Dancehall legend Sean Paul criticized artists like Drake, Justin Bieber, Major Lazer, and Kanye West for appropriating the music genre and Jamaican patois. Dancehall has been a strong influence in music made outside of the Caribbean for many years, but Paul wants the genre’s roots to be accredited. He told The Guardian:
It is a sore point when people like Drake or 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. 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.
Paul admitted that he likes some of Drake’s music, but doesn’t agree that he’s the best rapper. He also spoke about his forthcoming project what he hopes to achieve with it:
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.
