renewed his desire for success, and at the age of nineteen the album Cool Cool Rider was released largely unnoticed. He still continued to pursue dancehall stardom by releasing a slew of tunes to start the decade. It was at the same time that a notable artist from Seaview community in Jamaica emerged bearing the name Bounty Killer. Both deejays found success with violent lyrics and hostile delivery and soon accused each other of plagiarism. In 1993 at the very popular show Sting Beenie Man and Bounty Killer met in a lyrical battle that has become legendary in dancehall history. Their feud continued on the air with each artist counteracting the other's songs. In 1995, Beenie Man and Bounty Killer appeared to settle their differences on the air by actually signing a peace treaty. The album Guns Out was soon released, featuring tunes from both deejays and bearing a photograph from their legendary battle on stage. This was followed by a single, "No Mama No Cry", a rehash of the Bob Marley classic "No Woman No Cry", speaking out against violence and inspired by the murder of Pan Head, another popular Deejay. The two artists soon found enough common ground to perform together on a number of local shows in the mid nineties. Partially as a result of prodding from his producers, Sly and Robbie, Beenie Man soon converted to the Rastafari movement. In 1994, he was signed by Island Records and released the critically acclaimed album Blessed. The truce between the two artists proved to be short-lived. In the late nineties, as their popularity in Jamaica and internationally grew, neither deejay seemed wlling to admit that the other was as worthy of the spotlight. Verbal attacks on each other were again delivered in interviews, studio releases and live performances. Now going thirteen years, the war of words between Beenie Man and Bounty Killer continues today as one of the longest rivalries in the history of music. [edit] United Kingdom In 1995, Beenie Man released a remix of Barrington Levy's "Under Mi Sensi" in the United Kingdom, and collaborated with Dennis Brown and Triston Palma to release Three Against War and Lt. Stitchie on Mad Cobra Meets Lt. Stitchie & Beenie Man. He took another step up the ladder in 1996, releasing the seminal Maestro, produced by Patrick Roberts and shot him to UK fame. 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 Yellowman in the early 1980s. [edit] USA Beenie Man`s first real break into the United States came in 1997. He heard a musical track produced by an unknown called Jeremy Harding and demanded to add his voice to the rhythm. So was the birth of his first international hit. He recorded Who Am I better known as Sim Simma and the single quickly went Gold. It opened the doors for the world to see a new reggae star in the pages of Newsweek and other major media outlets. In 1998, Beenie Man signed to Virgin Records to release albums in the United States. His first American offering was The Doctor (1998). In 2000, Beenie Man released Art & Life which featured Arturo Sandoval and Wyclef Jean (The Fugees). He received a Grammy award for the album. 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. During this time he received an impressive number of international music awards, while remaining at the top of the local charts. 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. In the midst of this popularity he was taken to task by international activists for lyrics penned in Jamaica in the previous decade. [edit] Anti-Homosexual Controversy Like many Jamaican dancehall reggae artists, some of Beenie Man's songs made prior to international exposure include anti-gay lyrics that include explicit calls for the execution of gays and lesbians. As a result, there have been several protests coinciding with recent tours in North America and Europe. This may be due in part to a misunderstanding of the dancehall lyrical culture. He and others also preach killing, fire, gunshots and ultimate death on other members of society, including his rival Bounty Killer, but these are never taken literally, nor released internationally. However there is no doubt of his disdain for homosexuality which in Jamaica still bears the label of a criminal offence. In July 2006, a group of gay and lesbian bloggers and activists protested the artist's inclusion in a HIV/AIDS concert put on by LIFEbeat, the music industry's AIDS organization. After three days of protests, the concert organizers canceled the event and apologized. MTV had plans to include Beenie Man in their roster of performers at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, held in Miami, Florida, but due to adverse publicity, threats of protests and boycotts over the homophobic lyrics in some of his Jamaican releases made a decade earlier, MTV decided to exclude Beenie Man [1]. Virgin issued apologies for these lyrics on his behalf, but many critics have claimed that the artist himself remains unrepentant. Beenie Man has claimed that by the phrase "batty man" he means child molestors. This does not however counter the overall tone of some of his music, as he has explicitly said in lyrics "I'm dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays". Despite declining to make an official apology for such songs made a decade ago, the tone in his music has become less aggressive. In his most recent musical offering on the subject he posits "I reserve the right to criticize any lifestyle I feel is not wholesome". [edit] Personal Beenie Man married fellow artist D'Angel on August 22, 2006.[1] She also had a relationship with Beenie Man's rival Deejay Bounty Killer earlier in her modelling carreer. [edit] Discography [edit] Albums The Invincible Beenie Man: The Incredible Ten Year Old DJ Wonder (1983) Cool Cool Rider (1992) Defend It (1994) Blessed (1995) Guns Out with Bounty Killer (1994) Maestro (1997) Many Moods Of Moses (1997) (nominated for a Grammy Award) Ruff N Tuff (1999) The Doctor (1999) Y2K (1999) The Art & Life (2000) Trendsetter (2000) Youth Quake (2001) Gold - The Very Best Of (2002) Tropical Storm (2002) Back To Basics (2004) Cool Cool Rider - The Roots Of A Dancehall Don (2004) Kingston To King Of The Dancehall (2005) Its Ah! Beenie (riddim mixtape) (2006) Undisputed (2006) [edit] Singles "Dude" with Ms Thing "Who Am I" "Hmm Hmm" "King of the Dancehall" "Girls dem Suga" with Mya "We Set the Trend" "Dancehall Champion" with Kevin Lyttle "Girls" with Akon (2006) UK #47 [appearance on] I'm Serious - T.I. [edit] References ^ http://www.yardflex.com/archives/000285.html [edit] External links Official site Template:-music Beenie Man at MusicBrainz LIFEbeat cancels Beenie Man concert The Independent article http://www.whaddat.com/ye/jeremy.html Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beenie_Man"