Sean Paul

Back after four years to reclaim his role as America's dancehaller of choice, Sean Paul stretches his fourth album to 20 cuts. Sonically updated slightly for the age of T-Pain, he's avoided strays that have leaked since 2005's The Trinity. There's a bit of roots, a hand-holding Keri Hilson duet, interpolations of Louis Prima and Ashford & Simpson choruses. But mostly Paul sticks to his specialty, requesting that objects of his desire wiggle, wind, grind, groove and move, preferably in birthday suits. To add an air of mystery, he also compares ladies to wind chimes and pepper pots.

Sean Paul has been as ubiquitous as oxygen for much of the 2000s, and he seems maniacally
determined to maintain his pop dominance. Paul said in 2007 that his next disc would focus
on youth violence in Jamaica, but there's little sign of that on the party-hearty Imperial
Blaze, which is full of snazzy electro beats and tunes that sound like pale versions of past
hits. Songs like the lascivious "Bruk Out" — where Paul orders his lady to "spread... More >