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Always Bouncing Back

If the slogan “Shit Happens” had a spokesperson it could be dancehall superstar Beenie Man. His 2004 smash Back To Basics should have been a joyful exclamation point on a rich, varied, and controversial career. But the album was crafted in the months following a car accident in which Beenie sustained serious injuries; while he recovered, his longtime road manager and business partner was killed in a drive-by shooting. His new album, Undisputed, didn’t find him in a more peaceful frame of mind. He recorded it following the losses of both his older brother and younger sister to what he calls “freak accidents,” and yet another senseless murder claiming friend and dancehall personality Bogle. But don’t expect melancholy odes about those living in the sky. “You have to think about the people you love in a joyful way, not a sad or mournful way,” says Beenie.

For “The King Of Dancehall,” joyful equals doing what has always come naturally and celebrating life’s more explicit [“illicit”?] pleasures. Building on Basics, blatant cross-genre-hopping is kept to a minimum with Brooke Valentine (“Dutty Wine”), Akon (“Girls”), and Scott Storch (“Jamaican Ting”) blending in with the slick, electronic rhythms from heavyweights like Don Corleon and Tony Kelly. Beenie lays his game down quite flat all over “Hmm Hmm” and “Dreaming of You,” and playfully brags, “International models me dating,” on “Girls.” “My World” adds to the surprisingly ecstatic mood, with Beenie and Lady Saw running tings over Jon Jon’s sliding synths and staccato claps. “I’ve never been down or out or flopped,” Beenie says confidently. “For 13 years I’m standing firm.” Even when shit happens.

By Toshitaka Kondo
Photo by Steve Carty/Contour Photos