Cover Story from the latest Issue of Riddim Magazine

Beenie Man:

Trickster Of The Dancehall

Words: Ellen Koehlings & Pete Lilly

Photography: Carlington Wilmot

He has been repeatedly written off by his opponents. Haters have tried to pin a murder charge on him, gunned down his only real friend, attempted to smear the name of his fiancée, withheld songs from him and cancelled his shows, but he is too clever, too cunning and too resourceful to let anyone or anything stop him. Regardless of the personal and professional maelstroms he has faced, this dancehall trickster manages to magically reinvent himself and use the situations to propel his career forward. While his throne is much coveted, Beenie Man’s (self proclaimed) title as King of the Dancehall remains undisputed, even after 28 years in the music business.

“Suave, urbane and calculating, the African trickster acts with premeditation, always in control of the situation; though self-seeking, his social sense is sufficiently developed to enable him to manipulate others to his advantage.”

John W. Robert – From Trickster To Badman

„Though in a given cycle trickster will victimize any of his fellow creatures, he usually concentrates on a particular prey (...). The victim is always larger and therefore stronger; inevitably slow and dull-witted, often hard-working and honest.”

Susan Feldman – African Myths & Tales

With the summer heat sizzling in the low hundreds, we practically crawled through Manhattan’s dusty urban ravines until, sodden with perspiration, we were finally greeted by the uniformed doorman at 150 Fifth Avenue, the residence of the EMI/Capitol/Virgin/Blue Note record conglomerate. After showing our IDs, explaining our mission and mentioning who we wanted to see, we were given a tag bearing all the aforementioned information, placed them on our chests and were at last permitted to ride the elevator to the seventh floor. A colorfully tattooed promotional assistant was waiting and quickly ushered us into a tiny cubicle, bidding us to take a seat. This was our first chance to listen to the “Undisputed” finished product before meeting up with its creator Beenie Man; while the album is not as brilliant as “Many Moods Of Moses” (VP Records) it is not a disaster like his first effort for Virgin “Tropical Storm”. A number of his biggest recent hits including “Come Again”, with the deejay revisiting Papa San’s rapid-fire, no-breath-till-you’re-done style, the coronary-inducing “Heart Attack” on Fire Links’ “Global” riddim, the lumbering “Set You Free” on Black Chiney’s “Octane” riddim or the suggestive “Hmm Hmm” rub shoulders with the concessions demanded by a major record label like the duet with label mate Brooke Valentine, the ingratiating reggaeton tune “Fire” or the single extraction “Girls” featuring Akon. The exclusive “Jamaican Ting”, produced by Scott Storch, and “Undisputed”, an unexpectedly slow rub-a-dub title song, are both outstanding. However, the joyfully awaited “Dreaming Of You” featuring Alaine, is missing due to the unclear legal status of several samples, as is, quite inexcusably, “We Set The Trend/Trendsetter”.

 Why was “We Set The Trend/Trendsetter” omitted from your new album? It is one of the biggest tunes right now...

Yeah, it's a huge song. But the problem is it create a lot of havoc. I think, Dave Kelly and Baby Cham were a little bit scared about the song, so they sent lawyers up on us. They said, the riddim is too similar to the “85” and the song can't come out because they're trying to push the Baby Cham song (“Ghetto Story”). They’re cowards. Dave Kelly was supposed to make two songs for my album then I get to realize why it didn't work, because he is afraid of me. Me and Cham on the same beat – not going to happen (laughs).

 Yet Dave Kelly had one of his greatest hits with your “Dude”...

Well, that's the problem. He was hoping for Baby Cham to go through the gate with “Vitamin S”. But with me on the beat, (kisses his teeth), nah, it's not going to happen. So they bring lawyers down on us and Virgin. We could have fight it, because the beat ain't his beat, it's a King Jammy's beat. The melody is not his either, it’s from an old time dancehall song by Johnny Ringo. Me and Johnny Ringo used to deejay on the same sound system, so I got more ties to Johnny Ringo than Dave Kelly. And it's not like I went into this guy’s house and steal his wife. I didn't use Kelly’s lyrics, none of the words that I use is his. I’m talking about the full history of dancehall and he is talking about somebody else's story, ‘cause that's not how Dave Kelly or Baby Cham were brought up.

 Isn’t it?

That's not how they were brought up!

 In the RIDDM interview (in this issue), Cham talked about how he stole ballot boxes...

Yo, listen, he is lying in that whole entire song. Steal ballot boxes? Baby Cham? The guy is 27. Anybody who used to steal ballot boxes back in those days would have to be 32, 33 today. Now, this is the natural logics. In 1980, when the election was running, Baby Cham was two years of age. I'm talking about when ballot boxes used to be stolen back in the ‘80s, okay. The next election was 1986. Baby Cham was still a baby. The next election was in the ‘90s, when he was already a star. When did he get time to steal those ballot boxes? Come on!

Really and truly I get the idea for “Trendsetter” from his song. At the time when I wrote that song I heard it one time and I’m like that song is wrong, because it's not true! It's a fairy tale, that's what a story is – we live happily ever after. That's what he said in the song, he grow poor, he used to broke shop, his friend went to foreign, turn Al Capone, make heap of money and send in the money come give them. And they take the money and buy guns. This is what this song is all about. “We got the guns now. Them outta luck now. Me squeeze seven and the whole a dem a duck now, we have whole heap a extra clip and them get f**k now. Rah Rah...” That song is wrong, man. That's violence. That's telling little kids that when you grow up and go to America all you need to do is buy some guns and send them down, we take care of the s**t. That's what he's saying.

 But isn’t that the way it happened often enough?

It has happened like that before, yeah! But there's a lot of kids that change! A lot of people that went to America make money, come back and buy house and cars, employ kids and got a lot of jobs for a lot of people. Now you sing a song like that, music is very influential, you know, especially in the gangster world. Cham was talking about the community, where he’s from. It's a dangerous community, he's from Sherlock Crescent. Is a lot of gunmen live there. But his mum, her name is Mama Jenny, she is a woman that believe in her kids. So Damian Beckett, as we know him in Jamaica, was a good soccer player, that's what we know him for. I don't think Baby Cham has never ever written a song. Dave Kelly wrote every song that Baby Cham sing in his whole entire life – every song. Baby Cham only get a house when Dave Kelly ready for him to get a house and Dave Kelly tell him where to live and where to buy the house, what kind of vehicle he supposed to drive. Which man can tell me to do that? I make my own career, I live my own life and make my own decisions. I’m my own big man, Baby Cham is a robot. You can't talk to me about robot. You have to talk to me about artiste. Best we talk about Bounty Killer or anybody else that make his own career. Blessed.

 Okay, let’s talk about Bounty Killer. The temporary ceasefire between you two seems to be over once and for all.