Blazin’
By Jaishree Drepaul
vervegirl: Tell us about why you decided to call your new album “The Trinity.”
Sean Paul: It has no religious connotation. I like [the number] seven. There are three moods on the album as well. The first mood is the party mood—it’s party music to release yourself. It [partying] is not the only solution to problems in life, but I feel like I’m socializing, and it helps me to feel more like a human being more than an animal at war. When I’m going out, I’m not looking to beef with nobody, I’m looking to have fun…listen to good music, do some dancing, get into ladies’ brains.
vervegirl: What have you learned about the female brain?
Sean Paul: Ladies’ brains are very complex and I don’t think I can understand it. That’s why I’m always looking for more ladies’ brains to say “What up” to.
vervegirl: Do you think it’s important that women are respected by men?
Sean Paul: Most definitely! Mothers have the future in their hands. Ladies should be re-spected a whole lot more, just for that reason alone—not just because they’re sexy!
vervegirl: Let’s go back to the number seven. What does it mean to you?
Sean Paul: Seven is actually a holy number for me. I don’t know why. There’s a real currency in the number seven in biblical terms. Seven days...maybe it’s just from a Christian point of view, I have no idea. But seven is good for me.
vervegirl: Do you consider yourself a spiritual or religious person?
Sean Paul: I’m very spiritual.
vervegirl: So this is your third album…
Sean Paul: Oh, yeah, I was telling you about moods. So the first mood is party tracks, the second mood is answering my critics: “I’m six million albums deep, why are you still doubting the dude?” There are a couple of songs on the album dedicated to saying, “Boom, this is what I’ve done. Boom, this is who I am. Boom, leave me alone.” You know what I mean? And the third mood is darker than anything I’ve ever done. More sombre. I lost a friend earlier this year. In Jamaica, we lost a lot of people this year. It’s a very violent society right now.
vervegirl: Was it hard going back to the West Indies where there’s lots of poverty and fighting?
Sean Paul: From the visits I used to take to Canada when I was 5-years-old, I’d think “Wow.” My ma would say, “See? We live in the Third World.” I’d say, “But what does it mean?” She said, “Things are more readily available to people here. Technology-wise, health-wise, things are just more readily available for each citizen here.” In Jamaica we’re not all equipped in terms of healthcare for the whole entire country. Things are unequal. In Jamaica, it’s like you’re up or down. I understood that from a young age. It’s felt difficult growing up there. I was more “uptown” and I was taken care of in terms of going through school, and having lunch money and books. I had friends who didn’t have the proper uniform, didn’t have books—borrowed my books. It felt like, “what’s going on?”
vervegirl: What’s it like now?
Sean Paul: It’s quite crazy. There are many issues that have caused problems and the prob-lems have escalated into violence. This year has been, like, crazy violent. A lot of people try to hustle because there’s nothing for us. That’s why our music is so big. Because there’s no ferris wheel, there’s no circus, there’s no video game places, there’s no mini golf activities. People are really in tune to dancehall music because it gives them entertainment, mostly free entertainment.
vervegirl: Anything else you want to let people know about your album?
Sean Paul: Yeah…in the States, if you go to Target and buy “The Trinity”, you get an extra song called “Time Rolls On”. This song is very political. I’m talking to the leaders of the govern-ment, leaders of religion, leaders of street gangs. I’m asking the question, as time rolls on, will we ever live together, will we ever share one god? Will we ever just get it together?
vervegirl: Do you think this will happen?
Sean Paul: Most definitely, why not? Otherwise, it might as well be that you live on Mars and I live on Pluto.
photography: courtesy of warner music
