Sean Paul Lists Bob Marley, Shabba Ranks And Shaggy As Major Career Influences
2021 has already claimed two of our icons — Bunny Wailer and U-Roy — and Sean Paul is wasting no time giving his faves their flowers. Speaking on Apple Music’s At Home With podcast, the Dancehall superstar lauded the living legends Shaggy and Shabba Ranks, who essentially paved the way for his international strides, while naming Reggae icon Bob Marley as one of his “heroes”.
In his near 30 year career, Sean Paul has been blessed to work with the who’s who in every genre he’s graced — from Carlos Santana to Keyshia Cole. Acknowledging that Dancehall wasn’t always viewed as the mainstream magic that it is today, the veteran applauded those who’d laid the foundation for greatness.
“My music, or the genre, has been through stages”, he told host Zane Lowe. “People like Shabba Ranks and people like Shaggy, they kind of broke over a lot of international space for people like myself and [others] to come through with hardcore music after that.”
The Breakout deejay explained how he’d idolized the Emperor of Dancehall since he emerged in the ’80s, knowing even then those were big shoes to fill.
“For me Shabba was a big artist. Even he had songs that was big from the ’80s here. And he was just one of the stable ones for me that I could always enjoy anything. When people tell me, DJs tell me, “Anytime I want to just put on a record for the girls to dance, it’s you, bro.” And for me, that was Shabba Ranks at the time. Anything he did was just dope.”
When he won the Reggae Grammy for two consecutive years in 1992 and 1993, Shabba gave the then-upcoming artist Sean Paul a glimpse of the weight and appeal of the genre worldwide. In spite of those who labeled Shabba’s music as pure ‘slackness’, Paul saw value and fashioned his larger-than-life career, following closely in Shabba’s footsteps.
“The elders used to call him a slackness DJ because he was spitting a lot of rhymes that we in Dancehall/reggae had never heard before about ladies, and very intricate details. You know what I mean?” he said. “It was a shock, but for my generation, he was just a dude that was not doing any wrong. And then when a broke international, I felt like it was me, bro.”
Paul would eventually get the chance to collaborate with the man he looked up to all these years. They appeared on the lover’s rock anthem Baby, with Fiona and Erup on 2007’s soothing Cloud Nine Riddim.
But if Sean Paul’s raunchy chart successes (Bad Inna Bed (Dumplin Remix)) can be traced back to Shabba’s influence, then his more conscious material, as well as his stance on unity, is easily attributed to the other stalwart he named.
Labeling Robert Nesta ‘Bob’ Marley his personal “hero”, Sean Paul heaped praises on the late King of Reggae. “Somebody that was the most famous of us, just did it in such a prolific way. So his face is uncompromised and his music is standing the test of time. So for me, just a world icon. I’m so proud to be from the same country.”
Sean Paul added that he and his brother Jason grew up with Marley’s son Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, and he was “kind of like the big brother” for the youngest veteran at one point. They’ve remained close despite their divergent paths and appeared on a collab called Schedule on Paul’s new album, Live N Livin.
Paul said the intention with Live N Livin was “to put unity as the forefront”, and the buzz around its release is telling. Whether or not you feel like 15 collaborations are too many, there’s no denying the feature-heavy suite has something for everyone. Even with his immense success, Sean Paul has shied away from the hit web series Verzuz, famously stating he doesn’t condone dancehall’s clash culture and blasting the negative aspects of the genre.
He may be left out of a few things based on that but seems unfettered for now, channeling his time and effort into — what else — paying it forward. “I’m so thankful that I trusted that feeling when I just started; it’s taken me to be who I am today,” said the Ever Blazin emcee. “Now I’m trying to do that back with my own production and take part in the history and shine some light on some other people’s career down here that I just rate.”
Press play on the full interview below.