Sean Kingston: Beautiful Girls

I have been hearing buzz about Sean Kingston recently and once again felt like it was probably a lot of label and publicity hype. At 17, I thought what could this "young boy" possibly have to offer?

Then I heard his single "Beautiful Girls" and let's just say that I am currently sitting with a plate of "crow," eating my words. This young man is vivacious, energetic, talented and seems to be in control of his own destiny. Hailing from Jamaica, he pays homage to his native land, by infusing his music and ultimately creating a new genre with a mix of rap, reggae, dancehall, pop and a touch of doo-wop. According to the official press release he even has songwriting to his credit. I wondered where his sense of maturity and sound came from and found that his musical roots run deep and include Jamaican legendary producer Jack Ruby as his grandfather and reggae king Buju Banton as a close family friend.

What I am most excited about with this new artist is that although he is about hip-hop flavor, he crosses over because he "prefers to show his creativity without using profanity." How refreshing is that? He is so HOT that FOX.com has nominated him for a Teen Choice Award, Desperate Housewives features his tune, Nickelodeon had him perform at their July 24 "Slime Across NY Tour Stop and NBC'sTODAY Show has him on schedule. He has a MYSPACE TV interview where he discusses his use of the networking site to his advantage. In the interview, he says that he was emailing a producer he had his eye on 5 times a day until he took notice. The rest is now history and because of his personal experience, he has asked the record label to allow him to handle his own MYSPACE messages and fan correspondence.

With his growing popularity, Sean is quickly becoming a household name with his first single "Beautiful Girls," a song cross-pollinating on both urban and pop radio stations coast to coast. The unmistakable hit boasts the instant hook of "Stand by Me" which acts like a muse for the song produced J.R. Rotem. Sean is the first signing on J.R.'s label Beluga Heights and his debut album Sean Kingston is due out on July 31(tomorrow) on Beluga Heights/Epic. You'd better hit him up on MYSPACE before he gets too busy!

Sean's life has not always been "roses and lollipop harmonies" which makes his musical expression even more interesting. In the track "Dry Your Eyes," Sean visits the hardship of watching his mother and sister be sent to prison when he was just 15 years-old. He sings to his mother to not let herself be saddened that she's away from the family and to know that they're always there for her.

"I always had my sister and my brother," he began to explain. "My brother was there but he was running around doing his own thing most of the time. When my mother and sister went away, it took a lot out of me. My sister went away for four months and my mom has been away for over a year. When she went away, I was like 'nah man, this is too much.' I was only 14. I missed her like crazy but I pulled through and used it as my motivation. "Dry Your Eyes" is a defining song on the album for me because it touches on something that's very personal to me. The dope melody that's on there makes me feel even closer to it."

Sean teams with Vybz Kartel and Kardinal Offishall for a reggae remix of "Colors" (2007) which will appear on Sean's album as a bonus track. "Unity and representation is where Colors came from," Kingston elaborated. "The song is about representing whatever flag that you're loyal to - whether it is Jamaica, the States, your block etc. It's a lifestyle record that can be a street anthem no matter where you're from and where you at now. The reggae version came up because I knew I had to do one special for my native Jamaica. The first person I thought of was Vybz Kartel. His verse came out crazy. Then Kardinal, that's my homie, really attacked the track."

Sean Kingston is certainly the kind of kid that has star power....you can feel it in his 'Vibe.' His don't take "No" for an answer attitude and his ability to translate adversity into something positive, is something we all could learn from.

I'm really excited about this young artist and will be tracking his budding career. In the meantime, if you haven't heard about Sean or even if you have, check out the wonderful 1950's stylized video for "Beautiful Girls."

VIDEO: BEAUTIFUL GIRLS

http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/SeanKingston/video/SeanKingston_BeautifulGirls_VidFull.mov
http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/SeanKingston/video/SeanKingston_BeautifulGirls_VidFull.swf
http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/SeanKingston/video/SeanKingston_BeautifulGirls_VidFull_100.asx
http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/SeanKingston/video/SeanKingston_BeautifulGirls_VidFull_300.asx
http://www.musicbox.sonybmg.com/sean_kingston/beautiful_girls

Until Next Time!