Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 26/09/05
Label: Atlantic

Following the stupendous success of six-million selling second album, "Dutty Rock", you might assume Sean Paul would return with a third album boasting more marijuana-laced, up-tempo tracks produced by whoever's-hot-right-now.

It's a refreshing surprise then to see a star-free set-list that replaces the Busta and Beyoncé's with up and coming Caribbean talent like Kid Kurup and Tammi Chynn. Returning to his digital dancehall and one-drop roots, the 31-year-old also ignores the likes of uber-producers The Neptunes by instead hiring Kingston kids like Don Corleone and the Renaissance Crew; it's a brave, but ultimately wise move.

While there's still a plethora of booty-bouncing club-bangers that dwell on sexy ladies and smoking the herb, the ex-water polo player also taps into the current reggae zeitgeist by revealing a socially conscious side; laid-back and mellow with more than a hint of politics served on the side (see: Damien Marley's "Jamrock"). To that end, cranium-cracking party-starter "Head In The Zone" is tempered by the low-key yet utterly arresting "Never Gonna Be The Same", dedicated to his recently murdered Dutty Cup crew-mate DaddyGon.

Similarly, such knicker-droppers as "Give It Up To Me" are balanced beautifully with the likes of closer "Trinity", which looks at issues facing Jamaican residents. Even recent number two hit "We Be Burnin'", a seemingly straight forward smash-single on the surface, is actually a call to legalise marijuana as a potential way to help strengthen the local economy. But while the lyrics are occasionally serious, Sean is careful not to get too slash-your-wrists deep; rather he makes his point without overdoing it.

Where many others might be tempted to follow a tried-and-tested formula to ensure they continue stacking those platinum plaques, the dancehall don risks all with an album that sets out to satisfy the socially conscious as well as the club-lovers. More dutty than rock, "Trinty" fully establishes Sean Paul as not only a dancehall great, but one of black music's brightest talents.

    by Hattie Collins