Beenie Man festive at ‘Chop Suey’ black tie premiere
Published:Wednesday | December 27, 2023 | 12:38 AMYasmine Peru/Senior Gleaner Writer
Dancehall giant Beenie Man loves Chinese cuisine and his favourite Chinese dish is shrimp fried rice – but that’s not what he sings about on track number four of his Grammy-nominated album, Simma. Instead, the song with the distinct Chinese flavour is titled Chop Suey, and it is the latest single from his long-awaited album.
Chop Suey was among the favourites at the album listening for Simma, and a recent interview with The Gleaner, Beenie man shared that the song is not just a tribute to the Chinese in Jamaica, who, incidentally, played a significant role in the development of Jamaican music, “it is a dedication to the Chinese in music generally”.
“In Chop Suey is we just mix the dancehall music with Chinese sounds, so we can just get them to dance to our music and dance like we. The Chop Suey dance was created by me,” Beenie Man said, adding that “on this album, we have like five different cultures ... just listen to it”.
Beenie Man and his team have apparently decided to put heavy promotion into Chop Suey. Last Friday, guests were invited to a black tie event celebrating, what the invitation labelled, “the musical triumphs of Beenie Man and the exclusive premiere of the music video for Chop Suey”.
Quite unfortunately, however, things didn’t turn out quite as planned. Scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m., with an end time of 3:30 p.m., for some unexplained reason, decorators were still busy doing their job inside the Carib cinema in Cross Roads at 2:30 p.m., and while Dancehall King Beenie Man was present, he was still chilling around in casual clothes.
“My clothes are in the vehicle,” Beenie Man responded when asked.
The best that can be said about the premiere that nearly never was is that eventually things got started, the king put on his royal garb, and the select few who were invited eventually showed up. Among those present were some of Beenie Man’s children, as well as Dancehall Queen Carlene, who shares daughter, Crystal, with the entertainer. His queen, Camille, however, was absent.
The three minutes and 10 seconds video is presented as “a Jay Will film” starring Beenie Man and his dancer daughter Desha, accompanied by some dancers and two kung fu experts. The actual premiere was over not long after it started, and of course, there was the customary applause at the end.
Officially released to the public on Christmas Day, the video is attracting lots of favourable comments and truckloads of fire emojis from fans, who are hailing the song as “authentic” and “getting back to some old school dancehall”. On the downside, however, some fans think that for an artiste of the calibre of the Doctor this is simply “okay”
“This an OK song. Lyrics were the usual. Hook wasn’t as catchy as you wish it to be. The riddim was nice. I just don’t see this song going really far without a refix or something. Definitely needs a new hook that will catch the ear of listeners. This one had me dozing off. Tbh,” one person commented.
Beenie Man’s physique – now minus the big belly for which he was trolled on 2020 – has also come up for admiration from his female fans.
At the event, which was held three days before Christmas Day, Beenie Man was festive, but it had nothing to do with the Yuletide season.
“I don’t celebrate Christmas, I celebrate Kwanzaa. Happy Kwanzaa to you all,” he said.
Kwanzaa is a weeklong, secular holiday affirming African family and social values that is celebrated primarily in the United States from December 26 to January 1. It was created in 1966 by activist Maulana Ron Karenga, based on African harvest festival traditions from various parts of West and Southeast Africa.
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