Since originating from Jamaica in the 1970s, dancehall found its way in trickles to various parts of the world. Typically receptive of sounds beyond its shores, the Nigerian soundscape likewise accepted into its fold this new sound from the Caribbeans. By the late ’90s, many popular Nigerian songs flaunted one dancehall element or the other, including those by Baba Fryo, Daddy Fresh and Daddy Showkey. However, it won’t be until the early aughts that dancehall took firm root among Nigerians, as many of the country’s youths became hooked on songs by Beenie Man, Vybz Kartel, Brick & Lace, Elephant Man, and Wayne Wonder. In this period of worldscale dancehall exportation, Nigerians learned about Sean Paul, the Kingston-born, Jamaican rapper, singer and songwriter who made the genre a truly global phenomenon.
Born Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques, the artist officially launched his career in 2000 with his debut album, Stage One. Released with VP Records, the album established Paul as a promising talent. However, it didn’t make him a regular in the Nigerian nighttime party scene. For that he has his second album Dutty Rock to thank. Jointly released with VP Records and Atlantic Records in 2002, the album not only made Paul a global star at 28-years old, it also made dancehall a worldwide sensation. The album’s first single Gimme the Light reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100; its third single Get Busy also topped that chart, making it the first dancehall song to do so. At the 2003 Grammys, Dutty Rock won Best Reggae Album.
Music fans across the world embraced the album and its buoyant message of youthful lust, rakish love and masculine braggadocio, all which were encased in bass-driven instrumentals and animated by Paul’s Jamaican Creole, the last of which plausibly proved to be a linguistic hurdle for many Nigerians. Though lots of them jived to the heavy basslines and hip-hop, RnB and pop influences comprising the album, they struggled to make out what Paul was saying.
But Nigerians understood just enough to realize most of the songs trafficked in topics which mirrored those of the popular Nigerian jams of the time. Nigerian pop songs of the aughts were worldly to boot: from Styl Plus singing about a footloose love affair in Run Away to Olu Maintain, in Yahooze, extolling the Machiavellian impulse which drives cyber-fraudsters. So Dutty Rock was right for the Nigerian appetite, as the album offers a peep-hole into a glossy world of pliant, beautiful and ever-dancing women, non-committal romantic relationships. lust-drenched vacations and, occasionally, narcotics-inspired euphoria.
Paul pursues these concerns in songs like Gimme the Light, where he asks for “dro” and “another bukkle of Moë,” the former slang for marijuana and the latter betraying the artist’s hedonism. In Get Busy, he issues a command with all the bluster of an entitled male, asking his female fans to break into a suggestive dance. He sings, “shake that booty non-stop.” In this album, Paul plays the fun-seeking Casanova.
He also shows a contemplative side, as in the slow-grind jam I’m Still in Love with You. Featuring fellow Jamaican Sasha, he poses the question: what happens when a woman falls madly in love with a man who does not know how to and is unwilling to love her back? It’s the classic girl-loves-bad-boy tale. “You don’t know how to love me/ You don’t even know how to kiss me,” sings Sasha, playing the heart-broken lover. In response, Paul sings, “I’m a hustler and a player and you know I’m not a stayer.” He even blames biology for his inability to stay committed to a relationship: “a man gotta do what a man gotta do.” The result is a song which breaks away from the happy-go-lucky hedonism Paul embodies in the other songs, showing he can also work at a deeper emotional register. He might be a mindless playboy, but he can also be a self-aware one.
Whether Paul is playing Lothario or doing some soul-searching, what remains unchanged is the songs’ danceability. Paul made Nigerians dance, most times fast, sometimes slowly.
Such was Paul’s renown in Nigeria that fans trooped en masse to watch him perform in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, when he first visited the country in 2004. Nearly two decades later, his influence on Nigerian music is still felt, particularly on the country’s most popular genre, afrobeats. As afrobeats evolved through the aughts to the 2010s, it absorbed some dancehall elements. Since it was mostly through Paul’s efforts that dancehall would sit slapbang at the center of the country’s sonisphere, it could be said that he likewise contributed to afrobeats’ incorporation of dancehall qualities.
Many modern Nigerian artists have also either made dancehall songs or those with a heavy dancehall imprint, including Burna Boy (Yawa Dey), Patoranking (Alubarika), Shank (Julie) and General Pype (Champion), to name a few. Perhaps Paul’s influence can be traced to the development of afro-dancehall, a genre typified by heavy percussion and melodic riddims which blends dancehall elements with those of African music.
Also consider Paul’s verbiage which confounded Nigerians those years ago, as ready access to lyrics online was not yet possible. Post-2010 at least, many Nigerian artists have taken to using Jamaican Patois, combining it with local expressions to encapsulate the Nigerian experience. Patois is never far from the lips of artists like Burna Boy, Patoranking, Wizkid, Yung L and Cynthia Morgan. By making dancehall mainstream in Nigeria, perhaps Paul has also caused some of the country’s artists to update their active vocabulary.
Now 50 years old, with eight albums to his name, Paul is mostly focused on nurturing talents through his record label, Dutty Rock Productions, which he founded in 2011. The label’s first signing, the Jamaican artist Chi Ching Ching, has just released a single, Ova Tek. Likewise, Paul has newly released Summa Hot; and the song, with its jaunty beat and joyful subject, will remind certain Nigerians of a time in their lives when they fell in love with a certain 28-year-old Jamaican. They will also realize not even the passing of time has mellowed the artist’s fun-loving streak. “Shake it,” he sings in his new single. Now where have we heard that before?