very emotional experience to me. The whole country of Africa is an important place to visit and do shows.
It’s been over three years since Sean Paul produced a full length album for his fans. Since then, the dancehall phenomenon has been somewhat quiet, especially considering his pREVIOUS domination of U.S. entertainment. Earlier this year the Grammy-winning artist introduced the single “So Fine” from his fourth project, Imperial Blaze, an album Sean Paul feels is slightly more mature, but still geared toward the party crowd. During the album’s promo tour, the Jamaican spokesman makes a stop in the south to talk about where he’s been, what he’s seen, and how it’s affected him not only as a musician, but also as a humanitarian. Tell us about the new album. Everybody is wondering why it’s taken you so long to give your fans new material. The album has been done since about January ’09. I’ve basically been sitting back waiting. I took three years to finish it off. Everybody’s like, “Yo, when’s it gon’ come out?” So I was just as much anxious as my fans were. It was finished in January, but I was told it’s a summer record so I had to wait. I was setting stuff up and now we’re here doing the promotion. Who can we expect to hear on the album? Do you have any special guest features? I don’t have no collaborations on my album. A lot of people ask me, “Who you got on your album?” And it’s like, “Me, it’s my album.” I did a lot of songs this time around, like near 60 songs, so I just wanted people to hear most of it. I think about 20 songs are on the album. What types of songs are they? It’s a party-oriented album. It also gets a little bit mature. I’m speaking about relationships. I have a song dedicated to my mom. People might say, “You did a song to your mommy? You’re a mommy’s boy?” But really, all of us are. I think that’s a more mature way of looking at it for myself. For that reason alone the album is a little bit more mature. How many years has it been since you released 46 // OZONE MAG
your very first album? The first album I had was Stage One in 2000. So that was nine years ago. Do you still enjoy making music as much today as you did nine years ago? I definitely enjoy making music. I also enjoy performing it. There’s a lot of things I had to get used to enjoying, like going around and doing a lot of meet and greets. But I do enjoy it; I enjoy meeting new people and everyting. You’re a huge Jamaican artist in the U.S., but you’re also big in other countries and continents. How does that feel to be able to touch such a wide range of people? It’s an amazing feeling to be able to have a thought on your mind, even if it’s just to shake your ass, and people hear it and acknowledge it and get wit’ it. It’s a beautiful feeling. It’s kinda what I wanted to do in the beginning, it’s why I got into spittin’ rhymes and being the DJ that I am. I had a few things to say, and instead of just telling one person here and there, I could go on to tell every woman, “Yo, you the hottest, you the best.” For real. So you tell every woman that, or is there one particular one? Are you single? Um, at the moment, that’s still my own personal business. How do you deal with strangers always in your personal business? Does it make you uncomfortable or are you used to it by now? Yeah, when ladies are in my personal business I feed them bananas, and when dudes try to get in my personal business I tell them mañanas. You know what I mean? Back to your overseas audience, what are some places that really had an impact on you? Were there some countries that just really touched you? Tahiti was an amazing place to go to. People always ask me where I like to vacation, and I always say Jamaica ‘cause it’s the most beautiful place I know. I still live there. Every time I have time off I’m like, “Take me back home to Jamaica.” I go to a place called Portland, a very beautiful place. But when I went to Tahiti, I was like, wow this is amazing. And plus it’s a very underdeveloped country. There’s not much infrastructure, it’s very natural. I loved it. Also, Rwanda was a
What was it about Rwanda that was emotional for you? About 15 years ago they had a massacre over there, genocide. My country at that time, in 1994, was a violent country, but not as violent as it is today. Sometimes it makes me feel a bit anxious for my own country. When I went to Rwanda to perform, I saw the people back together again and they said, “We couldn’t do this 12 years ago. We couldn’t have a concert like this ‘cause we were all fighting each other.” Do you see that happening in your country? It’s so similar to what’s happening in my country right now. After that performance I cried. I came off stage and tears was comin’ down. I kept thinking to myself, is this how Jamaica has to get before we realize we need to chill out? I always tell people about that, and it was a very outstanding performance for me. [The Rwandans] took 800,000 lives of their own people in three months. Now 15 years later they’re together again. 800,000 lives coulda been saved, it coulda gone down different. That show gave me an overwhelming vibe. That’s a powerful story. Are you on the road touring right now? Yeah, I’m on a promotional tour for the album, letting people know I’m back out publicly. I’ve been doing records back home in Jamaica, but nothing to present as an album to the world. Some of it’s out on the internet, but I wanted to let people know my album is out now. About the end of May I started going to different territories – the whole East Coast, I went to France and England. I came back to the West Coast and did a lot of those territories, and now I’m here in the South. In September when the promotional tour is done I’ll get a chance to look into touring. People can go to AllSeanPaul.com. I think I want to tour in November and December. How’s your single “So Fine” doing? Is it living up to your expectations? Oh, fa sho. It’s putting smiles on ladies’ faces, I’m bouncing people around, you know what I mean? I’m glad for that. Unfortunately, Michael Jackson died, and it kinda took over our whole consciousness. Twitter and YouTube went crazy, and it’s still going crazy. Big up to him and his family and fans. I wish him peace. He’s a great entity in music – style, music, performances, music videos. He’s innovative. MJ, rest in peace. //