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Jamaican dancehall singer and rapper Sean Paul broke into the global mainstream in the early 2000s with pop-friendly party jams like "Get Busy" from his Grammy-winning Dutty Rock album, plus the chart-topping smash "Temperature." An early proponent of the dancehall pop movement, Paul also earned a reputation as a worthy guest star, appearing on Beyoncé's hit "Baby Boy," then enjoying a career resurgence in the latter part of the 2010s when he was introduced to a fresh generation of fans via high-profile collaborations with artists like Sia, Clean Bandit, and Pharrell Williams. His 2018 EP Mad Love: The Prequel thrust him back in the spotlight, boasting major hits like "No Lie" with Dua Lipa and "Mad Love" with David Guetta and Becky G. Paul carried his success into the next decade with a barrage of singles including 2020's Tove Lo collaboration "Calling on Me" and 2021's "Dynamite" with Sia.

Born Sean Paul Francis Henriques on January 9, 1973, the multi-ethnic Paul (his parents had Portuguese, Chinese, and Jamaican forebears) grew up comfortably in St. Andrew, Jamaica; his mother was a renowned painter. He was a skilled athlete, excelling in swimming and especially water polo, playing for the Jamaican national team in the latter. Although his education was enough to land him a prosperous career, dancehall music remained Paul's first love, particularly crafting rhythm tracks. He became a DJ after he began writing his own songs, patterning his style largely after Super Cat and finding a mentor in Don Yute; he also found contacts in several members of the reggae-pop band Third World in 1993, which helped him foster business connections.

Paul released his debut single, "Baby Girl," with producer Jeremy Harding in 1996; it proved a significant success, leading to further Jamaican hits like "Nah Get No Bly (One More Try)," "Deport Them," "Excite Me," "Infiltrate," and "Hackle Mi." In 1999, Sean Paul started to make inroads to American audiences; he was first commissioned to collaborate with fellow dancehall hitmaker Mr. Vegas on a production for rapper DMX; titled "Here Comes the Boom," the song was included in director Hype Williams' film Belly. Also that year, Paul scored a Top Ten hit on the Billboard rap charts with "Hot Gal Today."

That fall, Paul released his first album on VP Records. The sprawling Stage One collected many of his previous hit singles and compilation cuts, plus a few brand-new tracks. His breakthrough arrived in 2002 with sophomore effort, Dutty Rock (VP/Atlantic). The Grammy-winning album featured the hit singles "Get Busy," "Gimme the Light," and "Baby Boy" with Beyoncé. In addition to topping the Canadian and U.S. Reggae charts, Dutty Rock entered the Billboard Top Ten and was certified multi-platinum.

Paul followed with The Trinity (Atlantic) in 2005. The album peaked at number seven on the Billboard 200, his highest showing to date, and included chart hits like "We Be Burnin'," "Temperature," and "(When You Gonna) Give It Up to Me" with Keyshia Cole. Four years later he returned with Imperial Blaze. Featuring the singles "So Fine" and "Hold My Hand" with Keri Hilson, Imperial Blaze topped the Billboard rap chart, but did not capture the same mainstream attention as his prior two releases. The loose Odyssey Mixtape dropped in 2011 and was followed a year later by Tomahawk Technique, a more pop- and dance-oriented album with production from the likes of Stargate, DJ Ammo, and Benny Blanco. While the set yielded a handful of international hits, it stalled in the U.S. Although his sixth studio album, Full Frequency, topped the U.S. reggae chart in early 2014, it didn't make much of a splash in the pop mainstream. The effort spawned the singles "Other Side of Love," "Entertainment 2.0" (featuring Juicy J, 2 Chainz, and Nicki Minaj), "Turn It Up," and "Want Dem All" (featuring Konshens), which helped Paul score his fifth Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album.

