When you’ve been out the game for as long as Sean Paul has been you literally have to find something to make you relevant or say something to make people start talking about you again.
The Dancehall legend has stepped up to express himself and how he feels about people in the music industry using the dance/music style without crediting where it comes from.
Dancehall, has over the years become very influential in the music industry outside of the Caribbean. Speaking to The Guardian, Sean critisized Drake, Justin Bieber, Major Lazer, and Kanye West for what he claims to be “irresponsible appropriation of the genre and Jamaican patois.”
“It is a sore point when people like Drake or Bieber or other artists come and do dancehall-orientated music but don’t credit where dancehall came from and they don’t necessarily understand it,” he says.
“A lot of people get upset, they get sour. And I know artists back in Jamaica that don’t like Major Lazer because they think they do the same thing that Drake and Kanye did – they take and take and don’t credit,” Sean continues.
Sean however admits that he very much enjoys Drake’s music (“I love some of his songs but I don’t think he’s the best rapper”), he goes on to share that a number of Jamaican artists, including Popcaan, struggle obtaining American visas, and goes on to explain that he would like his next album to reference the brand of dancehall that has become so popular in the States over the years.
“Dancehall is back but this time it’s also infused with Afrobeat, with hip-hop, with trap, and that’s fine with me,” he said.”Sure, I would like what we do in Jamaica, that authentic dancehall, to be on top, but it simply isn’t. So I want this album to bridge that gap.”
Uhmmm…I’m sure we’re all looking forward to hearing that, right?
