World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

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Beenie Man

Artist. Dancehall

Active
1981-present
Sunrise
August 22, 1973, Kingston, Jamaica
Also known as
The Doctor, King of the Dancehall, Little Beenie Man

Beenie Man was born Moses Anthony Davis on August 22, 1973, in Kingston, and started young enough that the nickname stuck: he recorded "Too Fancy" for Henry "Junjo" Lawes at about eight years old and was known on the circuit as Little Beenie Man through his early teens. His uncle Sydney Knowles, a drummer, encouraged him.

His adult career ran through the digital dancehall of the late 1980s and the 1990s, recording for King Jammy, Donovan Germain, Patrick Roberts, and Jeremy Harding among many others. The Rough Guide calls him a wittily inventive deejay with a gift for coining a telling phrase from dancehall slang, and his breakthrough, the anti-gun "No Mama No Cry" (1994), made him the hottest deejay in Kingston and began a run of singles for virtually every top producer in the city; by 2000, it says, he had scored more Jamaican number ones than Marley. Its pick of his albums, Many Moods of Moses, it praises for variation and imagination, from Sly and Robbie's "Beardman Shuffle" riddim on "Foundation" to Bobby Digital's take on Nyabinghi drumming in "Kette Drum."

"Who Am I" (1997), built on Jeremy Harding's Playground riddim, was the international breakthrough. "Girls Dem Sugar" with Mya, "Feel It Boy" with Janet Jackson, and "King of the Dancehall" followed, and Art and Life won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2001.

His rivalry with Bounty Killer ran through the 1990s in clash performances and answer records, some staged and some not, and shaped the competitive character of the period for both men.

Homophobic lyrics recorded earlier in his career led to cancelled shows and sustained protest in Britain and North America during the 2000s. He signed the Reggae Compassionate Act in 2007 and has publicly retracted some of the material, though the issue has continued to follow him.

He has recorded dozens of albums and several hundred singles across four decades and still performs under the title he gave himself, King of the Dancehall.

Last updated November 1, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Barrow and Dalton give "b. Moses Davis, 1972, Kingston": Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 335.
  2. Barrow and Dalton say he "voiced his first record for 'Junjo' Lawes when he was only 8 years old" and three years later cut an album for Bunny Lee, The Invincible Beenie Man: The Ten Year Old Deejay Wonder, before years spent on the Unlimited and Black Star sound systems: Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 335. Wikipedia dates "Too Fancy" to 1981: "Beenie Man," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beenie_Man.
  3. Wikipedia says Knowles "played drums for Jimmy Cliff": "Beenie Man," Wikipedia.
  4. Barrow and Dalton date his link with Patrick Roberts's Shocking Vibes to 1989 and list hits for Bobby Digital, King Jammy, Jack Scorpio, Dave Kelly, and others after his 1994 breakthrough in Jamaica with "No Mama No Cry": Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 335-37. Bradley names him among the artists voiced at Bobby Digital's studio: Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 524.
  5. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 336-37.
  6. Barrow and Dalton note that the Harding-produced "Who Am I" took him into the UK pop chart: Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 337. Wikipedia dates it to 1997 and gives a UK peak of number 10 in 1998: "Beenie Man," Wikipedia.
  7. On the Mya and Janet Jackson duets, "King of the Dancehall," and the Grammy for Art and Life, "Beenie Man," Wikipedia. Barrow and Dalton describe Art and Life as his first album for Virgin, with guests including Wyclef Jean, and note Janet Jackson among the guests on Tropical Storm: Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 337.
  8. Barrow and Dalton trace the feud to 1992, when Bounty Killer picked up Beenie Man's catchphrase "People Dead," and say it continued "in spite of several public reconciliations": Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 336; on their joint album Guns Out, 335.
  9. Wikipedia notes his removal from the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards after protests: "Beenie Man," Wikipedia.
  10. On the signing, "Reggae Acts Renounce Homophobia," NME, June 13, 2007, https://www.nme.com/news/music/beenie-man-2-1313370. Beenie Man soon disputed the signature, calling it "a ting from the promoters of Europe," while Peter Tatchell insisted the signatures were genuine: Yepoka Yeebo, "Peter Tatchell Stands by Beenie Man and Banton Signatures," PinkNews, July 26, 2007, https://www.thepinknews.com/2007/07/26/peter-tatchell-stands-by-beenie-man-and-banton-signatures/. On his 2012 apology, "Beenie Man," Wikipedia.

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