Popular Jamaican legendary and reggae-dancehall musician, Ryan Francis Henriques OD, better known as Sean Paul, has released his new album ‘Live N Livin’ containing 16 tracks with collaboration from 21 male artists without including any female.
During an interview on Reggaeville’s Wha’ Gwaan Munchy, Sean Paul explain that ‘Live N Livin’ was dropped on his label Dutty Rock Productions where he has full control, adding that, he wasn’t troubled with the numbers of artists featured but in showing the unity in Dancehall.
He said, “I kinda just wanted to have a focus on this album especially with the brethren them, you know what I mean.”
The singer further explained that female dancehall artists will be featured on his next album ‘Scorcher’ which will be dropping in May, he highlighted two female artists Shenseea and Jada Kingdom who had been doing an incredible job for Dancehall. According to him, the women have been doing unprecedentedly in the past four to five years on their own.
The singer admitted that most of his successful collaborations have been with women, stating that, the message behind his new album was personal while emphasizing the clash culture as not being necessary for deejays to move forward.
He said, “Forget the clash let’s get the cash, ” adding that he understands clash culture as a big part of Dancehall but said he believes that it is not the most important aspect of the culture.
According to the singer, his priority is to lead by example and also sought out the younger male artists even though some of them had opposed each other. He said, getting Intence and Skillibeng to work on the same album was an example to show the unity that he is looking for.
The singer also enunciated the inspiration behind the last track on the album title Everest which was produced by Demarco and features Masicka and Skillibeng. In his words, he described the track as a way of promoting unity among artists, as Masicka and Demarco haven’t been gotten along.
He said, “To put this song on the album felt like climbing up a hill, it was a monumental task to put 21 Dancehall artists together in this pandemic and just put out the work. Good likkle vibe and it’s all about unity for me.”
The singer went further to explained how the effect of the pandemic and the lockdown offered him an opportunity to bring his vision to life. According to him, it was a vision that he had always been playing with and his conversations with Shaggy, Damian ‘Junior Gong’ Marley and Buju Banton gave him the affirmation that he needed to push it forward.
The singer also said he realized that he and other artists needed to do more work with each other, even though there is little chance of being able to tour fully for his new album, he thinks, it shouldn’t stop him from putting it out because people need music for hope as they continue to battle the pandemic. He added, “tours stop and lyrics ah pop and album fe drop.”
However among those featured on ‘Live N Living album were Busy Signal, Intence, Leftside, Buju Banton, Damian Marley, Chi Ching Ching, Govana, Serani, Jesse Royal, Mutabaruka, Stonebwoy, Bugle, Squash, Mavado, Agent Sasco, Masicka, and Skilling.
Live N Livin is available on all streaming services now.
Thank you for taking your time in reading through our Journal Today. We wish to always provide you with qualitative Stories as far as GOOD-JOURNALISM is CONCERN. But good journalism costs a lot of money and only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, accountability democracy, and a transparent government.
For continued free access to the best investigative journalism, we ask you to consider subscribing to our daily news updates.
