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Paul's 'just doing my own thing'

Posted by CaribShout on August 25, 2009 at 8:30pm

Sean Paul performing in Greensboro, N.C. Jamaican dancehall star Sean Paul has released his fourth album Imperial Blaze. The 36-year-old represented his country at water polo until his mid-20s, when he launched his music career. His hits include Gimme The Light, Get Busy and We Be Burnin'. You grew up in the St Andrew parish in Jamaica. What was that like? Growing up there was a great experience. It's a beautiful place, and being from that side of town you actually get to experience the beautiful things about Jamaica. There are some crazy things in Jamaica and some people go through a lot of hardship and problems, but living there and growing up there I didn't have to face them much personally. But I had friends from every part of the island and it gave me a very broad outlook of the world. I wasn't a rich kid, but I was from the nice side. And you used to be a keen swimmer? Yeah, my whole family swam and I played water polo and competed for Jamaica until I was about 24. Do you ever get to dip back in? The last time I was actually playing and training was in 2006, when I got to train for six weeks when I did a competition. It was a great thing to get back into the water. What can people expect from Imperial Blaze? It's a high-energy project. Fans can expect the same quality of work from my other releases, but I've expanded the content to be about the trials and tribulations of relationships. The first single So Fine is about meeting a girl and then there's another song called Lately where we're breaking up. There are different songs all to do with different relationships. I even wrote a song for my mum - it's dedicated for all mums but it was written for her on her birthday, so it had to be on the album. I think the album gives you what you want but is also a much more mature release. So what do you think makes a lady 'so fine'? A lady who's so fine is a lady who puts herself together well. At first I might notice you physically, but obviously I won't have noticed you mentally or for having a great sense of humour because I haven't spoken to you yet. So first things first, it's about the putting together of your physical self. You can have a big physical self or a small physical self, but if you put it together properly then I'll notice you and think you're so fine. Are there lots of scantily-clad ladies in the video? Ha, ha, no not scantily-clad ladies. Ladies that are empowered by a lot of beautiful dance. I think my videos have never really been about scantily-clad ladies, but a lot of ladies who really know how to move and dance and look beautiful like empresses. Are empresses a big part of your life then? Of course, babe. Of course. I HAVE to have ladies in my life. Do you feel a pressure to have as much success with Imperial Blaze as you had with Trinity? Not really, I think music is a beautiful thing - I'm glad I do my job. I think I would see a pressure if I wanted to become one of the biggest artists, but that's not my ambition. I didn't set out to become one of the biggest dancehall acts, but that happened and I just give thanks for it every day. I'm just doing my own thing. How does it feel to have sparked off the resurgence in the popularity of dancehall? To me and my Jamaican people - which is about three million people and probably about five million people all over the world - we've been listening to dancehall every day, all the time. So it was always there and never went away. Now people are saying, 'Oh, internationally Sean is bringing it back!'. That is a great thing but it also reminds me how important it is to put an emphasis in my music on the people back home. So the producers that are on my new album are the future of Jamaican music. Didn’t you recently record a song with Shaggy for charity? That was just about giving back. When I was a teenager I had friends who were really into leading a Christian lifestyle and they'd say, 'Come with me to the old ladies' home or come to the kids' hospital with me'. So it wasn't unfamiliar to me when Shaggy asked me two years ago to give out presents in a hospital on Boxing Day. He does something different every year, and this year he decided he was going to have a concert to help raise money for the machines the hospital needs. I got involved and then just step-by-step it developed. First I was doing the concert, then a couple of days later we did a song, and then a few days after the video. It was great. Is it important that your lyrics have positive messages? I think people should have their freedom of speech and they should be able to say what they want, but also at the same time I'm an ambassador for my country, for my people. So when I'm out doing interviews, I represent myself in a way that people have nothing but respect for me. (PA)

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