Sean Paul has spoken to NME about the next stage of his career, being a dancehall legend, and how he doesn’t plan to retire soon.Speaking to NME backstage ahead of his Wireless set last week (July 12), the Jamaican icon explained hiw every time he performed at the festival was “amazing feeling because to me wireless is the epitome of what’s happening right now”.Paul affirmed that he’s a legend of dancehall – a genre he described as “a son of reggae and a brother of hip-hop, a cousin of reggaeton and a cousin of afrobeats”.“It’s a mixture of music and , like our people in the Caribbean, very spicy.
I’m proud of it and I’m glad to be someone who brings forth some of the new stuff.”The Kingston-born deejay said his mission throughout his career was to “emulate the big music [he] heard from Bob Marley, Super Cat, Shabba Ranks, Third World Band – all these greats” and “add to what they gave [him]”.Recently, many artists have sampled the ‘Diwali Riddim’ – an instrumental made by Steven “Lenky” Marsden and was popularised by Paul’s 2004 global hit ‘Get Busy’.
Most famously, back in April, Kehlani released the sultry floor-filler ‘After Hours’ as the lead single for her upcoming fourth album ‘Crash’.
Paul said it’s “dope” to see dancehall re-emerge into the pop stratosphere.“The entire hip-hop genre at one point sampled a lot of James Brown, and that just proved that his music at a different time was very influential and very flavourful and very awesome,” he went on.
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