Over the past few years, there's been an increased interest in dancehall. Thanks to artists like Major Lazer, Drake, and even Justin Bieber, people have been actively seeking out more and more dancehall music. While this has renewed interest has resulted in some high-profile collaborations with Jamaican artists such as Assassin, Popcaan, and Beenie Man, a number of artists from the dancehall scene have been skeptical to say the least.
In a new interview with the Guardian, Sean Paul has spoke about his feelings regarding artists like Drake taking elements from dancehall. “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,” he says. “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.”
While explaining that he's still a fan of Drake, he seems to express disappointment in the use of dancehall on Views, looking at it more as exploitation and appropriation than appreciation and homage. Speaking about his own music, he says, “Dancehall is back but this time it’s also infused with Afrobeat, with hip-hop, with trap, and that’s fine with me. Sure, I would like what we do in Jamaica, that authentic dancehall, to be on top, but it simply isn’t. So I want this album to bridge that gap.”
Read the full interview here.
