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Sean Paul Celebrates New Single “Lion Heart” from “Live N Livin” Album on Sway In The Morning
Mar 15, 2021
Sean Paul talks about his latest album ‘Live N Livin’ on Sway In The Morning. He gets into why he has not done Verzuz and the path Bob Marley laid.
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0:00
[Music]
0:07
come on man clap it up ladies and
0:09
gentlemen
0:10
live and living it was trending today on
0:13
twitter again this man dropped music and
0:16
instantly trended
0:20
grammy award-winning rapper singer
0:22
producer
0:24
oracle truth spitter songwriter he does
0:27
it all give it up for our homie sean
0:29
paul he's
0:30
back john paul sean paul
0:35
hey yo yo
0:38
wait what's up jason what up
0:42
what up what up i have to be in here too
0:45
yo let me tell you something about your
0:48
brother
0:49
let me tell you something about you man
0:51
you know i watch you don't even know i
0:53
watch you a lot man i
0:54
i first of all the year i started
0:57
working at
0:58
mtv was in 2000
1:02
the same year stage one okay
1:05
his first album and i was so excited to
1:09
be able to go in that building
1:11
and talk about reggae and dance hall
1:13
music from a real perspective
1:15
and at that time man it was really hard
1:18
to get mainstream platforms
1:20
to gravitate towards anything that
1:22
wasn't like the iconic
1:24
you know groups uh whether it was a
1:26
marley family or
1:27
you know the whalers or whoever was
1:30
iconic at that time
1:32
your music helped a lot of people
1:36
gravitate towards dancehall and reggae
1:40
music
1:41
um in a way that made it feel more
1:44
relatable to them not that
1:45
you needed to do that you know what i
1:47
mean that wasn't your job to do
1:50
but you've always had a formulaic way of
1:52
making music
1:54
and structuring songs that has a
1:56
universal appeal
1:58
and to me that's what i think music is
2:00
supposed to do so when i saw the live
2:02
and living
2:03
album trending in 2021 man i just kind
2:07
of
2:07
celebrated with you man congratulations
2:10
on the project
2:11
sean paul ladies and gentlemen
2:13
appreciate it man thank you bro
2:15
thank you i didn't dig up heather what's
2:17
up heather what's up baby how you doing
2:19
family
2:20
much love i'm good now i'm
2:23
very good today wait wait you gave me
2:25
one wrong accolade i am not the oracle
2:28
you are the oracle sir oh man
2:31
[Laughter]
2:33
who's gonna hate me now come on man
2:37
[Music]
2:39
thank you brother hey we gotta celebrate
2:41
each other sean paul you know think
2:43
about what
2:43
what's happened in the past year or two
2:46
you know even the evolution
2:48
of the genre of music but even what goes
2:50
on in jamaica and
2:52
and and you know you know i i hear a lot
2:55
from you and even this particular song
2:57
lion's heart is
2:59
to me i love it it's a it's it's um a
3:02
lot of times people when they
3:03
misinterpret
3:04
your your your your words or they don't
3:07
understand
3:08
yeah or your perspective or your opinion
3:11
all of a sudden they got to hate you
3:12
you know what i mean all of a sudden you
3:14
got to be an enemy to them
3:16
you know and i know this song this song
3:19
was
3:20
in response to a comment you made about
3:23
why you didn't want to do verses is that
3:25
true
3:27
yes sir um you know big up to verse is
3:29
the platform
3:30
everybody involved everybody that went
3:32
and did it and it's still doing it
3:34
um i hear it's becoming a huge platform
3:37
now i respect that
3:38
but you know a question was asked to me
3:40
on an interview
3:42
how come i didn't do verses yet and i
3:43
said well bro it kind of reminds me of
3:45
collection it's called versus battle
3:48
and you know while clashing is a big
3:50
part of dancehall a big part of hip-hop
3:52
culture uh for me right now it's it's
3:55
kind of uh
3:56
it's you know there's so much violence
3:58
that we are surrounded by
4:00
i just can't the the way we're clashing
4:03
now
4:04
we're going into starting to talk about
4:06
each other's mother
4:07
calling the name of the mom we're
4:08
calling the name of the kids
4:10
