We put a spotlight on that Jamaican of mixed heritage artist: He is part Portugese, Chinese, and Jamaican, Even from the Afro-Caribbean descent. He’s the world famous artist some consider a personification of the Jamaican Motto “Out of Many, One People” due to his mixed heritage. He’s got nicknames such as Zion Lion and King of Israel.
A renowned multi-platinum selling artist, and the most successful Jamaican artist on the international charts. He’s no other person but the dancehall superstar singer-songwriter, producer even a rapper and actor -Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques better known by the shorter version of his name Sean Paul.
Sean Paul is from multi-ethnic roots. He has Portuguese heritage from his paternal grandfather, Sephardic Jewish heritage from his paternal grandmother, African heritage from his maternal grandfather, and Chinese heritage from his maternal grandmother. Both his parents are Jamaican natives.
Sean Paul was born on 9th January 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica into a family of accomplished athletes (both parents) and Catholics. His primary education is not emphasized but went to the Wolmers High School for Boys before going to the Hillel Academy High School. Prior to his music career, he enrolled at the Jamaica’s College of Arts, Science, and Technology Jamaica where he earned a degree in hotel management. As a teenager he used to play for the national water polo team but his love for music was more powerful from an early age, despite his brilliant academic and athletic records. He originally planned to have a career in hospitality business if his music career didn’t pan out.
Speaking of athletic records, he was a talented swimmer and athlete who had represented his country’s national water polo team as a youngster. He played on the Jamaican national water polo team from ages 13 to 2. In fact his father and grandfather were members of the national Jamaican water polo team, and his mother was a backstroker. He began rapping at local parties and bars where he got noticed by the producer Jeremy Harding who was impressed with his talent and became his manager as he began to gain more popularity.
Now, let’s talk about his musical beginnings. Sean Paul first got his beginnings as a dancehall musician at open mic events in Kingston, Jamaica. Although some reports claim his musical breakthrough came in 1998 with a cameo in the movie Belly. He’s also reported to have worked with DMX and Mr. Vegas on the soundtrack for the movie. Fast forward 2000, he released his debut solo album, Stage One and followed this in 2002 was Dutty Rock, which won the 2004 Grammy Award for best reggae album and generated four top twenty Billboard Hot 100 hits, including #1 ‘Get Busy’.
Dutty Rock – This is album that launched his career and popularized him as a reggae star becoming an international phenomenon with worldwide sales of over 6 million copies. The album also features the singles ‘Gimme the Light’ and ‘Get Busy’ both of which topped the Billboard Hot 100. The same year he contributed vocals to Beyonce’s single ‘Baby Boy’. Although reports had it that Beyonce’s then-boyfriend and now husband Jay Z was jealous of their close working relationship and allegedly banned Sean Paul from performing with the singer at the 2003 MTV VMAs.
Clearly, speaking of artists that cannot be classified by one specific genre, Sean Paul is one of them. He’s got the vocals of a reggae artist, but combines his voice with different beats – hip-hop, R&B, and so on to create music. I am sure this that has brought him this far even though his presence in music was dwindled at some point.
In 2005 he released his third studio album, The Trinity, and collected another #1 hit, ‘Temperature’ on the U.S. Billboard Top Reggae Albums. The album reached the top ten positions in several countries including Italy, Canada, France and Austria. The album was accredited platinum in Europe. The album also featured the songs ‘We Be Burnin’, “Ever Blazin’, all of which were big hits. The video of ‘Give It Up to Me’ also appeared in the movie ‘Step Up’ in 2006.He performed it at the opening of the Cricket World Cup 2007 in Jamaica.
His 2009 album ‘Imperial Blaze’ was very popular not just in Jamaica, but also on the international front. It reached No.1 in Japan and was certified gold in France where it debuted at No.8. It was among the Top Ten Albums in other countries like United Arab and Canada as well. He released his first ever mix tape, ‘The Odyssey Mixtape’ in 2009. It contained the tracks ‘Odyssey Intro’, ‘Buy You A Round’, and ‘We Party’. It was entirely self-produced by him and featured performances by Snoop Dog, Kanye West and Lil Wayne.
