After Two Decades, Beenie Man Still Has Passion for Music
When you’re talking with Beenie Man, his enthusiasm for his music shines through the conversation.
“Music is my everyday life,” he tells andPOP. “If I’m thinking about the kids, I’m thinking about music. I get inspiration just from watching a movie. That’s what I do. I live for music. It’s everything I do.”
He’s 34 years old, yet Beenie Man has been making music for over 25 years. In spite of his obvious enthusiasm for his career, Beenie Man still finds it humbling and amazing to know that he is still on top of the reggae and dancehall music scenes after all these years.
“It always amazes you every time you move from one step in life to another; it always amazes you,” he says, adding that it also amazes him that his career has lasted longer than most new reggae artists have been alive.
“I’ve been doing this since before these kids were even born and they come up and they sing and they become a part of this thing and you’re still there. You’re still making music, you’re still on top of the game too. You’re not really an old artist, you’re still making a number one song, you’re still closing all of these shows, so it’s amazing,” he says.
And he’s ready to continue his impact on August 29, the day his latest album, “Undisputed,” is scheduled to hit stores.
“People are the bosses and you are the employee, so you were employed to make music for the people. If you don’t make good products, you don’t get paid.”
-Beenie Man on making music
Beenie Man’s career has taken him around the world twice, and he easily names the places that he’s been: China, Thailand, Japan, among many others. He thinks that going to a place where English is not even spoken, yet his fans are singing along to his songs, is mind blowing.
“They don’t speak English but they speak reggae. This is great. You go to Japan, you see all these Japanese people rocking and singing along. And when you figure out that you have broken all of these language barriers and people are turning out to your shows, that feeling is not something that you can trade for nothing else,” he says.
Beenie Man says his inspiration comes from just about everywhere and that the secret to his success and longevity is to be ahead of the crowd on music. He goes into the dancehalls, picks a beat and then will write three songs to it before he finally chooses the one that sticks.
“You don’t try to fit yourself into the group, you try and put yourself above the group, so how are you going to do that? You’re going to make songs that people want to hear, you’ve got to say things that people are afraid to say. This is what you do, you get in the mind of the people, because people are the bosses and you are the employee, so you were employed to make music for the people. If you don’t make good products, you don’t get paid,” he says.
Beenie Man pauses when asked what he would be doing if he wasn’t a musician.
“I don’t even think about it,” he says, though adding that he might have been a soccer player because he loves the sport.
Almost as soon as the words come out of his mouth, he pauses again and realizes that a soccer player usually only plays professionally until he is 34 – his current age.
“So I’d be a retired soccer player,” he muses.
That leads into a discussion about this year’s World Cup, which Beenie Man says was the best one since 1978. His infatuation with the sport is almost as overwhelming as his passion for music, as he begins to go through this year’s event as well as nearly every event over the last 28 years.
Discussing Canada’s national soccer team, which didn’t make the Cup this year, Beenie Man is quick to point out that Canada did have a team in the World Cup at one time, and they did pretty good. I tell him that we need to get the ball rolling on a national team again for the World Cup before Beenie Man points out that Canada knows its priorities when it comes to sports.
“No one,” he says, “messes with Canada and their hockey.”
