Dancehall's return to mainstream popularity in the past year is no secret. From Drake and Bieber incorporating its rhythms and patois in their hit singles, to Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar both working with Assassin, the Jamaican genre is more popular than ever. However, in a new interview with The Guardian, dancehall giant Sean Paul argues that these artists need to give their influences more credit. “It is a sore point when people like Drake or Bieber or other artists come and do dancehall-orientated music but don’t credit where dancehall came from and they don’t necessarily understand it,” Paul told the British newspaper.
“A lot of people get upset, they get sour. And I know artists back in Jamaica that don’t like Major Lazer because they think they do the same thing that Drake and Kanye did – they take and take and don’t credit," he added. However, Paul admits that the artists he mentioned by name do take from just one genre. "Dancehall is back but this time it’s also infused with Afrobeat, with hip-hop, with trap, and that’s fine with me,” he says. “Sure, I would like what we do in Jamaica, that authentic dancehall, to be on top, but it simply isn’t."
Revisit Sean Paul week on The FADER here.
