Beenie Man‘s “Who Am I” is certified Gold in the US by the Recording Industry Association Of America for selling 500,000 units in that country. The achievement, given on November 15, 2023 is Beenie Man’s first US single certification in his illustrious three-decade international career.
Speaking exclusively with Zachary and Jeremy Harding, co-founders of 2 Hard Records, the record label that produced The Playground Riddim that the song is on, they explained the making of the record and its journey to Gold status in the US.
“Jeremy Harding was the producer, and I was the selector that tried to promote it on the road,” Zachary said.
The dancehall song’s hook bears the name of Beenie Man’s 2024 Grammy-nominated 17th studio album “Simma,” which also got a social media challenge with participation from several celebrities, including Kim Kardashian during the summer.
Zachary says even before the challenge, “Who Am I” was one of the most popular dancehall songs of all time.
“Massive, it is probably one of the most popular dancehall songs ever; we can see that with the Sim Simma challenge, arguably the most popular dancehall song ever,” he said.
Jeremy was surprised when WMV informed him of the song’s Gold status on Friday.
“I am elated, it’s a long time overdue, it’s definitely a dancehall classic; nobody predicted it would have lasted this long with the TikTok challenge and all that. It has been a great passive earner; it’s a wonderful achievement and a once-in-a-lifetime record for myself,” Jeremy said.
“VP actually been tracking it, and a few months ago they informed me it had gone Gold, so I say send on the plaque; they never really say anything, but I have been getting steady royalties from that record,” Jeremy added.
“Who Am I” has surpassed 33 million streams on Spotify and as for why it took 26 years to become certified Gold, Jeremy reasoned, “It wasn’t really trackable before, so we didn’t figure out the amount of sales.”
A Luminate correspondent told WMV that their data tracking for songs and albums goes back to 1991.
The song samples “Sections” by The Root’s from the Philadelphia band’s third studio album “Illadelph HalfLife” (DGC/Geffen Records), and Jeremy recalls an interesting moment during the pandemic when he got a hunch that the song may have gone Gold in the US prior to now. “When they had the Verzuz clash, Questlove from the Roots said, ‘Looking forward to this one; Who AM I by Beenie Man was my first Gold record,’ and I was like, how Questlove have a Gold record and Beenie Man don’t have a Gold Record. We tried to DM him and we asked VP,” the top selling Jamaican producer said.
“We have accounted for royalties over the years, so it’s not about money, and money has always been coming, but VP say them nuh know nuttn about the plaque thing. Which I found quite strange,” he added on the matter.
“Who Am I (Sim Simma),” or simply “Who Am I,” was released by Beenie Man in 1998. It was the second single from Beenie’s eighth studio album “Many Moods of Moses” released on 1997.
“Many Moods Of Moses” has sold 279,000 units in the US according to data obtain by WMV from Luminate.
The album which was nominated for Best Reggae Album at the as accumulated 64.4 million on-demand streams in the US so far.
Harding who was Sean Paul’s first manager recalls Beenie Man’s spontaneous recording session, stating, “He had obviously write the song already but he went straight into the booth to record a perfect version of ‘Who Am I’ in what seemed like one take, we rewrote the third verse.
“Beenie heard the riddim at the club, and someone told me ‘Beenie Man seh him a come fi the riddim,” he added.
The song got an iconic music produced by VP Records and Shocking Vibes, Beenie’s former label and it further propelled Beenie Man globally? The track was later incorporated into his reggae fusion single “Girls Dem Sugar” featuring Mýa, released in 2000.
“I was excluded from the music video process because Shocking Vibes called me when the record started to blow up big,” Jeremy recalled.
“The riddim was produced and released on 45s locally with Sean Paul and Cobra; Beenie Man wasn’t on it. It didn’t know Beenie Man because he was a big artist. Don Yute of Dutty Cup and Vegas was on it. Vegas never buss yet. They were playing the riddim with the previously voiced songs at Mirage nightclub, and we had a disco pushing it, and it was doing pretty well,” Jeremy said.
“Who Am I (Sim Simma)” found its place on the NBA 2K22 soundtrack and had charted No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart, marking Beenie Man’s first top 40 hit in the UK. In the US, it reached No. 6 on the Hot Rap Singles chart and No. 15 on the Hot R&B singles chart. On the Billboard Year-end charts: it landed at No. 55 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