for me that's just wrong you know
4:11
brother and so um
4:13
you know when bob marley paved this big
4:15
highway for me to walk on
4:17
i just didn't want to go on a big
4:18
platform like that and show everybody
4:21
that you know what i mean i kind of
4:24
wanted
4:25
a a different outlook and so i said what
4:27
i said a lot of people came down on me
4:29
and
4:29
started to attack me our culture your
4:32
culture is clashing and
4:33
yeah you know i mean you should embrace
4:35
that you shouldn't be afraid of that
4:37
you're afraid and
4:38
honest to god i mean afraid i'm actually
4:40
crushing the whole culture with this
4:41
song
4:42
i'm saying to you suppose you had a lot
4:45
of little cousins or a lot of little
4:46
brothers and you keep telling them don't
4:48
go in the river
4:49
the river is deep you can't swim too
4:51
good there's no future in that river bro
4:54
and they keep going in there and then
4:56
i'm going to come along and sing about
4:58
it and i'm going to ask my friends or
5:00
my producers or other artists to sing
5:02
about that
5:03
like it's a joyful thing now music
5:06
supposed to be a joyful
5:07
noise unto the lord bro so you know i
5:09
mean i would rather
5:11
uh do like what kept on saying dig up
5:13
the great kevin and i dance our world
5:15
he said music is a mission not a
5:17
competition
5:18
and i believe that bro we're here to
5:20
lead people out of the dark we're here
5:21
to show them the light
5:23
we are here to educate and entertain so
5:26
you know uh i think i just want to be
5:28
the change that i see in the universe
5:30
right now so yeah and just
5:32
just just just be rid of all of those
5:34
things cut and clear them
5:37
you know what i mean yeah move away from
5:39
those things that are
5:40
part of the culture but it is negative
5:42
to me you know what i mean
5:44
yeah you got a master that's good on it
5:47
yeah and i wrote this song lion heart
5:50
because the papers
5:51
the papers out here they used the the
5:54
headline
5:55
uh you know i said i said in the
5:57
interview
5:58
you know clashing kind of reminds me of
6:00
a gladiator sport or it reminds me of
6:02
kind of like the movie the django did
6:04
you see
6:05
django and they were like yeah i'm like
6:07
the part where the two
6:09
dudes is fighting each other they're two
6:11
slaves they're fighting each other and
6:12
somebody gives them a hammer and said
6:14
finish the
6:15
the other one to me when when you build
6:18
a big clash
6:19
like how we do in jamaica it's kind of
6:21
like that it's kind of
6:22
we're all sitting around drinking cognac
6:24
and smoking
6:26
these uh these cigars and looking at two
6:28
people
6:29
destroying each other when we could
6:30
build each other now this genre hasn't
6:32
done that very much
6:34
and every time i speak to people like
6:35
junior gang or gujarat
6:37
or even shaggy they're like you know the
6:39
conversation comes up we need to collab
6:41
more with each other
6:42
we're not doing this reggaeton is doing
6:44
this they're getting ahead
6:46
you know i mean uh when a lot of uh
6:48
people in the hip-hop industry you know
6:50
they don't really mess with each other
6:51
but they still are making music
6:53
uh to me that's the bigger picture you
6:56
know it's the way out of
6:58
of certain situations that we are in
7:00
economically
7:01
and um i i just feel that it's about
7:05
time that that that i stood up at least
7:06
and said
7:07
i'm not on that anymore i enjoy clashing
7:09
when i was a kid
7:11
but now i don't want to do it i don't
7:13
like it it's too soon for me i've varied
7:15
so much of my friends
7:17
from violent memes and so if you want to
7:19
hate me hate me now
7:21
say it say it all now you know and then
7:23
and and
7:24
yes who's gonna hate me
7:27
now i love it man hey hey come on
7:31
misery with love company
7:34
yeah brother i gotta think of rico love
7:37
on that one actually bro
7:38
rico yeah on the hook me and him work
7:42
together bro he's a dope
7:44
writer dope artist rico love man that's
7:47
our friend
7:48
he's been on the show we um rico's so
7:50
amazing i i you know if he gets a lot of
7:53
