Sean Paul is revealing which artists to expect on his new albums and how he handled the long-lived conspiracy that he and Jay-Z had beef over Beyoncé.
Perhaps one of the most wonderous career-sprouting moments for Sean Paul was his 2003 collaboration with Beyoncé, “Baby Boy.” It can be considered that the song came early in both Bey’s and Sean’s careers. The mega-hit, which topped the Billboard chart for nine weeks, was served up on Queen B’s first solo album, Dangerously In Love. While the celebrated track was responsible for their early success, it also incited rumors of a romance between the American R&B singer and Jamaican dancehall star.
At the time, Beyoncé was dating Jay-Z, her current husband to whom she married in 2008 and shares, three children. Both artists remained tight-lipped during the highly-publicized speculation that has followed their careers for years. The primary rumor spawned spin-offs, including that the two dated while Bey was on a break from her then-boyfriend Jay-Z, and years later that Sean Paul supposedly admitted in a biography that Jay-Z was “was very jealous” and has a problem with him “to this day.”
The focal point of the controversy predated these revelations, however, as the plot thickened when Sean Paul was allegedly prevented from performing his hit song with Beyoncé at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, reportedly on account of this incorrigible jealousy that Jay-Z possessed. Sean Paul has tried to discredit the rumors in the past, calling them “crazy” after the fact, but he made sure to ride the wave back in the early 2000s. The speculation was only fueled further by the fact that the two artists shot the music video for “Baby Boy” separately.
Perhaps one of the most esteemed moments of his career in spite of the scandalous connotation, the “Baby Boy” controversy forced Sean Paul to quell rumors of a romance between him and Beyoncé on several occasions. Alas, the dancehall deejay is addressing the famous ordeal again in a new radio interview in Jamaica. The Grammy Award-winning deejay did not deny that there was tension with Jay-Z regarding the rapper’s reservations about him and Beyoncé back in the day. In fact, he said he wasn’t “comfortable” with how some things were.
During the discussion on RJR 94’s Two Live Crew with Wesley Burger, the host, Burgerman, expressed his qualms about the whole debacle “when Baby Boy did come out.” The radio personality told Paul, “you know dah likkle video suppm deh. Mi neva feel good bout it enuh, but mi a seh, mi like how di General deal wid it though.” In response, the dancehall star was in agreement about the feeling of unease, but he just used tact to tackle the problem.
“Yuh si weh you seh? You neva feel comfortable. Me neva feel comfortable needa, but mi jus use my diplomacy all di while an guh roun any likkle obstacle weh me have inna life,” said Sean Paul. Burgerman then postulated that Jay-Z just didn’t want Sean anywhere near Beyoncé, which is when he responded, “Yes, to me that was something that was apparent at the time.” He later added, “Wi know that artistry is artistry suh a nuh every time dem ting deh gwan.”
In a previous interview in the early 2010s, Sean Paul said he knew Jay-Z before Beyoncé and suggested that the rumors were absurd. “The general public blew it up in certain things,” he stated via MTV News back in 2012. He admitted that he never shut down the rumor at the time because it was great publicity for the song. “I just remained quiet about it for years because it was doing its work. There was just a lot of controversy,” he continued. “She’s an amazing artist, the song was at number 1 for like nine weeks, so that was a very special time for me and for dancehall.”
Sean Paul never said the thought never crossed his mind. In fact, he thought it inevitable because “she’s a beautiful woman,” as he previously admitted in a MOBO Awards interview, but there was never any real indication of foul play or record of him being anything less than respectful. The fact that he is still being asked about this rumor in 2021 is a testament to the infinite power of controversial publicity. This year, even with his song with Beyoncé being ever-relevant, Sean Paul is anticipating creating new history with artists like Gwen Stefani, Sia, and more.
According to the American Music Award-winning deejay, he plans to release two albums this year: Live and Living and Scorcher. The latter will feature artists like Shenseea, Stylo G, and Jada Kingdom, while the former will have a dancehall star-studded guest list that includes Buju Banton, Busy Signal, Mavado, and more. Dancehall hot topics Squash, Intence, Masicka, among others, will also appear on Live and Living.
Are you looking forward to Sean Paul’s 2021 hits and these exciting collaborations?
