Sean Paul’s relationship with the water runs deeper than most.
So when he landed in Cayman amidst a Nor’Wester that necessitated the taking down of the planned beach stage and the rebuilding in a car-park, he was watching events avidly.
“I was just sitting out there on the beach, checking out the stuff but I thought it was going to be raining so I didn’t bring shorts. I was [annoyed] because usually when the water is a little bit rough I like to jet-ski,” he laughs, looking way younger than his 37 years. Because even before the music kicked off for him, the wet stuff meant that he was something of a seasoned traveller.
“I love the water; my grandfather, father, mother and her sister all swam professionally for Jamaica and I played water-polo. Me and my brother got into it and by the age of 11 we were on the national teams; up to the age of 21, every year I was going to Carifta games.
“Where touring is concerned, I think I started then; it’s not about me coming [to Cayman] as a big man, it’s me building relationships with people that I know here and performing for everybody else too. When I came to Carifta every year there’d be Team Cayman, Team Barbados, Trinidad… and so I have friends from these countries who used to be swimmers,” smiles the performer, whose worldwide sales are now blazing past 10 million albums.
Giving back
After the aptly-titled Stage One album, Sean Paul first burst onto the worldwide scene with second album, the Grammy-winning Dutty Rock, the Kingston vocalist was soon guesting on Beyonce singles and becoming ubiquitous on a variety of MTV shows. Third album The Trinity not only provided chart-topper Temperature but also four other red-hot singles and numerous award nominations. Last year’s Imperial Blaze album cemented his status as a dancehall artist of skill. It is also to his credit that he’s used his fame to help gain attention to various charity projects.
“Two Christmasses ago Shaggy called me and said he always does this thing at Christmas [visiting the Bustamante Hospital for Children] – it was not [a concept that was] unfamiliar to me; as a teenager I used to go to old people’s homes – so we went [to the kids’ hospital], and because of the response he got and the [fact that] the people he asked to come did come it sparked something in his head and he decided to put on a show in January that year. We also did a song.
“This year, Haiti was struck so we did another song. Shaggy sparked it up again and I have to show him a lot of respect for the initiative. A lot of people jumped in, did our part but he was the dude that got it going. A lot of years I’ve been doing [music] and people have been supporting me, buying the music and coming to the shows and so it’s nothing for me to give back in that way. A lot of people in the Caribbean, in Jamaica too, they don’t have a lot and you try to help them out. Because of them not having [much] or not having an education, better you put it back in education or somewhere they can benefit from it… it’s smart charity, I think,” says the vocalist.
Tweet petite
Speaking with Sean Paul, it’s clear that here is a performer and artist who has an appreciation for the world around him. It is, fundamentally, about the exchange of information, be that transmitting a dance vibe through the medium of music or a more direct connection. Of late, Paul has been one of many people to embrace Twitter, where he engages with his fans about his music and life.
“I didn’t like social networks [to start with] because when it started big-time I was already famous; I was looking for my own peace and sanity and Facebook is just letting [people] into everything [you do]. So I would go to the supermarket and some girl would say she’d seen me [and there would be a picture online]. So now every part of my privacy was totally obliterated on Facebook, MySpace so I didn’t like them. For the purpose of business my sites were on there but I wasn’t in control of them.
“Years later I was checking out Twitter with a friend and I didn’t mind it; looking at it, it didn’t seem to be about these pictures and digging into people’s lives, it was about a few words that were on your mind and I thought that was great,” he said.
Over the following year, his followers grew exponentially and now number some 70,000. As he says, the site is about more than just chatting about music and thoughts – one of Twitter’s great strengths is its ability to connect people and get right to the heart of breaking news.
“I came offstage one time and heard about an earthquake in Chile so I came online and searched it. But what came up was not just the CNN feeds and major storytellers, it was actually people who were sitting there without light, saying ‘oh my god it was shaking for ten minutes.’ So you get a feel of them, I get a knowing.”
He also uses it as a marker to park lyrical fragments, thoughts or feelings that may end up as part of his oeuvre.
“It [also helps] with certain phrases or sometimes things come to my head and I don’t remember but if I put it on Twitter, there it is and maybe one day I’ll put it in a song or whatever.” Of course, it’s always useful to catch up with old swimming buddies, too. And so life flows on.
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