His album ‘Tomahawk Technique’ released in 2012 generating another hit “She Doesn’t Mind”. Tomahawk Technique’ topped the Japanese Albums chart and peaked at No.2 on the US Billboard Top Reggae Albums. In 2013, Paul announced that he was working on his 6th studio-album, and later revealed that it will drop February 18th, 2014. His album ‘Full Frequency’ released on 18th February, 2014.
The album, “Full Frequency”, features appearances from Damian Marley, Iggy Azalea, and Nicki Minaj, among others.
One of the most surprising stories of 2016 in the music world was the triumphant return of the dancehall and hip-hop’s most distinct voices, Sean Paul. Surely nobody saw this resurgence coming. He was prominently featured on not one but two smash hits in 2016 after vanishing from the mainstream for years. He got a featured spot on the reworked single version of Sia’s “Cheap Thrills. He was a big part of Clean Bandit’s smash “Rockabye. He also released a pair of singles, “No Lie (ft. Dua Lipa),” and “Tek Weh Yuh Heart (ft, Tory Lanez sort of resuscitated his career, as well as reintroducing him to a new, younger generation that might not know his own works very well since his presence has dwindled significantly for some years.
He did so much in 2016 when he came back. Paul performed in the opening ceremony of the inaugural Pakistan Super League and released the lead single off his seventh studio album later that year. In 2016 also Paul donated $1 million to benefit the Bustamante Hospital. All these gave Sean Paul even bigger smashes in 2017.
Over the course of his career, Sean Paul has produced about 7 studio albums: Stage One, Dutty Rock, The Trinity, Imperial Blaze, Tomahawk Technique, and Full Frequency,…that have brought him great success. He has collaborated with many notable artists of different genres including DMX, Mr. Vegas, Beyoncé, 2 Chainz, Nicki Minaj, Keri Busta Rhymes, Rihanna, Akon, Fabolous to mention a few, as well as several African and Nigerian artists even though he claimed to have been approached by many different artists but doesn’t want to be known as a collaboration artist. He married his longtime girlfriend Jodi Stewart, a television personality in 2012
Controversy
Beyonce/SP collab: Referring to the scandal, Sean Paul added: “The song became number one for nine odd weeks or something like that and the controversy – it was a crazy time in my career. So up to now, I still [perform] the song, it’s a huge song for me and her and I just thank her for having me.”
AWARDS AND NOMS
Grammy Awards
| Year | Nominee/work | Award | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Himself | Best New Artist | Nominated | |
| “Get Busy” | Best Male Rap Solo Performance | Nominated | ||
| Dutty Rock | Best Reggae Album | Won | ||
| 2006 | The Trinity | Nominated | ||
| 2010 | Imperial Blaze | Nominated | ||
| 2012 | Tomahawk Technique | Nominated | ||
| 2015 | Full Frequency | Nominated | ||
| 2017 | “Cheap Thrills” (with Sia) | Best Pop Duo/Group Performance | Nominated |
Other awards
He won Best New Act of the Year at the 2003 MTV Music Awards. He won the International Reggae and World Music Awards for the Entertainer of the year in 2004.
Conclusion
Paul’s work relates to the reggae, reggae fusion; dancehall, pop, and ragga genres. He has had multiple singles certify gold. The rhyme singer has sold over 11 million copies of his albums worldwide and has spawned several No. 1 hits. He is the most successful Jamaican artist of all time on the U.S. charts.
Now that he’s been back in the public eye a couple of years back, obviously Paul isn’t wasting any time in taking advantage of the good fortune that 2016 has brought him. He’s been working and still remains one of the biggest figures especially in the Caribbean, where he is one of the brightest stars to emerge from that scene since beginning his career in 1998.
