Beenie Man

Beenie Man (born Anthony Moses Davis August 22, 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica), is among the most popular reggae entertainers and is a well established dancehall artist.



Beenie Man was involved in the music industry from a young age when he won the Tastee Talent contest in 1980. Only one year later (1981), when he was eight years old, he recorded a single, "Too Fancy", with record producer "Junjo" Lawes. By 1983, Beenie Man was recording with heavyweight DJs, such as Dillinger and Fathead and released his debut album, The Invincible Beenie Man: The Ten Year Old DJ Wonder and the single "Over the Sea". After such a prodigious start the artist's career lost momentum in the middle of the eighties decade. Beenie Man continued performing and honed his craft beside the then dominant dancehall figures including Ninjaman, Admiral Bailey and Shabba Ranks. He found his artistic home at the Shocking Vibes studio where he continued to record singles with only moderate success towards the end of the decade.


Feud with Bounty Killer



In 1991 Beenie Man was booed off stage at a show celebrating the visit of Nelson Mandela. After this crushing event Beenie Man renewed his desire for success, and at the age of nineteen the album Cool Cool Rider was released largely unnoticed. He still continued to pursue dancehall stardom by releasing a slew of tunes to start the decade. It was at the same time that a notable artist from Seaview community in Jamaica emerged bearing the name Bounty Killer. Both deejays found success with violent lyrics and hostile delivery and soon accused each other of plagiarism. In 1993 at the very popular show Sting, Beenie Man and Bounty Killer met in a lyrical battle that has become legendary in dancehall history. Their feud continued on the air with each artist counteracting the other's songs. In 1995, Beenie Man and Bounty Killer appeared to settle their differences on the air by actually signing a peace treaty. The album Guns Out was soon released, featuring tunes from both deejays and bearing a photograph from their legendary battle on stage. This was followed by a single, "No Mama No Cry", a rehash of the Bob Marley classic "No Woman No Cry", telling Bounty Killer, "Fuck off man I don't want no beef", another popular Deejay. The two artists soon found enough common ground to perform together on a number of local shows in the mid nineties.



Partially as a result of prodding from his producers, Sly and Robbie, Beenie Man soon converted to the Rastafari movement.



In 1994, he was signed by Island Records and released the critically acclaimed album Blessed.



The truce between the two artists proved to be short-lived. In the late nineties, as their popularity in Jamaica and internationally grew, neither deejay seemed willing to admit that the other was as worthy of the spotlight. Verbal attacks on each other were again delivered in interviews, studio releases and live performances. Now going fourteen years, the war of words between Beenie Man and Bounty Killer continues today as one of the longest rivalries in the history of music. In 2006 Beenie Man married D'Angel, who is Bounty Killer's ex-girlfriend.