acknowledgement but i'm not sure if he
7:54
gets enough so congratulations salute to
7:56
rico
7:58
i'm curious like you worked with so many
8:01
different people
8:02
um and you've had so many powerful
8:06
collaborations from from the boss man
8:08
song with um beanie and lady saul to
8:11
call keisha cole give it up to me you
8:13
know she's from oakland that's my
8:15
hometown and
8:16
you know mr vega tiger bone joint from
8:18
way back in the day and
8:19
of course baby boy baby boy being that
8:22
that just that grand slam for you
8:25
uh does it who are some of the standout
8:28
artists like you just shouted out rico
8:30
love
8:31
because one of the things you've always
8:32
done consistently is made these big
8:34
songs who are artists that helped you
8:36
get to that point
8:41
oh his line got his phone goddamn
8:45
who's going
8:46
[Music]
8:48
play that song sway then we can come
8:50
back baby we can hide it
8:55
i want to hear the real version of what
8:56
you try to sing who's going to play lion
8:59
hearts again let's do it again we'll
9:00
come back with sean paul
9:01
jamaica stand up eight eight eight seven
9:04
four two
9:05
three three four five sean
9:15
[Applause]
9:19
live and living the new album is out
9:23
sean paul is on the line dude is iconic
9:26
bro let me give you yours
9:28
you iconic man you lasted a generation
9:32
they say a generation is 20 years long
9:34
and you've been here and you're fresh
9:36
and you're lively and you're young
9:38
you've got it popping
9:40
i want to come to jamaica man i'm
9:43
calling you on your social bro i see you
9:45
doing
9:45
you know i see you doing videos and you
9:47
you know you got the ocean in the
9:49
background
9:50
mountain man come on man i'm ready for
9:53
my invite
9:55
facts yeah miji yeah for firewood man i
9:59
know there's a pandemic going on but
10:01
we're still safe you know i mean hey
10:03
it's come true
10:05
is it a curfew in jamaica right now
10:08
yeah there is at nighttime it goes on
10:10
about eight o'clock right now
10:12
and every now and then you know there
10:14
was there might be a spike or something
10:16
so they they turn it up to be like in
10:18
the evening
10:19
if it's like a you know easter is coming
10:21
up or something like that they're gonna
10:22
lock it down even earlier but
10:24
you know i i to me this is a survival
10:27
year bro
10:27
i've had a few friends first of all in
10:30
the music business
10:32
uh we've lost a couple people this year
10:34
so it's been a sad year big up to
10:36
uh twitch r.i.p to him big up to
10:39
uh barry o'hare who was a great producer
10:41
for dancehall music
10:43
he passed away in november as well uh
10:46
and then
10:46
you roy the first dj the first the first
10:50
one to to open the door break open the
10:52
doors for doing what i do
10:54
um r.i.p to him and also the great
10:56
bonnie whaler
10:57
from the group with bob marley iconic
11:00
group the whalers
11:01
uh we've had a sad year you know i've
11:04
had a couple friends
11:06
that that maybe the general public don't
11:07
know but big up the chicken from dhotika
11:09
crew he passed away as well
11:11
um you know i have a friend right now
11:14
fighting for his life
11:15
uh in the hospital so it's been a crazy
11:18
year
11:19
you know i mean but uh we have to stay
11:22
positive
11:23
there's nothing that beats that
11:24
positivity you know i mean it's what
11:26
human beings have done for thousands of
11:28
years so
11:29
i'm trying to hold it you know the first
11:31
five months i was really
11:33
i was scared you know i was i have
11:36
asthma so i was just chilling
11:37
i didn't do nothing and then i got tired
11:40
of doing nothing and
11:42
you know giant encouraged me to go to
11:44
the studio and let it out and
11:46
lionheart came out and i started to
11:48
champion
11:49
you know the whole card for the album i
11:51
think the album is
11:52
about unity and the community you know i
11:54
mean i think the album is about
11:56
uh collaboration over clash let's go get
11:59
the cash
11:59
you know i mean so that's where i'm at
12:02
right now man i love it man sean paul
12:04
live and living i feel like this is a
