BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ONE of Jamaica’s dancehall superstars, Sean Paul, also known as ‘Dutty Paul’, is back with his ever-blazing lyrics and music on his latest album - ‘Imperial Blaze’.
Imperial Blaze, which means King’s Fire, will be officially released on August 18 and features the single - ‘So Fine’.
Sean Paul, who was born Sean Henriques, has been in the music business since 1995. His debut album, ‘Stage One’, featured 25 songs and skits along with collaborations with Mr. Vegas. It also featured ‘Deport Them’, which was an early hit. However, it was when he told everyone to ‘Gimme the Light’ that he had first sparked the world.
‘Gimme the light’ was featured on his Grammy Award winning multi-platinum album ‘Dutty Rock’ that featured hits with mega superstar Beyonce (Baby Boy), Ce’Cile (Can you do the work), along with his signature dancehall hits ‘Get Busy’, ‘Like Glue’ and ‘Punkie’.
He followed up in 2005 with his sophomore album - ‘The Trinity’ - that led off with the top 10 single, ‘We Be Burnin', and by the smash ‘Temperature’.
Now he is stroking the flames once more with his highly-anticipated fourth album, Imperial Blaze.
Henriques said that Imperial Blaze is all about going hard and keeping it hot; so does the album's infectious lead single in true ‘Dutty Rock’ style and ‘So Fine’.
Imperial Blaze is said to represent his evolution from a Jamaican crossover star into a bona fide pop hit-maker with a rare gift for bringing cutting-edge sounds to an international following.
He said while his first album was mainly a compilation of songs already out in the dancehall, in the second album he added a few special songs and his third had even more exclusive songs.
“But now with Imperial Blaze, most of them were recorded specially for this album,” he said. “It's all about my growth as an artiste."
The album is said to be one that showcases his different relationships with women that mean a great deal to him in life.
“I guess after touring for so many years and having so many experiences in 2003, was like yo pop champagne. I got money…let’s spend it on these ladies,” Henriques said to Track TV during an interview about his latest album.
“So that’s where my mindset was, but not every song on the album is dedicated to someone; some of it is fantasy work.
“It’s like this is what I love. The album is more meaningful to me because after a long time of doing the same type of things it’s almost seen like plastic, so you have to try find some way to balance it out,” he said.
A video for ‘So Fine’ was shot at the end of May and will be released shortly.
Henriques has a long history of recording hit duets - including the recent remix of Estelle's ‘Come on Over’, preceded by ‘Give It Up To Me’ with Keyshia Cole, ‘Break It Off’ with Rihanna, ‘Baby Boy’ with Beyonce, and ‘Give It to You Girl’ with Eve.