In the years that followed, Paul would appear on notable singles by Enrique Iglesias, Major Lazer, and Pharrell Williams, but it wasn't until 2016 that he would experience massive chart resurgence, appearing on hits by Sia (the Grammy-nominated "Cheap Thrills"), Little Mix ("Hair"), Clean Bandit ("Rockabye"), and Dua Lipa ("No Lie"). After Paul signed a deal with Island Records, he returned to the studio to record his seventh album. The first single from the record, "Mad Love" with David Guetta and Becky G, arrived in early 2018. Mad Love: The Prequel was issued later that year and included collaborations with Jhene Aiko, Ellie Goulding, Stefflon Don, Migos, Tory Lanez, and more. Paul extended his prolific streak in 2019, pairing with J Balvin on "Contra la Pared" and Wiley, Stefflon Don, and Idris Elba on "Boasty." In early 2020, he and Tove Lo collaborated on the single "Calling on Me." More collaborative singles followed in 2021, including "Dancing on Dangerous" with Imanbek and Sofía Reyes, "Dynamite" with Sia, and "Up" with Inna, all of which led up to the release of his eighth studio album, 2022's Scorcha. ~ Steve Huey & Neil Z. Yeung

Jamaican rapper, singer, and producer Kabaka Pyramid rose to popularity in the early 2010s with his socially minded fusion of hip-hop, reggae, and dancehall. Born Keron Salmon, the Kingston native adapted his moniker from the Ugandan word for "King" (Kabaka), while referencing the spiritual power of the pyramids. Already a rising star at home, his 2013 full-length, Lead the Way, reached well beyond the Caribbean, earning him a Juno Award in Canada and a widespread fan base. A respected producer and collaborator working out of Kingston's Bebble Rock Studios, he has worked with a variety of acts, from Protoje to Akon. His popularity continued to rise with 2018's Kontraband, eventually leading to a Grammy Award for his acclaimed third album, 2022's The Kalling.

As a child in Kingston, Pyramid developed an early love of music, rewriting the lyrics of popular songs and recording himself on his mother's tape recorder. Infused with a native love for reggae, he found himself deeply attracted to the rhythms and lyricism of hip-hop during his high-school years and began his career performing primarily as a rapper. After landing a track on a mixtape by New York's DJ Green Lantern, he issued his own mixtape, The Transition, Vol. 1, in 2007. A year later, he became involved with Kingston-based studio, label, and production company Bebble Rock, a connection he would continue to develop over the next decade. The Transition, Vol. 2 mixtape followed in 2009 as Pyramid broadened his reach through features and collaborations with artists like Five Steez and Keznamdi, while also working as a producer for acts like Ashanti and Massyka.

Around this time, his music began to move increasingly toward a fusion of reggae, hip-hop, and dancehall with 2011's Rebel Music EP and his full-length debut, 2013's Lead the Way. A major success at home and a career breakout elsewhere, Lead the Way earned Pyramid two Jamaica Reggae Industry Association Awards as well as a Juno Award for Best Reggae Album in Canada. He also became more active in charitable and social outreach programs like Manifesto Jamaica, which serves to empower Jamaican youth through the influence of arts and culture.

A bevy of singles arrived in the years following Lead the Way, including tracks like 2015's "Phenomenon," the fiery 2016 Raekwon collaboration "Be Inspired," and 2017's more laid-back "Revolution of the Mind." In May 2018, Pyramid returned with his sophomore full-length, Kontraband, which featured guest spots from Damian Marley, Akon, and Protoje.

