Sean Paul Loves The 'Get Busy' Challenge As Much As You Do

Sean Paul needs no introduction, nevertheless here we go anyway. Since the early 2000s, the dancehall icon has been, uh, busy, driving the genre far behind the borders of its native Jamaica. And he's not done nevertheless. Last month, Paul released the Tove Lo teamwork "Calling On Me," which precedes a forthcoming full-length album, his first since 2014, due later this year. He'll spend the summer touring (likely with his two kids, 3-year-old Levi and 6-month-old Remi, in tow), as well as wants to plan how he'll celebrate the impending 20th anniversary of his hit album Dutty Rock. "What can I mention he mentioned about the project that propelled him into global superstardom. "Five singles that really worked, and then six million records sold the initial year. A good vibe."


Ahead of all that, Paul caught up with MTV News on a sunny L.A. Afternoon to talk about new music, Rihanna, TikTok's "Get Busy" challenge, and the surprising meaning in back of "Temperature." Even more vitally, the pioneering artist spoke the barriers he's faced with his music and the significance of giving dancehall — "a son to reggae music along with a brother to hip-hop" — its due credit.


MTV News: "Calling On Me" strikes that wonderful mix of being emotional and danceable at the same time. What were you thinking about while you made it?


Sean Paul: I was attempting to think out of the box of what I typically do, which is a lot of dance music plus a lot of party stuff. The girl who wrote it, her name is Nija. I worked with her on some of the words and once we went, "I'll be on time, like you expect me to," I was like, this sound is a little more deep for me and the lyrics just began to flow. I recently lost my pops. My family member is routinely there for me so I can continue doing what I'm doing. My spouse, my mom, my brother, and their families. This song came with each other them and around what had happened to my pops. I spent four months in the hospital with him.


However also, I think the lyrics are universal; they speak to whoever you love, whoever you care for. I specifically think about my dad. And then the second verse is about universal love. Any time I'm saying things like, "If you don't ever have a thought for your brothers and sisters, you have no heart," that's more like community unity.


MTV News: Speaking of family member, your son's cameo in the "Big Tings" video was the cutest thing. Do you know he is a budding superstar? Will you pass the torch to him?


Paul: Thank you! He's seen two shows, and he keeps taking pens and anything like a phone or a remote and singing into it. We have a little bit karaoke mic with a speaker and he loves to play with it. Thanks for liking that skit, because it was something I wrote. I wanted to give people a real-ish vibe of what occurs in my residence. I come house from the studio late a lot, and he wakes me up whenever he he'll school, saying, "Daddy, wake up!" So, no sleep and hectic flights.


MTV News: I know you’ve seen the "Get Busy" challenge blowing up on TikTok. What's it like seeing people all over the world make up dances to one of your old songs? I even saw Jessica Alba do it.


Paul: It is weird, especially because folks are requesting me, "Who did this remix?" I have no idea! I'm probably going have to begin doing it on stage right now. I guess at my age, I'm not going to join every social media that's popular. At first, I was like "nah" with Twitter, and then I got on it. Then with Instagram, I'm addicted already. Although TikTok, it's fun. I just didn't expect one of my songs to take off on it. It's funny to be able to see people doing that. And I'd like to know who did the remix.


MTV News: I was revisiting a interview that you did with MTV in 2005 where you were talking about the roadblocks you face with your music. You mentioned, "A lot of people put barriers in my music in that they can't understand what I'm saying. I like music whenever it makes you feel. I appreciate music although I don't understand what they are saying." Today, one of the best genres in the world is K-pop, and it's managed to break through in the U.S. Same with Latin artists like J Balvin, whom you've worked with. For you and your own music, do you still feel that there really are significant barriers?


Paul: I still get a bit of it. In dancehall we use heavy Patois and it's hard to understand some days, especially for me. Some of the new cats coming out, I have to listen twice and be like, "Oh, I get what he's saying right now It's just like hip-hop to me — as soon as people come out and they're spitting hard, you need to listen twice. It could either make you a superfan, or someone who is like, "I don't aspire to dig that deep to find out what this dude is saying." They just like how it sounds.


Nevertheless I do think it's a barrier still. For us in Jamaica, we know reggaeton is huge, however there's few songs that really break through and that's due to the language barrier. There's few reggaeton songs that will be played on the radio. I certainly feel that it's more open, however I still feel barriers and I get comments on my YouTube all of the time about my accent. What's cool right now that there really is an app that translates Patois for you. Hopefully it's done completely, although that will support to prepare people understand more of where I'm coming from.


MTV News: And like you mentioned in 2005, a lot of it has to do with how music makes people feel, and not necessarily the lyricism, if that's not what they latch onto.


