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Sean Paul

The Grammy Awards are scheduled for January 26 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. Five nominees (Beres Hammond, Ziggy Marley, Sizzla, Snoop Lion and Sly and Robbie) are up for Best Reggae Album. Leading up to the big event, the Jamaica Observer presents a daily reflection on the reggae category. Today, we look at Sean Paul’s Dutty Rock.

Dutty Rock was Sean Paul’s crowning moment. The deejay’s second album was released in November 2002 and won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2004.

With over six million copies sold worldwide (two million in the United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan), Dutty Rock beat Buju Banton’s Friends for Life; Burning Spear’s Free Man; Third World’s Ain’t Givin Up; and Wayne Wonder’s No Holding Back for the Grammy.

A joint release by VP and Atlantic Records, Dutty Rock contained the Billboard number one songs Baby Boy and Get Busy, as well as the Top 10 single Gimmie the Light; and the Top 20 hits Like Glue and I’m Still in Love With You (featuring Sasha).
Five songs from the album made the UK Top 10.

Dutty Rock opened with 65,000 copies in its first week of release, debuting at number one on Billboard’s Reggae Album chart; number nine on the Billboard 200 Album chart; and number two on the UK Album chart.

Sean Paul has received three other nominations for Best Reggae Album. For The Trinity (2006); Imperial Blaze (2010); and Tomahawk Technique (2013). — Jamaican Observer.