Internationally acclaimed Dancehall superstar, Sean Paul has been thriving once more since the release of his fifth studio album, Tomahawk Technique this past January.
Despite facing criticisms from his Jamaican fans regarding the variety of sounds that the prominent deejay has experimented with on the compilation, Sean Paul has garnered top ten appeal for Tomahawk Technique across Europe while leading the Japanese iTunes charts with his latest effort. Additionally, the album’s third single, Hold On hails as one of the theme songs for Jamaican athletes ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games in London, England.
In a recent interview with Global Grind, Sean Paul opened up about why he branded his latest album with such a name and the inspiration behind it vast number of sounds.
“I call it Tomahawk Technique because I think it’s cutting-edge, as to what dancehall can offer to the world right now. I’ve been very successful with dancehall music and the production that I’ve had from Jamaica, throughout the world. At this point in time, I just feel the need to expand a little bit. The inspiration was to have dancehall produced by people who do not produce dancehall all the time—pop producers, R&B producers, dance music producers—and see how it would sound. I expand the sound, sounding a little bit more pop, a little more dance-oriented. That’s what is happening on this album right now. That was the focus, and that was what I was trying to achieve. I think I did! I think it sounds pretty cool, and I think people should like a couple of the songs on there. Pretty hot stuff!” he said.
Meanwhile, Sean Paul opened up about his desire to work with some of Dancehall’s legends, including the ‘Don Dada,’ Supercat, who he cited as an idol within the industry for quite some time.
“I’ve been reaching out to Supercat, who’s like the mentor for me in the business. Ever since I started to rhyme, people told me I sound like Cat…it would be an honor. I met him a couple times. We’ve talked, but not really a lot,” he said.
The Grammy winning artiste also pointed to Shabba Ranks as another Dancehall pioneer who he’d like to work with.
“Another dude is Shabba who is another legend I’ve looked up to. I wanted to see if I could get him on a track. He’s somebody I’ve looked up to for many years,” he said
“Also, I can speak about a song I did with one of dancehall’s legends Spragga Benz. It’s something I produced and wrote, and wanted him to do. He expressed to me that he wanted me to do the song with him. The song is called, “Cylinder.” It’s an inspirational song. I think my dream has come true, in terms of me working with someone I look up to in the business with Spragga Benz,” he added.
Sean Paul even talked about how his hit collaboration with Barbadian pop megastar, Rihanna came about. The two superstars joined forces on Break It Off, which featured on Sean Paul’s third studio album, The Trinity as well as Rihanna’s sophomore album, A Girl Like Me in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
For the Get Busy singer, their collaboration came about after Rihanna asked him to take her on a tour across Jamaica during her vacation there.
“Actually, Rihanna had a few weeks of break after her first album. She said, ‘I coming to Jamaica! Show me around.’ I was like ‘For sure! Let’s go to the studio too!’ One of those days I took her to the beach. We went to the Bob Marley Museum, which was very important for her. We went to clubs, and we went to the studio,” he recalled.
“That song came out that studio. It was very stress free. It wasn’t like any label told us to do it. That was one of my favorite collaborations because she got to see the way I live, and how we do it in Jamaica, which is not unfamiliar to her because she’s from the Caribbean. That was kind of cool for me, so it was one of my favorite collaborations. I’m very proud of what she’s been able to achieve since then. Anytime she reaches out musically, I’ll be there.”
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