The Dutty Cup Crew member Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques, popularly known as Sean Paul was born January 9, 1973. This Grammy winning sensation and superstar from Jamaica is well-liked on the international scene. Sean Paul was born in Upper St. Andrew, and coming from a very talented family, he quickly developed the skills to entertain.
Even though Sean Paul came from humble middle class beginnings; his love for reggae and dancehall music never stopped him from going after his goals. This helped him to break the barrier between the upper class and dancehall, as this form of Jamaican music was often frowned upon by the upper class. Being one of Jamaica’s top dancehall entertainers, Sean Paul was a water polo player, where he represented the National team. He attended some of the best schools in Jamaica and achieved all the necessary requisite to work in the field of commerce, in the hotel industry.
Sean Paul was exposed to a range of cross cultural upbringing that made him turned numerous realities and ideas to life. At the age of 13 his mother bought him his first musical instrument, a keyboard. He would practice day in day out, which helped to make him one of the most sought after entertainers Jamaica has seen.
In his early years of writing his own lyrics, Sean Paul was very close with the members of the famous Third World Band. With so many obsessions with his music, Sean Paul started to mix and crate his own deejay styles. He was offered the opportunity to perform at school barbeques. This help to launch his musical expressions to a higher level. Although Sean Paul had the option to choose between a good career and music, he chose music and leaned towards the vibrant dancehall genre. His lyrics are a fusion of upbeat groove, toppled with reggae and hip-hop and pop.
In 1996, Sean Paul released a series of singles, with one of his more well received singles being “Baby Girl” which helped him to gain a little traction in dancehall. To fine tune his career Sean teamed up with Mr. Vegas to produced songs like “Infiltrate”, and “Deport Them”. These songs took Sean to the international scene where he grew his fan base. However, he was still under rated among Jamaicans. He later went on to produce the “Hot Gal Today” and “Tiger Bone” alongside Mr. Vegas. His partnership with Mr. Vegas was short lived as the two had a falling out over the remix of the song “Hot Gal Today” when Sean Paul made the billboards top ten with the song.
This combination of musical bliss opened a major door for Sean, and this is when more and more persons started to really listen to his songs. While enjoying his new found fame, Sean didn’t stop there he went unto becoming the first dancehall entertainer to perform at Hot ’97’s Summer Jam. This event is a celebrated hip-hop festival by New York’s well-known rap station.
In 2002, Sean Paul burst on the international market with his “Gimme the Light” which made the US Top 10 hit and peaking at #7. This started off the real buzz of his career after which he released the hit single “Get Busy” which topped the charts for 3 weeks. Sean Paul was featured on Beyonce’s single “Baby Boy” in 2003, which topped the charts as well. In 2004 his album Dutty Rock earned him a Grammy.
The Dutty Rock album featured songs like “Like Glue,” “Can You Do the Work,” “Gimme the Light,” and “I’m Still in Love With You,” a duet with the lovely Sasha. This album also provided Sean Paul with the right global audience; as his name and music spread like wild fire. Sean Paul released his third album in 2005 titled the Trinity followed by his latest album in 2009 called Imperial Blaze.
Today, Sean Paul stands out as one of Jamaica’s finest entertainers who single handedly made his way to the top on the international market. He is also credited as one of the artists who helped to make the dancehall genre become more accepted among upper-class Jamaicans, who saw this music as being Ghetto.