“Eminence”, the new album from Grammy Award-winning global superstar Beenie Man, has reached No. 1 on the U.S. iTunes All-Genres Albums Chart, a milestone that places the King of Dancehall at the top of the American market alongside pop, hip-hop and country’s biggest releases.
Released August 20 via Billboard King Records, the 16-track project is produced in full by Kemar “Flava” McGregor, known as The Billboard King. It brings together an unusually broad cast of collaborators across dancehall, reggae, hip-hop and R&B: Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, T.I., Ashanti, Mýa, Rotimi, Lola Brooke and Stefflon Don appear alongside Jamaican artists including Elephant Man, Etana, Kraff, Shaneil Muir, D’Yani, Tifa, Vanessa Bling, Pamputtae and Stevie Face.
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The album opens with “876/305”, connecting Kingston and Miami with Rick Ross. “Make Out” pairs Beenie Man with T.I. and Ashanti, “Don’t Rush” reunites him with Mýa, “Do It” brings in Brooklyn’s Lola Brooke, and “For You” assembles Snoop Dogg with a full roster of Jamaican talent. “Guide Over Us” with Etana and “If I Follow My Heart” with Stevie Face anchor the record in reggae tradition, while “Kingsteppa” and “Marijuana In the Kouchie” find Beenie Man working alone, in the register that built his name.
For an artist more than three decades into his career, the volume of work behind the album was the point.
“Every time you make an album, you have to prepare for three albums,” Beenie Man says. “You don’t make one album when you’re making an album.” More than 60 songs were recorded for the project before the final 16 were selected.”
Asked about the pace of the sessions, his answer was characteristically direct: “It don’t take long to create a song. Because I’m music. Music is me.”
“Eminence” also reflects a conviction Beenie Man has carried throughout his career that an artist has to be inseparable from the work.
“Music is not like you can just sing the music and don’t become a part of the music. You have to be a part of the music,” he says. “When people know the face of the artist that made the song, the song lasts longer. People know the person that sings the song, and people know the song. The two of them work together.”
The collaborations reach back decades. Beenie Man and Mýa first recorded together years ago; his relationship with Snoop Dogg goes back to the beginning. “Snoop Dogg is an artist that I really, really respect,” he says. “I actually bought his first album.”
Of the finished record, he offers the comparison that matters most in his own catalog: “It’s a beautiful project, and it’s a different project. It reminds me of *Many Moods of Moses.
The album’s arrival caps a defining stretch for Beenie Man. In 2024, the Jamaican government conferred the Order of Distinction (Officer Class) on him in recognition of his decades-long contribution to global music. In 2025, he headlined a sold-out show at New York’s UBS Arena, his first major New York arena performance in more than a decade, followed by a landmark appearance at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in 2026.
“Eminence” is available now on all digital streaming platforms.
