Beenie Man did not expect a number one. “When I get a number one in the world, that is not a natural feeling,” he said. “It is like you’re driving and somebody lick you with dem car and you’re like, ‘What the hell happened?’ It’s unexpected and phenomenal at the same time.”
His new album Eminence has held the No. 1 spot on the US iTunes All Genres chart for three consecutive days, beating out The Game’s The Documentary III and Sam Smith’s Hazel Eyes.
The iTunes All Genres chart pulls together daily sales across every category on Apple’s platform, making it one of the most competitive rankings in digital music.
The project cost more than US$400,000 and took fourteen months to complete, with producer Kemar “Flava” McGregor steering the ship from start to finish.
“The entire concept was my concept,” McGregor said, describing the process as one built on experimentation, deep research and a lot of trial and error.
McGregor bought vinyl records from every artist featured on the album, studied their styles, and then adjusted the swing and character of the drums to fit each collaborator.
He also spent weeks hunting down plug-ins and software capable of recreating sounds from the 1990s and early 2000s.
A lot of time and effort went into this album, and the musical chemistry with Beenie Man was out of this world,” he said.
Beenie Man came to McGregor with a specific wish list from the jump. “I told Kemar McGregor that I needed Rick Ross and T.I. on the album,” he recalled.
“He said he could do it, and I was like, ‘What?!'” T.I. reportedly did not ask for a direct payment, but requested a US$200,000 radio budget for his song instead.
The album blends reggae, dancehall, hip hop and R&B, and Beenie Man is deliberate about what era he is reaching back toward. “I don’t feel like me a do dancehall; I am making dancehall in a different format,” he explained. “I am bringing nostalgia. I am bringing back the feeling of the ’90s and the 2000s because, if you go into the new format, you can get lost.”
Several tracks on Eminence echo the crossover energy of Snow’s Anything for You, Ini Kamoze’s Here Comes the Hotstepper and The Notorious B.I.G.’s Juicy.
McGregor even commissioned Shane O to write King Steppa after broadcaster Colin Hines recounted the history behind Ini Kamoze’s classic, originally produced by Philip “Fatis” Burrell.
One rule McGregor enforced throughout the entire recording process was no freestyles. “If I called him and told him he needed to re-record six songs, we would book Dean Fraser’s studio and do them over,” McGregor said. “No complaints. He did them until he got them right.” Beenie Man and McGregor split their sessions between Jamaica and Florida, frequently working out of saxophonist Dean Fraser’s studio.
The album’s momentum has carried over into the iTunes Reggae chart, where multiple tracks have charted simultaneously. 305/876 featuring Renata and Rick Ross reached No. 10, Don’t Run featuring Mya landed at No. 23, and Make Out featuring Ashanti and T.I. appeared at No. 51.
The renewed attention has also pushed older Beenie Man classics back up the chart, with Who Am I climbing to No. 52 and Girls Dem Sugar reaching No. 57.
Beenie Man celebrated the chart news during his birthday weekend in the United States, where he served as best man at a friend’s wedding before heading to New York for a private cruise around Manhattan and dinner with close celebrity friends.
His favourite track on the album is Hat Tip with Rick Ross and Rotimi. “I love the intro and the melodies,” he said. “They remind me of the quality that the greatest combination songs in the world have, instant danceability and familiarity.”
Beenie Man won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2001 for Art and Life and has picked up four career nominations total, including a nod at the 2024 ceremony for Simma.
Early Grammy buzz is already circling Eminence, and McGregor’s Billboard King Records label is clearly pushing for international reach with the budget to back it up.