12:05
tribute
12:06
to those people that transition but also
12:09
i feel like it's
12:10
live then living is also a message to us
12:13
we live we gotta we gotta keep living
12:15
and you collaborated with so many people
12:17
on this album man
12:18
um that you know it's it's incredible
12:21
intense um
12:22
a busy signal a boujou um there's so
12:25
many people on here squashes on here
12:27
it's
12:28
it's it's a a really uh well done
12:31
collaborative project it's interesting i
12:34
didn't know that
12:35
that you that you had um asthma and so
12:38
that
12:38
it kind of kept you kept you stationary
12:41
but
12:41
i know a lot of folks too are suffering
12:44
financially because touring been knocked
12:46
out you can't tour no more you can't
12:48
go go out get that money i'm curious man
12:51
you've had a lot of success without even
12:52
getting into
12:54
any numbers necessarily but how have you
12:56
been able to manage your money during
12:58
this time but even over the years
12:59
because you hear all these crazy stories
13:01
of artists who've had tremendous success
13:03
but they've gone broke
13:04
what were some of the key things you did
13:06
to keep your finances steady
13:10
bro i got i got a real angel of a mom
13:13
and a wife
13:14
[Laughter]
13:18
my mom's is making sure that i'm
13:20
investing properly and she's
13:22
advising me and the best way she can she
13:25
goes and does her homework
13:26
she's an artist she paints but she gave
13:29
all of that
13:30
up to be able to to to help me control
13:33
this this this uh wake up this brand
13:37
that
13:37
that i've been able to build you know i
13:38
mean so uh
13:40
that's one that's one of the reasons or
13:42
or two of the reasons right there
13:45
uh that i've been able to to sustain and
13:48
and feel a little bit more even though
13:51
it does
13:52
it does uh you know we are taking a hit
13:55
um i've been able to feel relatively
13:57
comfortable
13:58
um and also help other people that's
14:00
what's making me feel
14:02
the best right now uh you know i have a
14:04
foundation that's been giving
14:05
care packages out it it fulfills me a
14:08
lot more than
14:10
than the money i'm spending to do it uh
14:12
i believe in organic food so the farmers
14:14
we did something for them
14:16
but we built watersheds for them so they
14:18
could catch the water so that they could
14:20
deal with their small farms um and also
14:23
we did
14:24
we did about a hundred ipads so far for
14:26
kids that needs to be
14:28
in school but it can't be um
14:32
and you know for for that reason i give
14:35
thanks that
14:35
that i've been able to have a career uh
14:38
that that paid me well
14:40
and i'm now and now i've always been
14:42
giving back but i'm now able to give
14:43
back
14:44
in a real way where you know this is the
14:46
time where people need it we're on
14:47
lockdown some people can't go to work
14:49
they have 14
14:50
miles to feed so i've heard some stories
14:53
bro and
14:54
and i've been witnessing you know i mean
14:55
so i just wanna
14:57
uh let's pick up everybody who has
14:59
supported me over the years and
15:02
and allowed me to be able to be a beam
15:05
right now or a column that people can
15:06
lean up on
15:09
sean paul here live and living live and
15:11
living every time i say the title
15:12
applaud have to be yes yes yes i'm so
15:16
happy that
15:16
we got you on the show today and i just
15:18
want to say thank you again and so happy
15:20
to hear
15:21
that you are healthy your family's
15:22
healthy and and your mom what a
15:25
beautiful blessing to still have her
15:27
as well but i want to just touch really
15:29
quickly on your family and your family
15:31
life
15:31
being that as sway said you have been
15:34
able to maintain
15:35
a steady steady career through a
15:38
generation
15:39
um being a father and a husband as well
15:41
now if your children
15:42
knowing all that you know in the
15:44
industry if they wanted to get into this
15:46
industry would you
15:47
support them wholeheartedly
15:50
for sure my son is four years old and i
15:52
was destroying interest like he likes to
15:54
