No one's ever questioned whether Beenie Man has the DJ skills and charisma to blow dancehall music up into Shaggy-like proportions. The question is, at what cost? Collaborations with heavyweight American hip-hop producers DJ Clue ("Fresh From Yard"), The Neptunes ("Bad Girl"), and Janet Jackson--who contributes a catchy hook to hip-hoppy single "Feel It Boy"--mean Tropical Storm ends up sounding not very, well, tropical. Crossover dancehall bids are cool, but there's no "Who Am I (Zim Zimma)?"-caliber tunes to be found and too few gritty tunes to keep the hardcore dancehall masses overly enthused. The Shocking Vibes crew add just enough authentic dancehall so you don't feel as if you're listening to a P Diddy record. Beenie's "singjay" flows shine on the Sly and Robbie-produced "You Babe," "Party Hard," and "Miss L.A.P." Certainly, a speedy UK garage track ("Yagga Yo") featuring Megaman from the So Solid Crew will titillate, but when the Neptunes' signature beats pop up on "Bossman," one begins to wonder whether Beenie was looking too closely at the pop charts (and the bottom line) in creating this project. --Dalton Higgins Amazon.com
I dont know about everybody else but I'm feeling this album. Feel It Boy with Janet Jackson , Bad Girl and Bossman(feat Lady Saw& Sean Paul) are all club bangers that Ive seen cause serious commotion in the club. The Irv Gotti-produced Real Gangsta featuring J1 is also good. Pure Pretty Gal and You Babe are also highlights. Street Life is his apology to his woman for all the wrong he has done her. Skip Material: Fresh From Yard features a weak appearance from Lil Kim and weaker production from DJ Clue(?????). Yagga Yo and Miss L.A.P. dont appeal to me and Party Hard is pretty much filler. Bottom Line: Tropical Storm may not be Beenie Man's best album but its the last solid release from him. Back To Basics stunk and Undisputed........lets not even talk about it! Standout Tracks: FEEL IT BOY, BAD GIRL, REAL GANGSTA, STREET LIFE, PURE PRETTY GAL, BOSSMAN and YOU BABE.
To that batty boy doing all that ranting in futility give it a rest. You're never going to get us to accept your silly views as reality so piss off! Chi Chi boy!!!
October 2, 2007 |  | "Baby you look fine.... I want you to be mine...!" |  |
Every time I play this album it brings back some good memories especially during the year this album first came out. Beenie Man had done a major crossover in this by tying in contemporary reggae and hip-hop while still maintaining the familiar beats to the rudeboy/gangsta continuum. "Tropical Storm" had proving to be the turning point for him and for listener's world wide. This album went really mainstream and held on to a lot of new fans while creating a love hate relationship with his dedicated ones.
Even though this album isn't hardcore dance hall it's still a good album and some of the tracks here are great. Three tracks produced by the Neptune's, who support him with arrangements that are both warm and aggressive especially "Feel It Boy," with Janet Jackson is very nice and was on heavy rotation on the radio. "Bad Girl" is one of my favorites because it represents him being a rude buoy. Lil' Kim contributes to the sultry "Fresh From Yard," --the dance beat is pretty tight. Beenie Man's also does performances with Sean Paul and Lady Saw with "Bossman" which is also great because it's upbeat and moveable as well as "Party Hard," that was another single that hit the clubs really hard during that year.
"Miss L.A.P" is another one of my favorites due to Beenie's lyrics and the refrain which is very catchy and it's hard not to move with this track; and he surly throws it down lyrically with "Gangsta Life" which is another dancehall fav. of mine. He brings it back with "Pure Pretty Girl" this track is very sensual and has a classic sound accompany by a great melody that is amazing to the ears while your mind wonders all over the place. Some of the other tracks are cool but not as strong to my liking.
"Tropical Storm" is a good album but not his strongest even though it's still enjoyable to listen through. Besides that, Beenie still rides his never ending lyrics and rhythm's naturally. Once you listen to this you will realize that Beenie obviously likes to keep it gangsta; probably a bit too much at times. Recommended to all reggae fans and to those who are interested in the genre.......Ziggy Zaaa....!
October 24, 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, 2005Ugh I expected so much more from you beenie. The only song I enjoy from this album is MISS L.A.P. I really feel like I wasted my money buying this crap. You better do better with the beats and music next time na mon!
August 24, 2004 | | What's up wit' all dis Gangsta dis and dat??? | |
Beenie Man is one of talented Reggae artists out there and messing up with all this Gangsta Style Singjayin! I mean, where's the real Dancehall we usually hear from Beenie? This record is crazy. I don't understand what Beenie Man's doing?! Some songs are tight, but the others are just dull. The album starts off with "Party Hard" which is a cool song. The producers range on this album. Neptunes did an "okay" job on "Feel It Boy" and StarGate did excellent job on "Street Life" one of tight songs on the album. Irv Gotti did a real bad BAD job "Real Gangsta" it's so boring. DJ Clue did a good job on "Fresh From Yard" it's tight! The artists he features on this record are tight. J1 sings nicely on "Real Gangsta" Lil' Kim does an amazing sex rap on "Fresh From Yard" Sean Paul and Lady Saw on "Bossman" another tight song! Well, if you a BIG fan of Beenie you won't be disappointed. It's aiight, but he stop with all this Gangsta stuff. I mean, it's the things that Rasta's rebelled against when they held captive in a way. So Beenie must come down to reality!
July 12, 2003More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(16 reviews)