Alongside singles like 2020's "So Much Love" and "I Don't Care," his first major project of the next decade was producing the 2021 juggling mix Victory Rock Riddim, a 15-track set that highlighted various emerging artists like MediSun, Iyaz, and Irie Soldier. More significant, though, was his third album, The Kalling. Released in 2022, the record was a critical breakthrough for Pyramid, netting him a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album. ~ Timothy Monger

Dancehall DJ Beenie Man recorded his first single by the age of eight, and continued from that point forward to become one of the more internationally successful names in reggae for decades to come. Throughout the '90s he scored multiple hits with various producers, and was in a state of near-constant output with albums like 1995's hard-edged Blessed, balancing a ruff 'n' tuff gangster delivery with moments of lover's rock and undercurrents of humor. His energy for creating new music stayed strong as the years wore on, and Beenie Man produced a steady stream of tracks about sex, partying, and his position as the king of dancehall well into the 2010s and beyond, with albums like 2016's Unstoppable and new singles throughout the 2020s like the 2022 hook-up anthem "Want Some."

Beenie Man was born Moses Davis in the Waterhouse district of Kingston, Jamaica, on August 22, 1973. His first shot at stardom came when he was only eight, when won the national Teeny Talent contest. This led to a meeting with producer Junjo Lawes, who recorded his debut single, "Too Fancy." Bunny Lee then took the boy under his wing and put him to work at his Unlimited sound system. Lee produced Beenie Man's 1983 debut, The Invincible Beenie Man (The 10 Year Old DJ Wonder), and the young artist collaborated on a few songs with Barrington Levy in 1984, but after that he returned his focus to schoolwork for a time. In 1992, now a proper teenager, Beenie reactivated his music career by appearing at Reggae Sunsplash and releasing second album Cool Cool Rider. After Beenie Man spent a brief period publicly squabbling with veteran DJ Bounty Killer, the two reconciled and collaborated on 1993 album Guns Out.

His Sly & Robbie-produced 1994 single "No Mama No Cry," a version of Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry," topped the Jamaican chart and brought the DJ instant acclaim. Now working with all the island's top producers, he recorded a slew of songs, many of them religiously themed due to a recent conversion to Rastafarianism, including "Praise Him" and "World Dance." Full-length albums Defend It and Dis Unu Fi Hear were both released in 1994 and combined more culturally themed raps with a hardcore dancehall sound. In 1995, Beenie signed to Island Records and released Blessed, which included international dancehall smash "Slam." Throughout the rest of the '90s, Beenie Man was on fire, frequently releasing new tracks, albums, and collaborations with peers like Mad Cobra and Dennis Brown. He was at such a high level of stardom by that point, that he appeared as himself in the 1997 reggae-adjacent film Dancehall Queen. After headlining Reggae Sunsplash in 1998, Beenie signed to Virgin Records in the U.S. and released the new King Jammy-produced album The Doctor with them the next year.

The Art & Life, released in 2000, showcased the DJ at his most eclectic and included guests Arturo Sandoval and Wyclef Jean of Fugees fame. Janet Jackson, the Neptunes, Lady Saw, and Lil' Kim all turned up as guests on 2002's Tropical Storm, the Beenie Man album with the most crossover appeal. Released in 2004, Back to Basics was just that, a straight-up return to dancehall. The hit-collecting compilation From Kingston to King of the Dancehall appeared in early 2005, while Concept of Life and Undisputed, which featured production work from Scott Storch and Don Corleon, among others, were released the next year.

Beenie co-wrote and starred in the film Kingston in 2008 and continued to release singles like "Drinking Rum and Red Bull" (2010), "Let's Go" (2011), "Wine Gal" (2012), and "Thug Love" (2013). In 2015, he lent his talents to tracks by Teddybears ("Broken Heartbeat") and Rihanna ("Bitch Better Have My Money"). He returned in 2016 with Unstoppable, his first LP in a decade. The effort featured appearances by Akon and Bounty Killer, as well as production by Major Lazer. Along with a host of greatest-hits compilations and repackagings, Beenie Man rode out the remainder of the decade and the beginning of the 2020s releasing new standalone singles. Some highlights included 2021's "Self Love" and a Vybz Kartel-assisted "Gangsta's Paradise," and 2022 songs "Love your Mother," "So Me Stay," and "Want Some." ~ TiVo Staff