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Sean Paul is bringing dancehall back

And he might have elicited a Drake diss track in the process

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JT might have brought sexy back, but SP is set on bringing dancehall back.

The dancehall we hear in clubs today is a far cry from the OG music that had the likes of Sean Paul occupying the limelight in the 2000s. The Jamaican musician ran the scene with tracks like ‘Get Busy’ and ‘Gimme The Light’, which were unmatchable at the time. Nowadays, we hear a fractured version of the genre, with tracks like Justin Bieber‘s ‘Sorry’ holding clear dancehall influences and moves in the video clip. This has been said too of Drake’s latest album Views, Kanye’s Yeezus and Kendrick’s To Pimp a Butterfly.

This adaptation of the genre hits a little too close to home for some, Paul included. “It is a sore point when people like Drake or Bieber or other artists come and do dancehall-orientated music but don’t credit where dancehall came from and they don’t necessarily understand it,” Paul said in a recent interview with The Guardian. “A lot of people get upset, they get sour. And I know artists back in Jamaica that don’t like Major Lazer because they think they do the same thing that Drake and Kanye did – they take and take and don’t credit.”

But Sean Paul is set on making a comeback. “Dancehall is back but this time, it’s also infused with Afrobeat, with hip-hop, with trap, and that’s fine with me,” he said. “Sure, I would like what we do in Jamaica, that authentic dancehall, to be on top, but it simply isn’t. So I want this album to bridge that gap.” Yes, you read that right: he said “album”. We can expect a new SP album but that doesn’t mean we know quite what to expect. We know we’re in for bars from Wiz Khalifa, but SP himself has largely toned down his previous lifestyle. Now, he opts for a green tea in place of a joint—literally. “I still like to get high, it helps with the creativity… except now I just have it in tea.” The content of the tracks might be a bit different, but we’re pretty sure there will still be some classic SP magic in there for sure… provided Kanye, Drake, and Kendrick don’t link up beforehand and ruin his career.

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