Paul: Right. Because I didn't know any words in "Macarena." Any time as soon as he was going, "[singing gibberish] Macarena," I'm like, "What is he saying?" Although shit just sounds fun! You get emotional happiness from that.


MTV News: Around the Tomahawk Technique release in 2012, you spoken about how, with that album, you were attempting to "hold the roots of dancehall while moving into the future." Are you still attempting to achieve that balance now?


Paul: With what I'm doing like releasing songs with Tove, it's sort of pushing the restrictions. I'm using chords we don't generally use and singing about things that we're not habitually concentrating on in the genre. I do desire to keep that history all of the time, because it's what put me here. Nevertheless pushing the restrictions is critical because I don't like as soon as an artist is just attempting to be exactly like his mentor. I think that's even why dancehall became dancehall, because people like Bob Marley were so huge and none of us would be like him. What he did and why prolific his songwriting was… it seemed like, you can't be that so you can't beat that! So we did our own thing, and it also became dancehall. It spawned something new.


MTV News: And right now dancehall has been crossing over in a large way. What is it like to be able to see contemporary pop artists like Drake and Justin Bieber use it in their own music?


Paul: You know what, Whenever I was a kid I used to be habitually like, "Yo, I wish foreign acts would know this bounce because it's crazy." And then right now that I've seen it, I love it. I just wish that we could be named. I mean, I've never wanted to be in the box. Nevertheless at this point, I'm seeing where it's advantageous that we be called a genre. We are included in what reggae is, because even As soon as I won a Grammy, it was for reggae. Any time Koffee just won [Best Reggae Album at the 2020 Grammys], it was for reggae, yet her single that's been blowing up in the world ["Toast"], it's dancehall.


MTV News: However people don't identify it as "dancehall?"


Paul: Exactly. So, that makes me feel like whichever I did and whichever all these greats did that I attempted to emulate, it's obsolete to people. Also it can't be. We're never given the accolades, and people can actually do the same kind of music and call it something else. Today, I saw [an Instagram post] from a girl that's a dancehall song yet it's called K-pop because she's rapping in Korean. Right now that person's going to be called innovative and it's not going to be mentioned, "This is a dancehall-oriented single." Bieber didn't do it. Drake didn't do it. The only person I'm respecting — and I haven't heard it, I'm dying to hear it — is Rihanna.


MTV News: Yeah, she's mentioned that she has a whole dancehall album coming.


Paul: Exactly. And to mention "dancehall" means you know that what you're doing is coming from something else. And that's all I'm really saying. Once people hear me criticize, they're putting me in a box of, "He's saying cultural appropriation," although it's not really about that. It's about them giving homage. That's what's happening in Trinidad and Tobago now. There's a kid called Prince Swanny along with a whole movement that he has. He's talking like Patois, and the beat is exactly dancehall, nevertheless they're calling it "Zess." If we haven't come to claim this and mention, "This is what is dancehall music," it leaves space for things like that to happen. I'm not saying he did it on purpose; arguably, they don't hear it as that.


MTV News: You spoken about Rihanna earlier, who is someone you once worked with. What are your top three collaborations of all time?


Paul: Rihanna, because she came to Jamaica and she showed us furious love. Most people, they'll send me [music] over the world wide web or I've had to go to where they are to work. Although Rihanna came to Kingston, where we do it. She went to the clubs where we do it. She went to the beach. She went to Bob Marley Museum. She ate the food that we eat. So Rihanna is one. Busta Rhymes is another. I just remember the flavor if he came into hip-hop. I was like, "Yo, I think he needs more respect," and I still do to this day. And the next collab, I would mention Beyoncé. ["Baby Boy"] was my first number one. Nine weeks on the best, and that was my first taste that kind of life, in terms of being the number one artist and why that feels.


MTV News: Last question: How do you feel about the theory that "Temperature" predicted climate change?


Paul: [Laughs] Wow, that was funny. I didn't know "Temperature" did that.


MTV News: do you suggest it did? Were you attempting to warn us back in the day?


Paul: You know what? I have been watching that for a long time. And there really are effects in Jamaica that I can clearly visualize. Nevertheless no, I didn't intentionally call it "Temperature" for that reason. It was actually called "Temperature" because I wanted... As soon as you mention, "The time is cold" in Jamaica, some days it means "It's violent."


MTV News: Oh, wow. So a fully different meaning.


Paul: Yeah. It did have a different meaning. In the video, we portrayed four seasons and whatnot. Although was 2005, and it also was each year that really turned up in the quantity of violent deaths that were occurring. I lost a friend who actually began the Dutty Cup Crew, the categorize that I was in, to violence. I wanted to prepare a party song for people to feel faith about. So I put those lines in there, "Time's cold, I'd like to keep you warm. Let's party. Let's forget about that." There's things like that, that people never get from the music. And it's not that deep, although it's just not what they thought.