rap
15:55
when even he doesn't have to worry
15:58
you know my daughter seems to be the
16:00
dancer right now she's
16:02
a year and a half from my son is uh four
16:05
years old
16:06
but he also showed interest in the drums
16:08
however
16:09
i'm on i'm going to give them their
16:11
education first you know i mean
16:12
and if they want to do music education
16:15
tracy you want to
16:16
say something to sean paul you want to
16:17
say hello yeah i want to say more than
16:19
hello
16:20
i want to ask a question hey sean always
16:23
a pleasure hearing from you
16:24
speaking to you hearing your music you
16:27
know
16:28
i think of you and i think of big time
16:31
hits and music
16:31
i also think of marijuana i do and
16:35
especially you know during the pandemic
16:39
a lot of people have to put one in the
16:41
air just to ease their anxiety etc etc
16:44
and i'm wondering since you mentioned
16:47
having asthma
16:48
if that paused your habit a bit
16:51
and also seeing how the united states
16:54
you know is
16:55
implementing a lot of legalization if
16:57
you're thinking about
16:59
um investing in a marijuana business
17:01
here in the states
17:04
you know i i've i've been looking at it
17:07
for a long time
17:10
you mentioned my asthma smoking that
17:12
doesn't always go together
17:14
when i first started to smoke it was
17:16
little tiny joints and
17:18
it basically would open my lungs because
17:20
it is good for
17:21
you know taking swelling down in your
17:23
body and that's kind of thing
17:25
that that that kind of got me into it uh
17:28
and the feeling of course
17:30
euphoria but but also
17:33
um there there came a time where i was
17:36
smoking too much
17:37
but but in general i'm kind of in the
17:39
business so to speak
17:41
uh but but my thing is i want to
17:44
champion
17:45
uh more healthy edibles i know people
17:47
that
17:49
they they need the medicine you know i
17:51
mean they wanna they wanna
17:53
you know take uh thc and the cbds
17:57
but it's all packaged in a sweet parcel
18:00
too sweet for me and most of the edibles
18:03
that we see
18:04
in especially in the united states right
18:06
now are packed with sugar
18:08
or even sodium and if you are a sick
18:10
person that needs medicine that's kind
18:12
of uh
18:14
uh you know a negative it don't make
18:16
sense so
18:17
i wanted to try to to get into that part
18:20
of the business to make
18:21
uh more healthy edibles so that's what
18:24
i've been trying to do
18:25
i haven't put anything online yet
18:28
i'm back smoking again uh i stopped for
18:31
five years at one point
18:33
um you know my lungs got a little better
18:36
i started to sing songs like she doesn't
18:38
mind
18:38
girl i got you so high
18:43
[Laughter]
18:50
you know taking breaks and going back to
18:52
the edibles every now and then
18:54
uh it's been a big part of my life my
18:57
pups used to smoke it
18:59
me and my brother have consumed it for
19:01
years and we've been positive people
19:04
who work hard you know the the negative
19:07
connotations that people were putting on
19:08
it
19:09
back in the day you know it's gonna make
19:11
you crazy it's gonna make you lazy
19:13
all of this stuff uh i'm glad that's
19:16
being thrown out the window right now
19:18
but also uh you know i i've been an
19:22
advocate and and
19:24
what i'm upset about here in jamaica is
19:26
that the original farmers that
19:28
used to give us the great the real high
19:31
grade
19:32
the lamb's bread and the good stuff uh
19:35
they're kind of being pushed out to the
19:36
picture for these dispensaries that are
19:38
here now
19:39
so i didn't fully i didn't get involved
19:41
in dispensaries here in jamaica
19:43
um although one day i would like to i'm
19:45
going to try to bring a sprint a strain
19:47
one day
19:48
but i am involved in the business as i
19:50
said but just not
19:52
not in a big way right now hmm
19:55
okay man look thank you for that insider
19:57
the phone was messing up a little bit
19:58
but i think we're gonna have to have
19:59
another conversation about that
20:01
that's all yeah we're gonna do another
20:03
conversation sean paul
