Sean Paul has been paying homage to a cricket legend in his songs for years
People are shocked after finding out the artist is not saying “Sean de Paul” at the beginning of his songs.
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Jamaican rapper and singer Sean Paul is known for saying the name ‘Sean de Paul’ at the start of his songs – but it turns out people have been mishearing him the entire time.
It turns out that every time people sing that name, they’re not referencing Mr Paul – but cricketing legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul, to whom Mr Paul is paying homage to.
The revelation was discovered in a VICE video which documented the making of his hit song, ‘Get Busy’ – the music video of which having 235 million views on YouTube.
Even the interviewer in the piece thought the famous phrase was his name – asking him in the interview, “how did you become ‘Sean de Paul’?”
“There was a famous cricketer in Trinidad, Shivnarine Chanderpaul,” he said, noticing the similarities between their names.
“Everybody was like ‘Chanderpaul’ and yo, that name stuck. And then I just started to say it at shows”.
Guyanese cricketer Shivnarine Chanderpaul is a legend in the sport, a former captain of the West Indies team and their most capped player.
A left-handed batter, Mr Chanderpaul is the 10th highest run scorer in international cricket, a title he still holds after his retirement in 2016.
In 2022, Mr Chanderpaul was inducted into the ICC cricket hall of fame for his excellence and contributions to the sport.
“Big up to Shivnarine Chanderpaul,” Mr Paul said.
Mr Paul said he later met Mr Chanderpaul some time after he started shouting him out.
“[I] met the dude Chanderpaul years later, and he’s like ‘Yo!’”, Mr Paul laughed.
Despite its origins, Mr Paul didn’t deny using the name ‘Sean de Paul’ in his songs – but now people know that he didn’t just create the “de” out of thin air.
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