Beenie Man celebrates birthday with ‘Eminence’ ruling US iTunes charts

International dancehall star Beenie Man has plenty to celebrate — and not just another trip around the sun.

He marked his birthday weekend with Eminence sitting at No. 1 on both the US iTunes All Genres and Reggae album charts, giving the Grammy-winning hitmaker another major career moment after more than four decades in music. The chart victory capped a whirlwind weekend for Beenie Man, who served as best man at his friend Dino’s wedding before travelling to New York. He celebrated his birthday on Sunday with a private cruise around Manhattan, followed by dinner at an upscale restaurant with his fiancée, Camille Lee, and a circle of celebrity friends.

Now he plans to shoot several music videos in the US as the Eminence campaign gathers momentum.

“When I get a number one in the world, that is not a natural feeling. It’s unimaginable,” Beenie Man said. “It just happens to you. It’s like you’re driving and somebody lick yu wid dem car and you’re like, ‘What the hell happened?’ It’s unexpected and phenomenal at the same time.”

Eminence debuted in the top position on the US iTunes All Genres albums chart for three consecutive days, fending off releases including The Game’s The Documentary III and Sam Smith’s Hazel Eyes. Unlike streaming charts, the iTunes rankings reflect paid digital downloads. The All Genres chart combines album sales across categories including pop, hip-hop, country and reggae into one overall ranking. For Beenie Man, the success represents the payoff from 14 months of recording, experimentation and painstaking revisions. The album began with a single collaboration.

“I did the first song with Etana, and she was eventually replaced with a next girl, Renata,” he explained. “It is after that we really started to work on the album and really go into the studio.” Beenie Man said that he had a singular vision centred around Eminence.

“I told [producer] Kemar McGregor that I needed Rick Ross and T.I. on the album. He said he could do it, and I was like, ‘What?!’ So we just started to vibe and make music.”

Among the project’s high-profile guests are Ross, Rotimi, Mya, Ashanti and T.I. Beenie Man singled out Hat Tip, featuring Ross and Rotimi, as his personal favourite.

“I love the intro and the melodies,” he said. “They remind me of a quality that the greatest combination songs in the world have: instant danceability and familiarity.”

That familiarity is central to Eminence. The album blends reggae, dancehall, R&B and hip-hop while drawing heavily from the sound and energy of the 1990s and early 2000s.

“I don’t feel like me a do dancehall — I am making dancehall in a different format,” Beenie Man said. “I am bringing nostalgia. I am bringing back the feeling of the ’90s and the 2000s because, if you go into the new format, yuh can lost.

“Mi ah bring back myself, yourself, your brother and my sister to what they and all dancehall fans really loved in that era.”

The album channels the crossover spirit of records such as Snow’s Anything for You remix, Ini Kamoze’s chart-topping Here Comes the Hotstepper and The Notorious B.I.G.’s Juicy. McGregor said experimentation was the driving force behind the album.

“Based on what has come out of Jamaica over the last 20 years, it seemed we were pushing a new sound. This is a return to the roots, but with a new flavour —a vibe of then and now,” he said. The producer said he invested more than US$400,000 in Eminence through his Billboard King Records label, to give the project international reach. He also said he paid dancehall artiste Shane O to write King Steppa after broadcaster Colin Hines inspired the concept by recounting the history behind Ini Kamoze’s Here Comes the Hotstepper and original producer, the late Philip ‘Fatis’ Burrell.

One non-negotiable rule shaped the sessions: no freestyling.

“I told Beenie Man, ‘No freestyles.’ Beenie is a legend and I admire his work ethic,” McGregor said. “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. That’s why the album came out so good.”

The album’s momentum has also revived interest in several Beenie Man classics. Who Am I, Girls Dem Sugar and Romie have all entered the charts.