Sean Paul Says Dancehall Artists Who Clash Are Doing Themselves More Harm Than Good
Sean Paul is insisting that Dancehall artists who try to build their careers by engaging in clashes with other entertainers, are doing themselves more harm than good.
According to the Grammy-winning artist, these clash lyrics have never propelled any entertainer to the top of international music charts, or earned them cross-over success, radio airplay, huge record sales, or high streaming figures.
An unrelenting opponent of clashing, Sean Paul, who has consistently preached for more collaborations over divisiveness, said the artists who are seeing huge sales figures and high streams, are those who have remained ‘clash-less’.
“A lot of our higher streaming artistes never clashed at all. Myself, Shaggy, Koffee, Charly Black, people like Gyptian, Serani; they all got on major radio stations and if you are an artiste an you understand what it is to be on a playlist. Elephant Man – I don’t remember big clashes with those artistes I mentioned. Maybe one or two scuffles here and there, but it wasn’t the main focus of their career,” Sean Paul told journalist Anthony Miller on Television Jamaica’s The Entertainment Report recently.
“The artistes who have done that, I don’t see them streaming as much. It brings people to look at you, but does it bring them to buy, which is essentially what we are trying to do to keep this whole thing going?” he added.
Sean Paul also decried the new low to which clash lyrics have sunk over the last few years, with artists dragging their counterpart family members’ names, including children and parents into their mess.
“You can still go hard; you can still represent yourself and go very deep with your lyrics and very potent without being derogatory – calling other people mother name; calling their kids names. This is what our clashing has gone to now. And late[ly], I have just been very tired of it,” he said.
The Wolmer’s High School old boy also pushed back against the notion of Dancehall being in decline, despite few signs of successors showing any of the commercial clout displayed by artists like himself and Shaggy over the last two decades.
According to him, the genre is well and alive, a point he set out to make in his new Live N Livin album, for which all of the tracks, except for one, are collaborations with Dancehall/Reggae acts.
“This music that I love put me on the map, took me to certain places. The producers you know – Steelie and Clevie, Sly and Robbie, people like Bobby Digital, Tony Kelly – all of these people kinda from just even teaching me, put me where I am, and now people call me this legend or this global ambassador for the music. And when I hear people say ‘oh the genre is dead, because a di numbers’, this is my answer to it. We are her; we are live and livin; check di pulse,” he said.
Sean also doubled down on his statements that there were not enough collabs being done in Dancehall, and this was also contributing to the view by people that the genre was on a downward spiral.
“For us to work together brings back a energy and a focus as to Dancehall itself. And speaking to Buju, speaking to Junior Gong, speaking to Shaggy over the years, it comes up in conversations so often. We don’t do enough collabs as a genre, the Dutty Rock artist stated.
“We see Reggaeton do it; we see other genre do it, especially the more urban types of music and it worked. And I for one collaborate with many people all over the world… The collabs with me and Mr. Vegas took me to where I am; collabs with me and Sasha took me to here I am now. So I really have the belief in the music; I have the belief in the artistes out here and that’s enough for me,” he added.