How Sim Simma’s Controversial Lyrics Helped To Streamline Beenie Man’s Global Success 

Dancehall veteran Beenie Man owes his four decades of success to incredible work ethic and a penchant for causing controversy every now and then. That’s the case with many of his hits including the international smash Who Am I, better known as Sim Simma, that essentially launched him on his prolific, Grammy-winning trajectory. Culturally, the ’90s were a different context altogether, and back then fans and critics alike took issue with the tricky lines “how could I make love to a fellow? / In a rush, pass me the keys to my truck”.

Though he had the chance, and was even urged to change the lyrics by the track’s producer Jeremy Harding, Beenie Man saw the controversy as a major selling point; not only was he right, but he’s been handsomely rewarded.

“When me voice Sim Simma, the artiste them come inna the yard and start pass remarks bout the ‘how can I’. From thereso me a say controversy sell, because me and Jeremy there all morning and we no hear da part deh,” Beenie Man told The Gleaner. “All of a sudden de artiste dem come now, them start hear parts whe no fe inna de song.”

“Me say Jeremy, if we change it, it a go look obvious say we a say we make love to fellow, which we do not. So ‘how can I make love to a fellow in a rush?‘ – leave it right there. ‘Pass me the keys to my truck/who am I, the girls them luck?/And I and I will make love to Precious‘,” Beenie Man explained.  “Any man whe no get dat don’t get it.”

Other than his typical defiance, the Romie deejay’s decision was likely influenced by the great difficulty he endured to secure the song. Beenie Man was a fan of Harding’s Playground Riddim that was burning up the airwaves in ‘97 with Sean Paul’s bedroom banger Infiltrate leading the charge. The nascent deejay was eager to voice on the popular riddim, and began readying his “based on a true story” bars for his big break.

“I came to Jamaica, have a brand new BMW and mi hear a rhythm weh mi like so mi start sing bout mi car and then things start go different,” he said. “The problem is I couldn’t find the key in the morning. My brother’s name is Simma, ‘Sim Simma, who’s got the keys to my Bimma?’… Dem couldn’t find it so mi drive the truck, ‘In a rush, pass mi di keys to my truck’,” Beenie Man said.

Beenie played around with many sources for his dream track – from latin to hip hop – and became so obsessed that he did the entire song in one take. He sampled lines from Wyclef Jean’s Guantanamera (Oh Guantanamera, you a killer!) and Luther Vandross’ Never Too Much (I tell myself I don’t want nobody else to ever love me), but a line from female lyricist Missy Elliot would lend the most steam to his storyline.

The rap queen’s latest at the time, a remake of I Can’t Stand the Rain, featured the line “beep beep, who got the keys to my jeep?”.  Beenie Man said, “So me a listen to the Missy and me say “sim simma, who got the keys to my Bimmer.”

Up until then, Beenie Man had never met Harding. The Bossman deejay has never shied away from adversity, however, and though ‘opportunity knocks only once’, the Maestro took it on himself to orchestrate the introductions. He and fellow Shocking Vibes affiliate Mankind went jogging through the producer’s neighborhood to set things in motion for the grand plan.

“Me ask him if him know where Jeremy Harding live. Me know bout Jeremy Harding as Sean Paul manager, but is not someone that I knew, really. Me is a man run like five to six in the morning. Me go check him an we run go up pon the hill an him say yo, a desso Jeremy live,” Beenie Man told the Gleaner.

Noting the unseemly hours, Beenie decided to ‘circle back’, freshened up and returned at 8 a.m. ready to record, adding that his deliberate delay didn’t help matters since “him never wake up anyways”.

Harding corroborated The Doctor’s story in a 2015 interview, and still sounded less amused than in the veteran’s version of events. “I heard a knocking one morning, and couldn’t believe when I saw Beenie Man sitting outside complaining about how long he had been banging down the door. Beenie had even written a tune already when he arrived at the studio to voice without any prior notice,” he told Whaddat.com.

The determined deejay had finally gotten his foot in the door, and Harding recalled how easily history was made that day.

“I turned on the equipment, and he went straight into the booth to record a perfect version of Who Am I in what seemed like one take.”

Not everyone would risk knocking on Harding’s door with their demands, but it seems the Slam deejay knew his destiny was on the other side. The track became a significant crossover success for Beenie Man, propelling his sound across the globe, and his image into the pages of Newsweek, Village Voice, Q Magazine and other major outlets of that era.

By the time VP Records debuted the upgraded, club-centric music video, the worldwide hit had been certified Gold. Globally, it peaked at No. 10 on the UK Singles Charts, No. 10 on the Canadian Singles Chart, No. 6 on the US Billboard’s Hot Rap Singles, and No. 15 on the Hot R&B Singles Chart.

On the strength of that one Billboard charting single, the Kingston native enjoyed several years of whirlwind success, most importantly headlining Reggae Sunsplash in 1998, and signing to US-based label, Virgin Records.

Having cracked all the international markets, next came the slew of global accolades such as a MOBO Award for Best International Reggae Act in 1998, and compilation credits including Reggae Gold 1998, Soca Gold 1998, Strictly The Best Vol. 21 and BET: Best of Rap City(1999).

American rapper Redman sampled Who Am I’s first line on his 1998 single I’ll Bee Dat: “Sim Simma, who got the keys to my Beemer?”, while rapper Nelly also alluded to the earworm chorus on his 2000 single Country Grammar: “Keys to my Beemer, man, holla at Beenie Man”.

Under his Virgin Records deal, Beenie released the album Art & Life which earned him his Grammy Award in 2000. The project featured the hypnotic Sim Simma reprise, Girls Dem Sugar with American songstress Mya. The Neptunes produced track featured a snippet of the original over a slick, stuttering beat and was well received internationally like its predecessor.

The single peaked at No. 13 in the UK, was No. 7 on Billboard’s 12 Best Dancehall & Reggaeton Choruses of the 21st Century, and ranked as No. 84 of Billboard’s 100 Greatest Songs of 2000.

Nearing the original song’s 25 year milestone, Beenie Man announced that his nineteenth studio album slated for release in 2021 will be titled Simma, a fitting nod to his surging presence in dancehall thanks to the smash hit. The heavy guest list so far includes Popcaan, Dre Island, Sean Paul, Shaggy, Bounty Killer, Dexta Daps, HoodCelebrityy, and Major Lazer.