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Sean Paul - Trinity

June 5th 2006 11:05

So Sean Paul has a newish album out (Trinity) and is due to have a new album out in late 2006. What does a purist with a love of early reggae think of this? Many have expected me to dismiss dancehall as a bastardisation of reggae, but this has never been the case. I like dancehall. Does this mean I like Sean Paul? – Not necessarily. I like his attitude, mainly because he is respectful of his roots. In his interviews he commonly refers to reggae and one-drop which are obviously an important part of his music. I like some of his songs, particularly those raw songs where it is just him strutting hist stuff. What I don’t like are these dabbles in duets – doing songs with Beyonce and Rhianna, particularly when he says “I’m a dancehall artist all the way”.

Of course Sean Paul wasn’t the first to head in this direction. Jamaica is close to the USA and reggae is the roots of hip-hop, so this entry into the USA market by dancehall artists is common. Beenie Man, Buju Banton and Yellowman have all had a go which is fine – props to Jamaican artists for receiving some of the success and money they deserve. I just wish that USA labels didn’t get their hands on them, obviously pushing their ideas. These guys are cutting tracks back in Jamaica that are popular worldwide, there just isn’t a need to stuff with that. Leave it raw and make your money by harnessing this rawness.

Interestingly enough, Sean Paul was a member of the Jamaican Water Polo Team. Though I am not trying to cast dispersions, it is a different past to many other Jamaican artists.

At his raw best, Sean Paul does offer some decent dancehall. My problem is not so much with his music – songs such as Temperature, Yardie Bone and Ever Blazin’ on the album Trinity are great. I think my problem may lie in all these other groups – the latin crowd, the hip-hop crowd, the pop crowd all want a piece of him. I just wish he was able to allow that without being influenced by them and by those throwing the money around. He claims he can, but I would suggest he cannot. For me you just can’t wrong with a song like Gun Speech, with Casio keyboard fully utilised.

The image included comes from the official sean paul website and is used here under the premise of contributing to a review of the artist.

Reggae - A daily blog

Sean Paul - Trinity

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