Following Mr. Vegas’ video response to Drake’s album version of “Controlla,” which didn’t host its original Popcaan verse, a few artists that derive from the dancehall genre are speaking out on other singers/rappers’ usage of its sound without giving proper credit to its pioneers.
The next person to share their opinion on the matter is Sean Paul. The “Give It Up To Me” singer said that while he’s elated that dancehall is back on the mainstream spectrum, the artists who had a hand in that, particularly this year, fail to pay homage to those who led the genre.
“It is a sore point when people like Drake or [Justin] 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,” Paul said in an interview with The Guardian. “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.”
Sean Paul also added that the dancehall artists who derive from Jamaica fail to make it big in the states because they can’t obtain visas to travel and tour in the U.S. Their acclaim solely lives online.
But with his album on the way, Paul hopes to place the authentic vibes of the genre back on top. “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.”