Sean Paul: It may seem strange to wonder about Sean Paul’s status among the greats. After all, the COMBINED sales of Bounty, Beenie, and Buju’s latest albums does not even measure up to half the units sold by Paul’s Dutty Rock juggernaut. Sean Paul is a platinum artist with legitimate hit songs, hit videos, and hit collaborations with hip-hop and R&B stars. He is an MTV and BET darling, with broad-based (and record buying) support across multiple demographics. Around the world today, Sean Paul is probably Dancehall’s most recognizable artist.

However, sales alone do not a king make. Shaggy has been a consistent platinum artist for five years now, and no right-minded Dancehall fan considers him royalty. Ditto Tanto Metro and Devonte. Ninja Man never sold one-tenth of the albums that Shabba Ranks moved, but the Grammy Kid could never distance himself from Ninja in the hearts and minds of Dancehall fans. In comparison to Beenie — or even Buju — Bounty Killa has been an abysmal commercial flop, but his critical acclaim rightfully places him among the greatest of the great. Sean Paul cannot use record sales as a free pass to greatness, especially when much of his buying audience couldn’t name another Dancehall artist if their lunch money depended on it.

But Sean Paul won’t be penalized for his record sales either. His pre-Dutty Rock album, 2000’s Stage One, was a legitimate hit in its own right, and spawned as many hit singles within the Dancehall as Dutty Rock has exported to America. And Sean Paul has not changed his style to court foreign success. Indeed, Dutty Rock is the first authentic, uncompromising Dancehall album to top the charts since, well, ever.

Sean Paul is blessed with the ability to make the most accessible, catchy and inviting music in Dancehall today. His hooks are relentless, and his choruses burrow their way into the deepest recesses of your brain and stay there, replying themselves over and over until you succumb. Sean Paul was also smart enough to borrow liberally from Dancehall’s greatest vocal stylist, the oft-imitated Super Cat. The Wild Apache’s gangsta appeal, smoothed out with Sean Paul’s uptown sensibilities, is an undeniably winning combination.

Counting against Sean Paul is his range as an artist. A hallmark of the greatest DJs in the Dancehall Pantheon is their versatility. Dancehall isn’t hip-hop. A great DJ must be able to churn out hit gal tunes, gun tunes, ganja tunes, reality tunes and party tunes with equal skill. Check the resumes of the great ones: all of them have massive hits in every dancehall sub-genre. While Sean Paul has proven himself beyond question in the gal and party departments, his bad man tunes and efforts at “serious” topics prove ultimately unconvincing. Sean Paul ranks among the best as a “good time” DJ, but you can’t be a king unless you have the allegiance of all of Dancehall’s diverse constituencies.

Prediction: POP STAR. The kings and queens of the Dancehall may envy his sales, and the adulation that money can buy, but Sean Paul does not endanger their hold on the allegiance and respect of the Dancehall Massive. With his good looks, charm and undeniable skills as a writer and DJ, Sean Paul is set for a lucrative and fulfilling career as an international star. But he will be dismissed by the rudebwoys, rastas and sufferahs as a crossover phenomenon whose fat bank account is bereft of the hard currency of street respect.

Discography: Stage One, Dutty Rock