Sean Paul Lashes Out At ‘Slavery Mentality’ In Dancehall’s Clash Culture

As more critics lament the state of Dancehall, Sean Paul has lashed out at the genre’s clash culture for promoting a “slavery mentality” among artists. The Grammy winner and international megastar had some strong words for cutthroat stage antics, such as those at the once annual Sting stage show, which he feels influences the worsening industry ethos.

Sean Paul’s appeal and tenor excludes the typical controversy, which has proven a winning formula in his career of almost three decades. However, the hitmaker had a few contentious points to get off his chest in his recent DJ Epps interview. When the Sunday Gleaner followed up with Dutty Paul, he doubled down on what he posits as the hypocrisy, disunity, and lack of positivity plaguing the Dancehall scene.

During the interview with DJ Epps, Paul said, “The movie Django reminds me of our clash culture. Two youths fight, and then a guy gives one the hammer and says finish him”, the decorated veteran said. “That reminds me of clash. I don’t like that. If we perpetuate it year after year to these kids, they are going to come up and do the same thing. Since slavery, we have been put up against ourselves, and we shouldn’t be doing that”. 

“The statement I made to DJ Epps is really heartfelt. I carried that feeling about our clash culture for a long time, but not knowing what exactly to say about it or how to say it and the time to say it,” he later told The Sunday Gleaner. Though he’s been fortunate enough to work with some of the world’s greatest musicians, he remains torn between the good and bad elements of the culture.

“Why do we, when bigging up one person, have to deny the other of their glory? It’s divide and rule. It’s very crab in a barrel”, Sean Paul shared.

“As Capleton seh, music is a mission, not a competition. There shouldn’t be the arrogance of ‘I am the best’ because we are all good at what we do. We are such a powerful force, yet so divided, that it leaves this big space. Instead, we are here squabbling among each other, so [internationally] they say, ‘This is good. Let’s take it.’”

The deejay’s slick delivery has been a prolific chart-topping ticket, landing him coveted features and opening many genre-bending doors. Adding that he was “mad proud” of Beenie Man and Bounty Killer’s recent Verzuz victory, he appealed to industry players to update and unify their approach to enjoy similar success, longevity, and acclaim. 

Sean Paul singled out the annual hardcore stage show Sting for fostering a “slavery mentality” among performers.

“Every year in Jamaica, we grew up with Sting. The basis of the entire show was to clash each other and do the most hard-core performance. This is slavery mentality to me, and I just don’t want to do that. In our culture, we had Shabba and Ninjaman clash and Ninjaman and Super Cat, and I was a fan of all those people. I see people in the street who seh that Shabba badder and stab up each other over it. I don’t want to see none of that. The black, gold, and green, those are my colours,” the singer told DJ Epps.

In acknowledging that there is both good and bad in the clash culture, Paul told the Gleaner, “As I said in the interview, we all have benefitted from clash culture. It helps everybody – the selectors who clash, upcoming artistes who learn from the mistakes others might make, or the triumphs he sees, the same artistes who are clashing. It sharpens us a lot and makes us very potent and very creative emcees and musicians.”