“Girls Dem Sugar” is Beenie Man’s boast that he is the sweetness the women want.
The song is a romantic, flirtatious brag from one of dancehall’s biggest crossover stars. The chorus pairs the title phrase with a second claim: Beenie Man calls himself the girls’ world class lover.
Pharrell Williams came up with that chorus, according to the reggae star. The track is by Jamaican deejay Beenie Man featuring American singer Mya, and it came out in 2000.
This explainer covers where the song came from, what the lyrics say, and why the title became part of Beenie Man’s identity.
Song Facts at a Glance
- Release date: September 14, 2000 in the United States as the second single from Davis 2000 studio album Art and Life
- Recorded: 1999, on the Virgin label, per the song’s Wikipedia entry
- Producer: The Neptunes
- Writers: Beenie Man, Pharrell Williams, and Chad Hugo. The Wikipedia infobox also lists Cleveland Browne; Wycliffe Johnson among the songwriters.
- Genre: Reggae fusion; R&B
The Story: Pharrell’s Idea to Rework “Sim Simma”
“Girls Dem Sugar” grew out of an earlier Beenie Man hit. The track was inspired and conceptualized from his 1997 hit single “Who Am I (Sim Simma)”.
That 1997 song was produced by Jeremy Harding and reached No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart and was his first top 40 hit in the UK. A 2026 profile says that song’s hook was inspired by Missy Elliott.
Beenie Man has said many times that the remake was not his idea. In a 2014 interview with BET.com he said: “We got in the studio with the Neptunes.
It was not my idea; it was Pharrell’s”. In the same interview he said Pharrell “had this great idea to remake “Who Am I (Sim Simma)”.
A 2020 DancehallMag report tells it the same way. It says Pharrell approached Beenie with the idea of spinning his 1997 single Sim Simma even adapting a few of the song’s catch phrases. The team subsequently added Mya and her syrupy drifts to create the smash hit.
Discogs lists an earlier recording with the same title. According to the site, the original dancehall version of ‘Girls Dem Sugar’ was released in 1996 via Shocking Vibes over an adapted version of the ‘Punanny’ rhythm track. By contrast, the version released via Virgin / VP Records in 2000 is more in the style of RnB / hip hop.
The Lyrics Explained
Every line of the chorus opens with the “Sim Simma” call from the 1997 hit. Beenie Man’s sources credit Pharrell with writing it. Beenie Man described the chorus to BET.com and said, “that’s how it was put together”.
Across the chorus, Beenie Man calls himself the girls’ sugar and their world class lover. He praises women’s shape and figure and says he is the man the girls admire, according to published lyric transcriptions.
Put simply, “sugar” works as a metaphor. He is saying he is what women crave, and the chorus spells that out by pairing the word with “lover.”
The song opens with Beenie Man’s scat-style ad-libs. In the intro he also announces that he and Mya are on the track and credits the Neptunes with making a hit, according to lyric transcriptions.
DancehallMag wrote in 2020 that the song made his tagline “zagga zow, ziggy zow, zagga zow,” a signature style of his brand.
Mya sings the R&B counterpoint. She promises devotion: she would take the stars from the sky and do anything if she could be his girl, per lyric transcriptions.
Her part flips the song’s point of view. Beenie Man brags about being wanted, and Mya plays a woman who wants him.
In the second verse Beenie Man plays a familiar Jamaican character. He tells a rival man that he is the “John Mind” while Beenie is the “Joe Grind.”
He says the other man gives the woman money while he wins her over on the dance floor, and that she thinks of the rival only while he is at work, according to lyric transcriptions.
In Jamaican Patois, Joe Grind refers to the man on the side. He keeps a safe distance from the boyfriend or husband, but knows who they are.
Jamaicans.com, in a 2025 article, notes that ‘Joe Grind’ are more than 20 years old as slang. The line fits the song’s theme: Beenie Man casts himself as the charmer women are drawn to, even when they are with someone else.
Chart Performance and Awards
In the U.S., the single achieved minor successes on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart; peaking at No. 54 and No. 16 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It did better abroad, where it peaked at No. 13 in the United Kingdom.
The song is often called “Grammy-winning,” but the award went to the album. At the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards held in 2001, the album won a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album. Beenie Man links the song to that win himself.
Speaking about the track in 2014, he said, “And we got a Grammy Award for it.” A 2026 profile says that after earning three nominations in a row, Beenie finally won a Best Reggae Album Grammy in 2001 for Art and Life.
In 2020, DancehallMag reported that the song ranked number 84 on Billboard’s list of the 100 greatest songs of 2000.
The same outlet said it was included on Billboard’s 12 Best Dancehall & Reggaeton Choruses of the 21st Century at No. 7.
How the Title Became Beenie Man’s Nickname
The song gave Beenie Man a lasting alias. DancehallMag wrote in 2020 that the song afforded him the name “The Girls Dem Sugar”. His Wikipedia biography lists The Girls Dem Sugar among his other names, next to Ras Moses and The Doctor.
It was also part of his U.S. breakthrough. During the late 1990s, Beenie Man began his conquest of America with the hits, “Romie”, “Who Am I”, and “Girls Dem Sugar”.
Mya’s Side of the Collaboration
For Mya, the song came between two singles. Her discography lists it after “Best of Me, Part 2” and before “Free.” The song was also released on the perfect edition of Mýa’s fifth studio album, Sugar & Spice (2008).
The two have performed it together live. DancehallMag reported that at Reggae Sumfest 2011, Mya then later graced the stage with her longtime friend and the Girls Dem Sugar, King Beenie Man to perform their hit song.
Other artists have looked back to the song too. Mya’s later single “Whine” echoed the nostalgia of the singer’s classic collaboration “Girls Dem Sugar” (2000) with Beenie Man.
The 2026 Reunion: “Don’t Rush”
Beenie Man and Mya teamed up again in 2026. His album Eminence was released August 20, 2026 via Billboard King Records and was produced by Kemar McGregor.
Apple Music calls the track a reunion: “Don’t Rush” nods overtly to a sultry Janet Jackson smash. A September 2026 profile said the pair sounded fresher than ever 26 years after their first collab, “Girls Dem Sugar.”
Why “Girls Dem Sugar” Still Matters
The song pulled a Jamaican dancehall hook into an R&B production by one of the era’s leading production teams.
Apple Music describes Art and Life as the album that proves his crossover appeal as he teams up with key figures from the rap and R&B worlds, where Mýa helps turn “Girls Dem Sugar” into a sexy, shimmering anthem.
More than 25 years later, the title is still Beenie Man’s nickname, and his 2026 reunion with Mya is still measured against it.
