Each Music Monday will be formatted as followed: an overview/ my opinion on their said career, followed by the ranking of their top 5 songs. No artist is without flaws, their worst three songs will also be judged and ripped to shreds.
As a reminder, this is not going to be a series where I list no-name songs off an artist’s shitty second album that’ll you’ll hear occasionally in an urban coffee shop. We only grade hits here. I’m not looking for songs that have the best underlying message. I’m not looking for songs that represent the artist’s struggle and triumph over something shitty that happened to them. I don’t care about any of that. We are only ranking the cream of the crop, the pinnacle of an artist’s success. Before you ask, I will not be ranking The Beatles’ songs, as I do not want to tarnish my blog with overrated garbage. If you have a problem with that, or my rankings, and want to make your criticisms known, you can email all of your concerns to VinnieWontCheckThis@gmail.com. Prior versions of this series can be found here.
So with that, let’s get started.
Sean Paul Francis Henriques was born in Kingston, Jamaica on January 9, 1973. Many members of his family are swimmers. His grandfather was on the first Jamaican men’s national water polo team. His father also played water polo for the team in the 1960s, and competed in long-distance swimming, while Paul’s mother was a butterfly swimmer. Paul played for the national water polo team from the age of 13 to 21, when he gave up the sport in order to launch his musical career. He was discovered by his soon to be manager at an open mic night. They eventually would collaborate and Sean Paul’s debut album, Stage One, was released in 2000. In 2002, Sean Paul continued his work with this manager and eventually got a record deal to begin work on his second album. The manager got him introduced to Miami based producers who played a part in his second album, Dutty Rock, which was released in November 2002. The album became a worldwide success, selling 6 million copies, and spawning 2 number 1 hits (Baby Boy, Get Busy), a top 10 hit (Gimme the Light), and two top 15 hits (Like Glue, I’m Still in Love with You). Sean Paul was nominated for two Grammy’s and Baby Boy was the best selling single of 2003. Sean Paul returner back to Jamaica to begin working on his third album in 2004. The Trinity was released in September 2005. Much like it’s predecessor, it contained an array of hits, spawning a number one (Temperature), top 3 (Give it Up to Me), and two top 10 singles (We Be Burnin’, Break it Off). Paul took some time off and didn’t get a new album from him until 2009, when he released Imperial Blaze. The album flopped, producing nothing worth noting. He was however featured on a top ten hit with Jay Sean (Do You Remember). (Ironically this is the first time I’ve heard Jay Sean’s name in a decade, completely forgot about this man). In 2011, he collaborated with Pitbull and T-Pain on the international banger, Shake Senora. Sean Paul wasn’t on anything noteworthy until 2016, despite releasing an album in 2012 (Tomohawk Technique), and 2014 (Full Frequency). (EDIT: I lied, he was featured on the top 12 hit, Bailando with Enrique Iglesias in 2014). He experienced a career resurgence in 2016 when he notched his fourth number one hit with Sia (Cheap Thrills). He was also featured on the top 10 hit with Clean Bandit (Rockabye). I’m also going to mention he was featured on the Little Mix song called Hair, which, even though it didn’t chart, still bumps. He released an EP, Mad Love in 2018 and despite nothing charting in the US there are a number of songs that found success outside of the USofA (No Lie with Dua Lipa, Bad Love with Ellie Goulding, and Mad Love with Becky G).
When people think of dancehall music, Sean Paul should be the first name that comes to mind. He is the king of booty bops and deserves recognition. Everyone sees Justin Bieber and Drake try to make these dancehall tracks and a lot of that stems from the success Sean Paul has seen. I don’t think a lot of people release how many hits the man truly has.
Toughest Omission (Tie): Mad Love (ft. Becky G), and No Lie (ft. Dua Lipa): Both these songs deserved better in the US. This album in general is full of bangers. If you’ve ever done a Zumba class odds are you’ve heard both of these songs and so you know they are absolute bangers.
5. We Be Burnin’: anytime this song came on staking rink… you knew it was go time. This song made me realize that there are three types of English – US English, UK English, and Sean Paul. You never understand what he’s saying but boy does he get the body moving.
4. Get Busy: as much as I love Pitbull, Sean Paul walked so Pitbull can run. When he released this song he pretty much laid a career on a silver platter for the guy and this song embodies that.
3. Break it Off (ft. Rihanna): This is a forgotten work of art. I honestly wouldn’t mind if Rihanna went back to the tropical sound we heard from her around this time. It slaps.
2. Baby Boy (ft. Beyonce 😮): Beyoncé? On this blog?!? I’m as surprised as you are. However, I am a professional and when a song is a hit I have no choice but to treat it as such.
1. Temperature: Wherever you are, whether it’s the club, or the grocery store, whenever the beat drops followed by the words – Sean-A-Paul, so mi go so then.” The place automatically starts BUMPING. And I was always curious what those lyrics meant so I looked it up. It legit translates to, “My name is Sean Paul, I’m gonna go ahead and start this song now.” King.
I’m going to rank Sean Paul’s three best features since he has a solid array of them.
3. Rockabye (with Clean Bandit)
2. Cheap Thrills (with Sia)
1. Shake Senora (with Pitbull & T-Pain)
Your Turn:
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
| Gimme the Light | 2002 | 7 | Dutty Rock |
| Get Busy | 2003 | 1 | Dutty Rock |
| Like Glue | 2003 | 13 | Dutty Rock |
| Baby Boy (ft. Beyonce) | 2003 | 1 | Dutty Rock |
| I’m Still in Love with You | 2004 | 14 | Dutty Rock |
| We Be Burnin’ | 2005 | 6 | The Trinity |
| Temperature | 2006 | 1 | The Trinity |
| Give It Up to Me | 2006 | 3 | The Trinity |
| Break it Off (ft. Rihanna) | 2006 | 9 | The Trinity |
Vin'sane Thoughts 