The mixture of reggae and rap presented with Caribbean flare is what made Sean Kingston a unique commodity in the hip-hop of 2007-2008. Coming out strong at the tender age of sixteen Kingston is positioned to be a piece of the evolving rap industry.

Sean Kingston - New Boy On The Block

"When people hear my music, I want them to be inspired." Sean Kingston

The mixture of reggae and rap presented with Caribbean flare is what made Sean Kingston a unique commodity in the hip-hop of 2007-2008. Coming out strong at the tender age of sixteen Kingston is positioned to be a piece of the evolving rap industry.

Young years

Born on February 3, 1990 as Kisean Jamal Anderson in Kingston, Jamaica to extremely young parents Kisean cut his teeth listening to explicit dancehall reggae lyrics of Buju Banton, the smooth sounds of hip-hop MC Rakim, and the often vulgar raps of Ice Cube. The family moved to the Fort Lauderdale/Miami area when he was six but life was less than idyllic. By the time he was eleven Kisean racked up a breaking and entering charge and spent 21 days in jail. After a boot camp stint he was deported to Jamaica for a time. Hustling was a way of life for his family. When his mother was incarcerated for identity fraud Kisean and his older siblings found themselves homeless and lived in a car.

Kisean took the name Sean Kingston and diligently pursued being discovered by participating in showcases and talent shows around Southern Florida. Blending the Reggae sounds of his childhood into his street wise rhymes and hooks he created a unique sound that caught the attention of producer Jonathan J.R. Rotem who originally signed him to the Beluga Heights record label. The hip-hop music industry went into bidding wars right about that time and Kingston ended up with the Sony imprint Epic Records label.

Making music

In 2007, at sixteen, Sean Kingston's first single was released. The song titled Colors 2000 featured the Game and Rick Ross. His second single was released in May 2007 and it went straight to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for three weeks. International charts ranked Beautiful Girls at the top of their charts also. Kingston's twist of the Ben King hit, Stand By Me, comes across polish and finesse beyond his years. The use of the word suicide in the lyrics the song brought a great deal of controversy and resulted in the replacement of suicide with denial for radio play on some stations. This song holds the distinction of being #1 on Canadian charts longer than any other song in 2007.

The release in July of his first studio album, Sean Kingston, contains songs written by the artist with some contributions from Evan Bogart. Certified Gold as of February 12, 2009 the album peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 and was #2 on the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) charts by its second week.

Debuting in August of 2007 the second single to be released from Sean's self named debut album, Me Love, peaked at 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time Beautiful Girls held the number one spot which put the newcomer in the company of Beyonce who had held that distinction in January of 2007 with her sons Irreplaceable and Listen.

Staying busy

Sean opened for big names at several 2007 North American venues including Gwen Stefani's The Sweet Escape Tour and Beyonce Knowles's The Beyonce Experience Tour.

The September 2009 album, Tomorrow, is differs from his previous work. Mixing his reggae and pop music blend with eurodance and electropop he created a good time summer sound. The lead song Fire Burning was first performed live by Kingston at the Teen Choice Awards 2009 and was the opening number for the 2009 Miss Universe pageant held in Nassau, Bahamas.

Face Drop came out in August 2009 as the second single from the album and rated #1 on South African charts, #7 on New Zealand Singles Chart although it bounced off and on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The digital download peaked at #31 in October 2009 on US ITunes.

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