2 years ago fans of Beenie Man were treated to what was one of his finest albums in a very long time, Back To Basics. B2B was a 15 track nearly totally dancehall smash of an album which featured 2 of Beenie's biggest hits Dude and King of the Dancehall.

Now just 2 years later he returns with an attempt to follow up on that fantastic album. While definitely whats going on, on Undisputed is more than interesting, this is one of those cases where whats going on outside of the studio is even more interesting. Amidst rumors of leaving his longtime mangers, Shocking Vibes and splitting with his longtime band (and the best backing band in d'hall) Ruff Kutt, and his marriage to a model who just happens to be the ex of his decade+ long rival Bounty Killa. Everything is crazy for Beenie Man!

And while some may question his acts outside of the studio (especially if he really fired Ruff Kutt!), his actions inside the studio are becomming less and less questionable. Undisputed is not as good as Back to Basics, not at all. But when you just take the artist's part of it all, Beenie's flow hasn't lost a cut at all.

The best tune here is probably the first JA single, Hmm Hmm, the song is the big sounding vibe that was found on King of the Dancehall from B2B, not surprisingly both are produced by the brilliant Tony Kelly. The biggest hits here which were previously released are Heart Attack and the MASSIVE Come Again over Vendetta's Sweat riddim. The flow on Come Again is something out out of a Papa San/Twista lyric handbook, flat out brilliant! And definitely one of the best songs on the album.

Also check My World featuring longtime spar Lady Saw which features the best hook on the album outside of Hmm Hmm (there are HIS/HER choruses!), the two always make a good team and My World ranks up there with the best of them. Also, Set You Free is more an old school (at least melody-wise) sounding vibe over a Black Chiney riddim. And his tune Beenie Man is at least interesting because it features his wife, D'Angel singing the hook, and the flow is of course masterful.

All that being said, the musically most interesting tune on all of Undisputed is the title track. The song features a wicked wicked sampling of Conroy Smith's Dangerous (pat yourself on the back if you remember the original). Undisputed is a fine fine tune, and credit goes to the continuously brilliant Black Shadow.

There are missteps here: I'm not too fond of the second single, Girls with Akon or the Storch produced Dutty Wine Gal, Storch's other production, Jamaican Ting isn't a very strong tune either, however, it is ultimately saved because of the sickly flow Beenie builds around it (especially the last verse!), and the reggaeton tune Fire. . . NO! (and on a sidenote, how do you not put Wi Set Di Trends on this one?)

Overall, however, the good here far outweighs the bad, and the bad even isnt that bad. Beenie Man is as sharp as ever, proving he is one of the few acts who could probably write a full album in his sleep. Glad to see him back, glad to see Lady Saw with him, and this album will appeal to many of the same crowd that liked B2B, there are no obvious crossover attempts (even with Storch on board) and its a fine fine effort from the Undisputed King of Dancehall.

(and should Virgin choose not to renew him, expect Atlantic to sign him the next day)

This album is just not Beenie Man's best work. I found this album to be missing some crucial tracks (We Set The Trend, Swing Eh Weh, Jamaican Style) and a few more. Anyway, there def are some real good tracks on there, such as heart attack, hmm hmm, beenie man, but he still fails to nail it. The reggaeton song was a very bad idea, it just doesn't flow with the album. I was expecting big things from Undisputed, but didn't get what I thought I would.

hello.

since Back to Basics which was brillient i waited for another album from beenie. after he released a few Very tight mixtapes he got to this. i am very happy cus this is tight as hell.

all the songs are good, nothing isnt bad, but the reggaeton thing sucks. but still i love this album and i am happy he is back.

After "Dude" and "Back to Basics", Beenie Man lay claim to the title King of Dancehall and with good reason. But he didn`t stop there. The ace deejay went on to record a series of blistering dancehall smashes during 2004, 2005, and early 2006 which set the dancehall on fire and galvanized his claim as dancehall emperor. The release of Undisputed was eagerly awaited. However, while it is a plausible package, it does little to display the full worth of the artist, failing to include very little of his most popular recent work, a lot of which was still in the pre-release stage and was anticipated to be included here. It almost seems calculated to downplay the hardcore nature of probably the most versatile dancehall DJ around.

FIRST THE OBVIOUS STRENGTHS...

Absolute hits which are included are "Come Again" and "Heart Attack". Driving, intricate dancehall beats on the two tracks lend extra shine to Beenie`s flawless delivery which, by the way, is everywhere on the album. These two are straight fire.

Beenie Man and D`Angel team up to deliver "Beenie Man", one of his best tunes, but which is sabotaged by a weak hook sung by Angel.

'Hmm Hmm' is a known and proven club-banger...enough said.

Other good ones are "Chaka Dance" a remixed version of a the original "Chaka Chaka" done in 2004, and which acheives the same frenzied effect as the original that can make parties go wild.

NOW TO THE INTRIGUING STUFF...

"Welcome to My World" and "Undisputed" are in a class by themsleves. Beenie takes time to deliver a different flavor on these two and also on "My Woman". Musically 'My World' is miles ahead. 'My World' is a classic sleeper track which gets off to a slow start with Lady Saw, comes into its own quickly, and by the end it`s begging for a rewind. On my first listen I skipped past it; didn`t impress me. A second listen and I was humming it. A third listen and I couldn`t get the beat out of my head for days. What makes it even more clever is the couple well-veiled references to his rival Bounty Killer.

AND THE REST...

Again, Beenie`s delivery is great throughout the album, but weak lyrics and unimpressive beats dog him in tunes like 'Girls', with Akon, 'Jamaican Ting', 'Duty Wine Gal' and 'Walk Out'. Those are among his worst tunes on any album I think. How those songs earned a place on an international release from the same artist who did Art and Life is beyond me. The man has so much hit material he doesn`t need fillers. Something just doesn`t make sense. Oh, and 'Set You Free' is just ok.

'Fire' is of course Beenie`s experiment in reggaeton, and it works. At least for me. And I HATE reggaeton. I wonder if people who really like reggaeton like this track, because Beenie does the job of keeping it a lot more dancehall than reggaeton-sounding. After all, original is original.

So there is more to like, than not to like, and more to dance than to stand still, but I cant help but compare this package to what I know this "Bulletproof" DJ who "Set Di Trend" is capable of.

Beenie Man's music encourages people to kill gays. More than 30 gays have been killed in Jamaica, where he comes from. His music has lots of influence there. In some cases mobs sang his anti-gay songs while they killed a black man, who might have been gay. The right of "free speech" is limited by criminal laws on "incitement to violence", but the boundary is fuzzy. When asked to apologize and change his ways, Beenie Man wrote a song about how he would not apologize ("No Apology", 2005). All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing. I suspect that the world would not "do nothing" if white men were getting killed. Please think about who you want to support with your money.