at a glance...

Hometown: Kingston, Jamaica
First recordings: 1986

Members:
Beenie Man -toasting, singing, composing
Sly Dunbar -drum programming, instruments
Steely & Clevie -music/production
Wyclef Jean -rapping, singing
Arturo Sandoval -trumpet
Kelis -singing
Mya -singing
Devonte -singing
The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams & Chad Hugo) -production, musicks
Patrick Roberts & the Shocking Vibes Team -production/music

Bands in the family :
The Fugees, Wyclef Jean, Dean Frazer, Kelis, Sly & Robbie, Bunny "Striker" Lee, Luciano, Barrington Levy, Cherry Poppin' Daddies

Notes:
Moses Davis' ticket out of the Waterhouse ghetto tenements was supposed to be soccer, but he broke his foot and had to fall back on his incredible musical talent. After consistently whipping everyone's ass in DJ contests as a child prodigy, he recorded The Invisible Beenie Man, Ten Year Old Boy Wonder with Bunny "Striker" Lee and sold skazillions of copies all over the reggae world, though single, "Who Am I?" from 1997's The Many Moods of Moses. "Beenie Man" means "little fella," but it's an ironic nickname at this point, as he is a big, tall, good-looking guy with undeniable microphone skills, a voice that can go from tough guy to lover man in a half-second, with a vision that encompasses ragga dancehall stylee, more traditional reggae, r&b, soul, and Zulu harmonies; hell, he even had a hit in Nashville with "Ain't Gonna Figure it Yet." (Now if he could only stop feuding with Capleton and Bounty Killer....)

This record is just a party from beginning to end. It slams from beginning to end, all in all over an hour of great dancehall, reggae, and r&b music from a guy who, if there were any justice, would be as well-known here as in Kingston. But just saying that ain't gonna get you up off your couch, is it? So here is my list of high points from this fun album, in no particular order and completely at random.

1. The opener, "Analyze This," is one of the best sitting-at-a-stoplight-with-your-windows-rolled-down songs I've heard in many a year. At least it sounds great in my 1994 Saturn.

2. Wyclef actually manages to be a good collaborator on "Love Me Now" even though he is still smack-dab in the middle of one of the most obsessive love affairs of all time - with himself. Usually that really bugs me about Wyclef, but he's workin' it here and make no mistake about it.

3. The best couplet of the record: "Me love dem shape and figga/You know dey need dis nigga." I'm not supposed to write that, politically and all, but man it's a great couplet (from "Girls Them Sugar") and it's probably true.

4. Robert Christgau sez you can make a classic record just from chord changes, and at least two songs here fit the bill on that score: "Original Tune" and "Jamaica Way" are great music-themed jams that have great minor-chord things going on underneath the surface. It sounds so tough.

5. "Original Tune" has a really great recurring chorus hook of "No Daniel Boone." I don't know why, and it doesn't make any sense and it doesn't matter. I want a "No Daniel Boone" tattoo.

6. On "Original Tune" Beenie sounds like Busta Rhymes and Treach. On "Tumble" he toasts in Spanish while Arturo Sandoval lays down some great Cuban licks. On "Haters and Fools" he rocks a melody that sounds like Lisa M.'s "Ja-Rican Jive." All of it works.

7. There are seven different production teams on this record, and it still hangs together. The real talent is the guy on the microphone. That is so cool.

8. You get to hear Kelis when she's not screaming and Mya when she's not singing b.s. ballads to Sisqo.

9. This album will make Zekiya and Marina and Erica and Deon and all my old dancehall-loving students at Crossroads Junior High in New York City very happy, especially with Devonte singing on it. Rock on, kids, I miss ya. Study for those finals now. (They're all in college now).

10. It's about as great a party record as we're going to see this year. Do you remember party records? You know as soon as you put it on that people are going to dance and check each other out and start kissing folks they just met. Don't we all need this in our lives?