Sean Paul Wishes He Was On Dave Kelly’s ‘Showtime’ Riddim, Staff Says They Can Still Link
Dancehall superstar Sean Paul says Dave Kelly’s Showtime, which spawned hits such as Bounty Killer’s Eagle and the Hawk, Cham’s Gallang Yah Gal and Wayne Wonder’s Searching Dem Searching, is the one juggling riddim on which he really wishes he had been given the opportunity to voice.
In an interview with Vibe Magazine‘s Siobhan Dixon, Sean when asked: “What’s the one riddim you are not on, but wish you were?” gave the 1997 Madhouse Records beat as the answer.
“I could name one off the top, Showtime. When I heard it, I was like, ‘Wow.’ You know what I mean? It’s a staple riddim. Very prolific riddim,” the Scorcha deejay said.
Incidentally, the Grammy Award winner’s comments come a week after Nigel Staff, key director of the legendary Ruff Kutt band, and co-producer of Sean Paul and Keyshia Cole’s Give it Up to Me, said, among other things, that it was ‘rumoured’ that “Rude Bwoy” Kelly “did not rate” Sean Paul, who has featured on some of Dancehall’s other seminal beats including Diwali, Playground, Bookshelf, Street Sweeper and Buzz.
“Rumour had it that he said he didn’t rate him,” Staff, an award-winning record producer, songwriter and musician told Television Jamaica’s Anthony Miller, after being asked why he thought Dave Kelly “never worked with Sean Paul.”
“I don’t know. I don’t follow rumours. But, sometimes, to be honest with you – and this is my personal thought – Dave was really busy and Sean was really busy. And sometimes it was so hard for people to meet up and link up… but I am saying it’s not too late, and I don’t think there is any bad blood. I think it can happen and I think honestly, personally – I think we need some of that new old school in 2023,” Staff added.
Despite not having ever voiced with Dave, Sean has had massive hits whilst working with the producer’s elder brother Tony “CD” Kelly, who produced Deport Them and Like Glue.
Deport Them was the first single on Stage One, Sean’s debut album. Originally released in 1998 on the Bookshelf riddim, it was co-written and produced by Tony. The song reached No. 70 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart in 2000.
Like Glue, which was also co-written and produced by Tony, featured on Sean’s Dutty Rock album in 2002. The song, which was voiced on Tony’s Buy Out riddim, peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and achieved success worldwide as a top ten hit in Switzerland, the UK, Canada and Ireland.
As for Showtime, last year international Dancehall recording artist Cham had described the riddim as the “greatest Dancehall riddim ever”. According to him, Kelly’s creativity and unconventional musical gymnastics in the making of the riddim, which featured three songs from him, were the factors to which he attributed its greatness.
“The Showtime riddim to me, is the greatest riddim of all time; the biggest Dancehall riddim. Di reason why, is because Dave Kelly actually put a crowd from a soccer stadium in di riddim di riddim itself going “ahhh” and den yuh have di odda voices going saying ‘hey’ and dat’s how di whole idea of Showtime came about. Because it is really Showtime when you hear di crowd noise, yuh feel like it’s time to just explode, on the stage,” Cham had explained.
As for the outlook for Dancehall, Nigel Staff and Sean Paul, seem to be thinking along the same lines. In June last year, the Get Busy artist had said that hardcore, authentic Dancehall riddims, which have been absent from Jamaican music in recent times, and for which Dancehall fans have been clamouring, were ‘coming full circle’.
“I think people are ready for a Dancehall sound, for hard core, back into that now. We’ve influenced Reggaton, Afrobeat, ‘Zesser’ music in Trinidad. All of that come from Dancehall…“Now I think people are ready for hardcore Dancehall sound again,” Sean Paul said in an interview.
Paul has had 19 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, from as far back as 2003.
His first Hot 100 chart-topper was the platinum-selling Get Busy, on Lenky Marsden’s Diwali riddim. Prior to that Sean Paul had scored big with his first hit single Gimme the Light on Troyton Rami’s Buzz riddim, which peaked at No. 1 on the Hot 100. Both songs appeared on Paul’s 2X Platinum Dutty Rock album, which won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2004.
His 2005 hit single We Be Burning on the Stepz riddim peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received Platinum certification in 2017. In addition, his 2005 Billboard chart-topping single Temperature, voiced on Dancehall producer Snowcone’s Applause riddim, also received a triple-Platinum certification that year.
Dave Kelly, who ruled the 1990s, and is labelled the greatest dancehall producer of all time, crafted scores of legendary riddims such as Pepperseed, Joy Ride, Stink and Dugu Dugu. He also masterminded the Bogle, Arab Attack, Heartbeat, Return, Haunted, Heartbeat, Backyard, Fiesta, 85, and Bruk Out from which the majority of Dancehall hits were birthed.
Kelly is to be honoured at Reggae Sumfest’s Madhouse Tribute to Dave Kelly on Saturday, July 23, which will feature a slew of artists who recorded with Madhouse in the 1990s, among them Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Spragga Benz and Wayne Wonder.