Customer Reviews

Tropical Storm (Clean)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For Strict dancehall fans like myself who have enjoyed Blessed and The Doctor as some of Beenie's best work, this album does not have any of his greatest hits on it exept maybe L.A.P. which dance hall fans have on the Buy Out CD already. We have seen Shabba do this and Shaggy do this before. The Grammy winning album had more reggae on it and I have listened to this one quite a bit but I am still dissapointed in the lack of hardcore authentic dancehall here. I guess it makes me enjoy Capleton and Bounty that much more

This new one from beenie man is something different and more in a hip-hop direction. Working with strickly the neptunes I didnt expect anything mroe different. Its hip-hop and reggae mixed in but hit and miss with some tracks and others. Overall I think beenie wanted to do something different but ended up with a not so strong cd as the last or the 2 before. Still fans should check this oen out as well as non-fans. Songs like: Yagga yo( a definete heavy weight on the cd..tight beat), Feel it boy(janet brings the heat while beenie keeps the beat flowing), More we want, Fresh from yard(Kim and beenie keep it flowin on this one with a good reggae/hip-hop beat), Bossman(Beeie does it right with lady saw and sean paul makign it right). Overall this new oen should keep beenie man fans satisfied for a minute. Overall a solid cd but hopefully the next one will be stronger. Still something to check out....get it.

Hate him or love him, Beenie has been arguably the most popular danceall artiste of the past decade with countless hits. This album does not demonstrate this fact. In fact, Virgin probably saw Shaggy's success as well as Bounty Killer's introduction to pop audiences via his collab with No Doubt as their way of pushing this second album more to the pop market. Well it does not work. Feel it boy has got to be one of the worst songs Beenie has ever done. It seems that everyone forgot that Sim Simma which was authentic dancehall has been his biggest intl. hit. Ms LAP would have been a better lead single but it still wouldnt save this album from the ... pile. Looks like its back to the drawing board for the Doctor.

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!!!

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!

i find this album to be lacking the dancehall flavor that i rate beenie man for. I do like some of the songs on here, actually i LOVE bad girl, which is a hot riddim done by the Neptunes go-figure. i actually place bad girl as a reggae song, pretty gal is good, riddim is lacking, but it can work. ms LAP on the buy out riddim is hot, and i think in all, this album would be much better if it had more DANCEHALL REGGAE songs. I rate beenie man for his old reggae tracks from back in the day, he needs to go back to doing what works...OLE DOG LIKE WE...buy it if you want to support the artist, but if it is to actually enjoy, skip till the next one, hopefully it will be in the reggae genre

The best thing that I can say about Tropical Storm is that it is probably the best sounding album that I have bought this year. I mean, the production here is top notch, including the Neptunes, and dancehall burner Dave Kelly, each on multiple tunes. Of course, as all the albums Beenie Man puts out on Virgin will be, Tropical Storm is a crossover attempt for Beenie Man, and based on the material that Beenie has done for his entire career, he certainly is entitled to have crossover attempts, and he does these type of records better than anyone in the dancehall.
As for the album itself, there are no bad tunes, although Fresh From Yard is kinda funny with Lil' Kim doing her best patois impersonation, but ultimately referring back to her usual clothes/car/jewelry type of flow. This is a crossover attempt, but Beenie didn't completely ignore the dance with his hit Ms. L.A.P., with Anthony Kelly on the board for that one. Also check the poorly titled Street Life, and the equally poorly titled Dave Kelly produced Gangsta Life, both are very good tunes, Gangsta Life, being one of my favorite on the album, its a pure head knocker from Madhouse, as always. My absolute favorite tune is Bossman with Sean Paul, and the Empress Lady Saw, a Neptunes production, that has somewhat of a dancehall feel to it. Also really like Yagga Yo, Party Hard, Bad Girl, Pure Pretty Gal, You Babe, and I even like Feel It Boy, with Janet Jackson. Overall, I've had this album for about a week, and I don't really like hip-hop anymore, but I've played it for friends that do like hip-hop and they really enjoy it: Of course Beenie's fans are going to get it, but if you're a hip-hop head, you might like this one as well in your collection. Also, on the dancehall side, bigup to Beenie for basically ignoring all the war stuff which has hit dancehall hard in the last year, he never calls out any name, and also bigup to Bounty Killer as they have suposedly squashed their conflict (I know its happened before, but I think they mean it this time). Pick this one up, unless you're expecting a straight dancehall project, you won't be dissapointed.

