The wonder ears

Teenage hitmaker Sean Kingston knows
a good thing when he hears it

FEELGOOD FLEDGLING: Sean Kingston

by ERIN MACLEOD

They may be as shiny and sugary as any Top 10 tune, but the hooks from Sean Kingston’s 2007 hit, “Beautiful Girls,” and his latest, “Fire Burning,” combine a contagious catchiness with a touch of dancehall and a pile of youthful exuberance. It’s tough to resist. This is a kid who makes pop for other kids. And he’s good at it. Matched up with JR Rotem, the mind behind some of Britney’s best, Kingston’s 2007 debut album was a smash. The boy wonder talked to the Mirror over the phone from Japan, where his second record, Tomorrow, is getting the young girls screaming.

Mirror: JR Rotem found out about you through MySpace. What do you think caught his ear?

Sean Kingston: It wasn’t really about the music, really, it was about my direction and my versatility. I was doing everything. Rapping, singing, doing reggae. That’s what JR loved about me.

M: What kind of music do you make?

SK: I just make feelgood music. I make feelgood music that people can relate to—different formats, different genres. I make people have a good time. I used to listen to TLC, Lauren Hill, Biggie—music around 1996 to 1999. And I think a lot of that feelgood music went away.

M: Does being a teenager help?

SK: Yeah. I definitely have a young ear, a teenage ear. I know a good record. I even tell Sony sometimes, “Yo, that’s definitely going to work.” I’ve been to the all-ages clubs, I’ve been on the scene, I’ve been on the Internet, all that. I know what my fanbase, what the new, young generation, is going to eat up.

M: Your grandad was Jamaican sound system operator Jack Ruby.

SK: Through my grandfather, I met lots of sound DJs. I think it’s good to catch a little vibe like that, enjoy the music, watch the selectors talk and select the songs and mix in different songs. I love the music so I sit there and watch them. It’s great entertainment.

M: You were born in Jamaica, grew up in Miami and then went to L.A. What do you gain from these three spots?

SK: Miami gives me the rapping and the Southern thing that I’ve got. The way I chat my words, my delivery. In L.A., I got the swag, the whole business mind frame. How to present myself—that’s what I got from L.A. And from Jamaica, I got the deejaying. The reggae. The chanting. The melodies.

M: People must ask you for dubplates [personalized versions of popular songs].

SK: Yeah! A lot of people ask me for dubplates. I did dubplates for [reggae soundsystems like] Stone Love, Bass Odyssey, probably four or five dubs. They’re now asking for “Fire Burning.”

M: That would go over pretty well.

SK: (laughs) I haven’t done it yet, but people are asking, so I’ll have to!

WITH CARL HENRY AND MUGZ AT
METROPOLIS ON SATURDAY, SEPT. 19,
8 P.M., $37.50, ALL AGES