20:05
i want to give you my information too
20:07
when we when we uh
20:08
as we start the rap if you can hold on
20:10
for a minute somebody's going to give
20:11
you my cell phone
20:12
shoot me a text i want to talk to you
20:14
more about that man
20:15
and then and then finally before we get
20:17
off tracy are the grammys this weekend
20:20
i believe so yeah the 1470s yeah
20:24
yeah it's crazy how the freaking time
20:26
just be flying by
20:27
but since you mentioned it um actually
20:30
sean you good to
20:31
you're the best person to give some
20:33
insight or give perspective
20:35
on the story we were talking about
20:37
earlier about
20:38
the weekend and how he is boycotting the
20:41
grammys he says he no longer wants
20:43
his label to submit his music and that
20:45
his boycott
20:46
is pretty much um infinite or indefinite
20:50
and we know in the past that you've had
20:53
some words your own criticisms to say
20:55
about the grammys um do you support the
20:58
weekend
20:59
saying yo i'm gonna dub y'all until my
21:02
career is over
21:04
yeah for sure i think dancehall music
21:06
for me has been such a
21:08
huge impact on the world and reggae and
21:11
they don't give us our accolades so in
21:13
terms of they don't they don't
21:15
uh broadcast our speech when we when we
21:17
get we don't get to say thanks to the
21:19
fans and the people who love the music
21:21
they just give us you know i mean so uh
21:24
me personally i don't want to
21:26
i don't want to boycott the institution
21:28
itself
21:29
but i do like that you give me the
21:31
opportunity now i hope they hear it
21:33
they should give reggae and dancehall
21:35
music at least
21:37
those accolades you know i mean we're
21:40
huge the b
21:40
birds do it the the french montana sway
21:43
lee do it
21:44
uh you know people in in reggaeton world
21:47
been
21:48
doing it the afrobeat community is is
21:51
also uh you know gravitating towards
21:55
beats and sounds that
21:56
is what we've done you know i mean so
21:58
we're huge music even though we're still
22:00
considered on the ground
22:02
i would love those accolades so i'm not
22:04
going to boycott them but i will
22:06
say here yo you all need to give respect
22:09
to the next reggae or dancehall person
22:12
let their speech be broadcast please
22:16
okay man i think they hear you loud and
22:18
clear brother man hey
22:20
yes we appreciate you congratulations on
22:22
the new birth
22:23
of a new project live and living i know
22:26
you got that the other project
22:28
coming that i i i see you got a
22:31
i mean he's been working as v he's been
22:33
in the studio
22:35
and you know yeah i got another album
22:36
coming in may it's called scorcher
22:39
i could tell you about it very quickly
22:41
uh it features sia me and her at a
22:44
number one tune already big up to see
22:45
her she's an amazing talent
22:47
ty dolla sign is on this album stylo g's
22:50
on this album
22:51
uh people like gwen stefani and shenzier
22:53
in one lover's rock reggae song
22:56
is on this album uh covers on the album
22:59
junior gang and nikki james on the album
23:02
another hot album is called scorcher and
23:05
that's coming in may
23:06
and i'm doing that because you know
23:08
we're in a pandemic people need music
23:10
and you know i'm also kind of just kind
23:12
of stepping up the pace a little bit
23:14
you know what i mean yeah you back on
23:16
the pedal i like that maybe that's the
23:17
project we'll come to jamaica for
23:20
hey all right
23:24
sean paul always great to hear your
23:25
voice do me a favor hold on the line one
23:27
second i'm gonna give you some
23:28
information okay hold on the line one
23:30
quick sec
23:32
thank you for being on the show today
23:34
beach family we appreciate
23:36
you yes we do okay sean paul ladies and
23:39
gentlemen uh you know what
23:41
what i want to play i want to play
23:46
it's not even on the album but i'm going
23:48
to play guns of navarone let's play that
23:50
real quick sean paul hold on the line
23:52
sway the morning shade four five
23:53
axe mike muse is next
24:09
you
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