Vocals: 5 Backing: 5 Production: 5 Sound Quality: 5
Expectancy: 2.5was expecting a lot more dancehall tracks
Let me start out by saying that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, views judgment, or appraisal formed in their mind about any particular matter. Every one is critic-----Remember That.
Yes, I know the album title is a very uncanny and weird title. But it does lives up to what a tropical storm is. Webster's dictionary defines Tropical storm as: a tropical cyclone with strong winds of less than hurricane intensity.
Beenie man is one of Jamaica's best DancehalReggae artists. He is not a reggae artist and he knows that, as a matter of fact he acknowledged that. These are who you classify as reggae artist. They are as follows: Lee "Scratch" Perry, Lucky Dube, the late "Bob Marley" and the late "Peter Tosh" and the list goes on. Dancehall is the hardcore fragment of reggae, so doesn't get confused with the genre.
Tropical storm is one of beenie's best albums to date, that he has s ever released. For me, his very best album to date is TRENDSETTER an album of and with Stella material. Starting off with a hit song and ending with a hit song. Some of you guys probably never heard of this album because it was only released in Jamaica. Since there's only 8 trks out of the 13 that is dancehall oriented. Not a strong reggae dancehall album. It doesn't have the intensity that dancehall album usually deliver except for "BOSSMAN". One of the toughest dancehall tune I have ever heard in years. Party Hard (5*) produced by Dave Kelly and mixed for Madhouse production. He did a very good job on this one. Neptune's had nothing to do with that song. Feel it boy feat (4*) Janet produced by the Neptune's. Very good groove it puts you in a very good mood it pronounced a very enjoyable rhythm. But the lyrics do not make any sense, but because of the groove that's so refreshing you tend to just sing along and get in to the groove. The video was good too. Bad girl and Bossman feat Sean p & lady saw (5*) earned my 5 star rating for both songs which was also produced by the Neptune's. Bossman which is strictly a dancehall song earned my respect. Loved the video to death. It was off tha chain. The Neptune's actually did a very good job to both dance hall tracks. Real gangsta (5*) well done by irv gotti. Beenie rapping over a rap/hip-hop beat singing about how he is a gangsta and that gangstas don't play. Fresh from yard (5*) love this one too. Beenie spitting patios over rap beat, both him and LIL' Kim singing about sex (don't worry it's not a crime lol). Beenie man known as "de girls dem sugar proved it right here Miss L.A.P (5*) the rhythm is called the "buyout". I truly love this one that goes for Street Life too (5*) love the video. When a guy listens to these two (2) tracks he will be putting roses on his wife/girlfriends bed. Respect to the woman they are the door to our life.
My limit is a 1000 word and I don't want to exceed the amount my ratings are as follows
Gangsta life (4*)
Pure pretty gal (5*)
Yaggo yo (5*)
More we want (5*)
You babe (5*)love the vocals "calib"
.....and just ignore the occurrence over the album of beenie singing or rapping about (gangsta this and gangsta that) he is really a nice guy.

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....!

In reviewing other albums and seeing what others have said in reviews over the years, I gathered one nugget early on.....with on-line reviews you should only take the time to write a review if an album is fantastic or you want to warn others not to waste their time.

Having said all this I'm here to tell you this album is one I feel is worth rating because its absolutely TOPS in its genre !! Beenie Man has me wanting to pull out all my old regae and dancehall and have a party !! The trouble with most reviewers is that they draft a review after one spin of an album instead of swirlin' it aroun' like a good wine and allowing the character to build with a second and third turn !!

Not every song on this album is a gem....but there are 5 strong songs that warrant the 5 star rating:

1) Bad Girl......Ziggy Zaaa.....dis song rips it....I challenge anyone that hears it to just try and not sing along....its got some great kalidescope keyboards rippin' out killer dark dancebeat !! This is the first song I heard down here in Miami from the album and its getting some serious rotation on Power 96 (way to lead and not follow boys !!)

2)Miss LAP - Great song....coooool refrain....da ladies will like dis one !!

3)Gangsta Life - A solid dancehall fav..with da rap trown' in!!

4)Pure Pretty Girl - Probably my second favorite on the album behind Bad Girl.....this one makes you want to grab your hottie and do dat rockin' bak an fort' !! The catchy....."a pure pretty girl we wan'......a pure pretty girl we need"...gets stuck in your head like gum sticks to a rug !!! Classic beat !!

5) And last but not least....Baaaaa...."Party Hard"....a fun little number that starts da hole ting off !!

Da oders dey grow on you !!

I highly recommend this cd for those in seach of something different.....I also would recommend it for anyone who likes dancehall, regae and good club hip-hop with a Jamacain twist...its dem' good mon....its what'cha wan...its what'cha nee'!! I think the other reviewers got caught in the trap of trying to sound clever and missed out on da great sound !!! Check this one out....especially at used prices how could you go wrong ?????