Undisputed [PA]

Performer: Beenie Man
Artist: D Angel; Randy; Voltio
Engineer: Troyton Rami; Lynch
Producer: Troyton Rami
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: A few years after declaring himself "King of Dancehall," Beenie Man reaffirms his place at the top of the dancehall game with the manifesto that is his 2006 album, UNDISPUTED. With beat work from dancehall giants Don Corleon and Tony Kelly as well as hip-hop superproducer Scott Storch, Beenie commands each track with more than enough lyrical swagger and braggadocio to challenge any of his ragamuffin peers. UNDISPUTED also features appearances from Akon, Lady Saw, Randy, Brooke Valentine, and Voltio. The proper follow-up to Beenie Man's excellent 2004 release Back to Basics falls just short of its predecessor if only because it doesn't have a track to match the wonderful "Dude" and it feels a lot more thrown together. Course, it is thrown together with a couple new numbers scattered among a lot of previously released cuts from the past couple years, but chances are, if you aren't a singles-collecting dancehall fanatic, they're new to you. With so many aggressive, swaggering club tracks to choose from, Undisputed will sound relentless to a fault to dancehall newcomers, yet there's barely any filler and Beenie brings it with every performance. The slick tracks with producer Scott Storch ("Dutty Wine Gal") and crooner Akon ("Girls") are satisfying, but the freewheeling Beenie is on fire when challenged by the more skeletal, Jamaica-sourced production of "Chacka Dance" and "My World" featuring Lady Saw. The pounding, hooky "Hmm Hmm" is infectious even if you can't keep up with his rapid delivery and patois dialect, and the massive club track "Heart Attack" playfully brings the party over one of dancehall's most techno riddims ever, the "Global" riddim. It would be a challenge for anyone to sort so much fire in a more cohesive way, so take Undisputed as a snapshot of Beenie's exciting work circa 2005-2006 and break it off in bite size chunks for best effect. ~ David Jeffries

Spin (p.76) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Relying on savvy Jamaican producers and his own rapid-fire wit, he once again slyly imbues irresistible club beats with infectious bad-boy charisma." Entertainment Weekly (p.79) - "The hardcore dancehall cuts are thrilling..." -- Grade: B- Q (p.136) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "The bouncing ragga rhythms of 'Hmm Hmm', klaxon horns of 'Dutty Wine Gal' featuring R&B singer Brooke Valentine, and lightning-quick chat on 'Jamaican Ting' are thrillingly energetic."

Future ruling ragga DJ Beenie Man cut his first single at the age of 8, and by the time he was 10 had cut a full album with producer Bunny Lee. After a period of woodshedding, he returned to regular recording in the early 90s. In 1994 he began scoring a series of super-hot hits in Jamaica with a number of different producers, a practice that continues to the present day. His wittily inventive vocal delivery could rock the gangsta contingent, but he has always measured the ruff 'n' tuff vibe with a balance of contemporary lovers rock and the occasionally requisite humor.

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