Representative Albums: "Sean Kingston", "On the Road with a King
Representative Songs: "Beautiful Girls", "Take You There", "Me Love
Biography
A self-proclaimed product of his past, rapper Sean Kingston's history helps describe his sound. Born in Miami, FL, then raised in Kingston, Jamaica, from the age of six, he mixed more than a little dancehall and reggae into his hip-hop. The hard lyrics come from a hard life, which included incarceration, homelessness, and growing up a lot faster than he should have. His young parents didn't play teen pop or teen rap while he was being raised, so he absorbed the adult lyrics of Buju Banton, Ice Cube, and Rakim. He also lived the lyrics and landed a breaking-and-entering charge at age 11. Twenty-one days in jail, boot camp, and living in a car while his mother was incarcerated on an identity fraud rap all followed. None of it swayed the youth against hustling; it just pointed him in a different, more lucrative direction. Taking his ability to write rhymes and hooks, he started working Miami's talent show and showcase circuit hard, eventually sharing the stage with Pitbull, Ludacris, and Trick Daddy. Producer Jonathan "J.R." Rotem (Britney Spears, 50 Cent, Rihanna) caught his demo and signed the young rapper to his Beluga Heights record label right before the major-label bidding wars were to begin. The Sony imprint Epic won and introduced their new artist in the spring of 2007 with the single "Colors 2007" featuring the Game and Rick Ross. Although he sounded much older, Kingston was only 16 years old when the track landed. With his second single, "Beautiful Girls," he took a sample of Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" and twisted it into a huge hit. This more polished, smoother, and less hardcore stance suited the singer and figured heavily into his self-titled debut full-length. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
In a joint venture between Records and Records, Kingston recorded and released the single "Beautiful Girls" in May 2007.[3] The single, based on the bass line and lyrical "association" of the 1961 hit "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King, reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and topped the UK Singles Chart along with many other international charts. Similarly, the song "Me Love" is a loose derivative work of Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Mak'er", from their 1973 album Houses of the Holy. The song also debuted at number one in Australia, where it knocked off Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry", which had been at number one for nine weeks. The song stayed on the Canadian Hot 100 number one spot for over six weeks before getting knocked down to third place by the Plain White T's. "Beautiful Girls" remained at number one in Canada longer than any other song in 2007. In 2007, Kingston was the opening act for Gwen Stefani's The Sweet Escape Tour and for select dates on Beyonce's The Beyonce Experience Tour. In 2008 he collaborated on Flo Rida's album Mail on Sunday, as a featuring in the track titled Roll, which reached #61 on the Billboard Hot 100. Sean started early in his career with promoter Michael Barrett in Miami where he performed on various talent shows as a rapper.Sean did a stage show in Fiji during the digicel opening . It is currently Fiji's biggest show of all time.He feuded with Soulja Boy and Bow Wow.They made numerous videos on their youtube sites , challenging each other in a street race.The feud ended in the air without any race being taken place.
2009-Present
The album Tomorrow (Sean Kingston album was released on September 22, 2009. Five more singles have since been released from the album: "Face Drop", "My Girlfriend" "Wrap U Around Me", " Tomorrow", and "Island Queen". Kingston also co-wrote Jason Derulo's number one hit Whatcha Say. According to Sean Kingston, he is already working on his next album.
The lead single will be "Dumb Love" featuring Lil Wayne. The album will also feature T-Pain and Kanye West. Information about the album is quoted by him in the link. [4]
