Sean Kingston

Sean Kingston tries to sound not like somebody else

The 17-year-old, Miami born, Jamaica bred artist Sean Kingston uses every possible means to become a new mega star. Without thinking twice which genre to choose he decided to take some pieces from everywhere. A little bit from rap, a little bit from R&B and a little bit of pop music. The formula is not a new one but Kingston took this thing into consideration too. In order to stand out against other young talents he seasoned it all with a fairly good portion of reggae and very characteristic Jamaican patois. Sounds pretty good, but reggae charm won't get you very far nowadays, and besides there is Sean Paul who's doing something of the kind, in a word, there must be something fresh, something in the vein of Akon, for instance. Eventually Sean Kingston's success formula turned out to be pretty convincing. It is worth admitting that he really tries to be not like somebody else and mixes all these little elements quite skillfully. His first eponymous album Sean Kingston has already outstriped many of contemporary debut records and his single Beautiful Girls came close to the popularity of Rihanna's Umbrella and became this summer's hit number two.

Jamaican patois is Sean Kingston's trademark feature

The album starts with a couple of pretty good songs where Kingston demonstrates his vocal potential from different sides. He aggressively raps between tuneful choruses a la Akon on Kingston and sings against mid tempo beat and uncomplicated keyboards on Take You There. The songs sound fully convincing. For a 17-year-old guy the result is more than just good. However, these tracks cannot be called Kingston’s trademarks, his singles suite this role much better. Particularly, Beautiful Girls is an unhurried, tuneful song soaked with a sunshine Jamaican mood. Me Love is based on the identical atmosphere, it sounds more cheerful but the essence is pretty much the same. It evokes images of sand beach parties and silhouettes of palms against the setting sun. Those who like the way Jamaican English sounds will definitely find it magnificent. The other tracks mostly combine elements of both Kingston's incarnations. That is they don't sound that sunny as singles but aggressive rapping appears very rarely either. This album is not for those who like hardcore rap even despite that fact that the album features a couple of such tracks (Drummer Boy, Colors 2007).

The album's material always sounds catchy

The album's production work is realized on a very good level: the beat is powerful, bass is deep and samples are modern. But on the other hand there is nothing unusual here, you've heard it all before many times. The record remains in the borders of music of this kind and if there is something that helps it to be original that is Kingston himself. Despite his age he sounds very confidently and he desperately and honestly strives to decorate his style with new elements. However, the material itself sounds very simple and too predictable. Kingston lacks his personal charisma and that fact that he tried to use somebody else's ideas doesn't do him credit. Besides, the image of a guy from the streets that he exploits from time to time contrasts with his innocent love songs too strongly. But truth must be told, the album has one undeniable advantage – despite some shortcomings and other faults the material sounds catchy all the same and always has something to hook you up and as is generally known this is the most important thing for any album.