It's a shame that this album's overall rating is being affected by those with a political agenda to push. All of the reviewers who've rated Beenie's albums here on Amazon with a "1" acknowledge their bias in their posts, one even going so far as to state that the "Music isn't half bad.....Beenie himself is aweful" (sic). Moreover, they never take the time to review each of Beenie's albums individually, but rather copy 'n' paste their same old tired tirade into each of his album review sections whether that album contains any anti-gay lyrics or not.
I do not condone violence or hate crimes against anyone, but let's not apply these standards selectively. Should we pan the albums of Jerry Lee Lewis because he married his underaged cousin? Should I slam the Rolling Stones based not on their musical talent, but rather because I personally find songs like "Brown Sugar" (about on old white man raping virginal, Black slaves, etc.) to be extremely offensive and disgusting? Should I dash across Amazon and give every one of Ted Nugent's albums a "1" because I disagree strongly with his views on animal rights and politics? Rate the music, not the man, people!!!
Moving on to the album itself, "Maestro" marked a crucial turning point in Beenie's career. This album constitutes the "King of the Dancehall's" first major attempt to crossover to an American/International audience. Many of the songs on this CD are the sort of tried and true dancehall bangers that those familiar with Beenie's work up to this point had come to expect, such as "Girls Dem Sugar", "Any Mr. Man", and "His-Story".
However, it is well-known that Beenie Man is a connoisseur of many genres of music, and this reality manifests itself on this album in spades. Beenie's love of hip hop, country, classical pop, r&b, ska, roots, classic rock, and traditional African vocal music courses throughout the track listings of this disc.
The "Maestro" introduction sets the tone for the rest of the album, casting Beenie Man as a faux-classical conductor with a spate of musical genres at his finger tips. On "Nuff Gal" he delves into a sort of Manhattan Transferesque coffee house jazz, on "Blackboard" he invokes the spirit of classical ska, complete with blaring accompaniment from an accomplished hornsman, on "Be My Lady" he evokes a pseudo 50s doo wop sound which would not seem out of place in a Jamaican revival of Grease, on "Oh Jah Jah" and "One Big Road" he seems to channel the spirit of his rootsy, sometime sparring partner Buju Banton, on "Jerusalem" he lapses into a heartfelt quasi-Nyabinghi chant, and on "In the Ghetto" he holds his own rhyming over a hip hop beat while collaborating with the Brooklyn-based MCs known as the Bush Babies.
Something tells me that if music were to take on human form, it would look something like Mr. Moses Davis, AKA Beenie Man!
Overall, this is a very solid album which easily earns a rating of roughly 4, but I'm going to go ahead and give it a 5 in order to offset some of the political "reviews" posted here which are dragging down Beenie's overall rating without being objective or giving his music a fair chance.
Please note that there are no anti-gay songs on this album.
October 27, 2007While I don't support any anti-gay messages or any bigotry against anyone for that matter, that has nothing to do with this album, which doesn't contain any anti-gay songs. I own every Beenieman album and at least 90% of his songs not on an album, and I can say that he rarely has negative gay lyrics. He got called out for that one song, and that has defined his reputation. Beenieman has long been rumored to be gay himself (mostly by Bounty Killa) and I wouldn't be surprised if these anti-gay lyrics are a feeble attempt to prove him self hetero. No excuse, that was very wrong, and he deserves the criticism he gets. Having said all that, this album is a masterpiece. Probably the best dancehall album ever. Beenieman offers up many different styles from jazzy "Nuff Gal" to the operaesque intro. From first to last, this album is strong. Many Moods of Moses gets more credit, but this album is stronger top to bottom. If you want to boycott Beenieman for some of his lyrics, that's your decision; but there is no doubt that this album is a 5 star album. I will say to defend eminem and criticise Beenieman is ridiculous. Eminem is an a-hole, no doubt about that. He hugged Elton John, so he's not a homophobe? Please. That's called damage control.
June 22, 2006 |  | The most homophobic artist alive |  |
People seem to look past Beenie Man's extremely homophobic lyrics. In the song "Damn", Beenie Man states "Well I'm think of a new Jamaica, me come to executve all of the gays". How can he get away with saying something like this. Eminem got so much attention for his homophobic lyrics on his sophomore album, but at least his lyrics weren't as serious and homocidal as this. Eminem just made jokes. Eminem kind of got the reputation of saying crazy things. Threatening to murder his wife, talking about raping his mother, people learned that Eminem was known for saying outrageous things that obviously shouldn't be taken seriously. Eminem is like a comedian, Beenie Man is not. Plus, who did we see perform with Elton John??? Who gave Elton John a big a** hug after their performance??? Beenie Mans seems much more convincing when his homophobic and homo-homicidal lyrics are heard. Beenie Man has recorded numerous songs about his homophobic views, which are much more offensive than anything Eminem has ever said. Another song that supports this, is Beenie Man's "Bad Man, Chi Chi Man", which suggests that you should be proud if you are hederosexual ("If you nun chi chi man wave your right hand and [NO!], if you nun lesbian, wave your right hand and [NO!]"). The following lyric, is percieved to me as him stating that a gay man is actually worse than a murderer, and murderers go to jail and become gay men ("Some boy will go a jail fi murda tun badman chi chi man"). The word "tun", if precieved differently, can give an entire new meaning. Does he mean "ton" or "turn". If he means "ton", he could saying that a man should have the right to kill a "ton" of people who happen to be gay, and not go to jail. In of the verses he gives in the homosexual sterotypes (And yuh seh chi chi man have one special code / Now we see yuh inna video and a naked man pose / Yuh all a gi him money fi tek off him clothes). What the hell is this all about? All gay men aren't porno stars and strippers, what the hell. Out of all the gay people I know, I don't know ANY that are strippers or porno stars. All of these lyrics are much more offensive then Eminem jokingly saying "I was only checking the mail...get it..checking the male". Beenie Man is obviously a closed-minded homophobe, just like our president. I suggest to anyone who is NOT homophobic, AVOID Beenie Man's music. I still can't figure out how he was able to collaborate with Janet Jackson, whom has completely opposite views, as you can here in here song "Free Xone" in which she supports gay people and encourages people to be who they are and not follow any rules, as well as encouraging people to be excepting and open-minded of others. Janet must have been anaware of Beenie Man's homophobic, closed-minded, and intolerant views when she collaborated with him, on the song "Feel It Boy". Beenie Man has also collabrated with people like Wyclef Jean, Lil' Kim, Mya, Jon B., and others. All who I'm pretty sure aren't homophobic, but have no proof, I just hope that they aren't, and don't get the vibe that are. Yeah, so Lil' Kim says "faggot" and stuff, but she doesn't hate gay people. I read an article about how the gay community is so found of Lil' Kim, and she was interviewed about and didn't seem to have any type of problem with gay people. I know for a fact that neither Jon B. or Mya is homophobic. But anyway, that's kind of irrelevant, I just find it interesting that he's collaborated with all these people, when he's saying this crazy things that none of these artists agree with. AVOID BEENIE MAN!!!
May 26, 2005| | | Hate filled garbage......I can do without it | |
If you like listening to an overtly macho bigot rattle on about how much he hates everyone and how uncomfortable he is with his own sexuality then this CD might work for you. I don't care for that kind of negativity.
December 6, 2004this cd was one of the best of beenie only a new reggae listener would give this less than 4 stars the songs are classic lighter songs
April 25, 2002More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(6 reviews)