Sean Paul Calls ‘Live N Livin’ Grammy Nod A “Special One”

Billed as the ‘collaboration over confrontation’ album, Sean Paul‘s star-studded Live N Livin project is among was six nominees for Best Reggae Album at the upcoming 64th Grammy Awards.  The album was released on March 12 and later peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Reggae Album chart.

Live N Livin was Paul’s 7th studio album, but the first to be released on his own Dutty Rock Productions label.  The collab heavy suite of 16 tracks recruited 22 Reggae and Dancehall artists including Busy Signal, Intence, Buju Banton, Damian Marley, Govana, Serani, Jesse Royal, Stonebwoy, Bugle, Squash, Mavado, Agent Sasco, Masicka, and Skillibeng.

“This GRAMMY nomination is a special one, Live N Livin is a very special project to me, it’s a return to hardcore dancehall,” Sean Paul said, after the nominations were announced via live stream yesterday.

“Everyone I worked with from my engineers to the producers to the artists, even the person who did the artwork is Jamaican and one artist from Ghana. It was really a collaborative effort and I’m proud of the recognition we all received.”

Paul had explained that he released the album on his own label—where he had full control—because he was not concerned with the numbers, but in illustrating his mantra of unity and “collaboration over confrontation”.

“With this album, I wanted to show my genre that we need to do more collaborative work and less competition amongst ourselves,” he added.

This is Paul’s 9th Grammy Award nomination and 6th nomination for Best Reggae Album.

He previously won the Best Reggae Album in 2004 for his multi-platinum album Dutty Rock. He was nominated in the same category for The Trinity (2006), Imperial Blaze (2010), Tomahawk Technique (2013), and Full Frequency (2015).

The Temperature deejay was also nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with Cheap Thrills in 2016, Best New Artist in 2003, and Best Male Rap Solo Performance with Get Busy in 2003.

In 2022, Sean Paul is expected to release another album, Scorcher, under the auspices of Island Records. The LP will feature American singer Gwen Stefani, Sia, Shenseea, Jada Kingdom, Stylo G, and more.

The other Best Reggae Album nominees are 10 by Spice, Pamoja by Etana, Positive Vibration by Gramps Morgan, Royal by Jesse Royal and Beauty in Silence by American reggae band SOJA.   The winner will be announced at the Grammy Awards ceremony to be held on January 31, 2022, at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles.