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Home / Entertainment

Jamaican rapper Sean Paul reveals shocking truth about ‘Sean da Paul’ lyric

NZ Herald
16 Dec, 2022 01:05 AM2 mins to read

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The rapper has revealed the truth behind a popular lyric. Photo / Getty Images

The rapper has revealed the truth behind a popular lyric. Photo / Getty Images

Sean Paul has shocked fans with his latest admission.

Twenty years after the release of his iconic hit Get Busy, the 49-year-old Jamaican rapper has shocked fans by revealing they have been singing the lyrics wrong the whole time.

While appearing in a video for Vice’s YouTube account, Paul tells the story about the origins of the song and in the final moments explains how “Chanderpaul” has been interpreted as “Sean da Paul” over the years.

The interviewer asks Paul: “How did you become Sean da Paul?” to which the rapper smiles and explains: “There was a famous cricketer in Trinidad, Shivnarine Chanderpaul.”

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The cricketer is actually from Guyana. Paul continues: “Everybody was like ‘Sean da Paul’, and yo, that name stuck. And then I just started to say it in shows and met the dude Chanderpaul years later and he’s like, ‘Yo!’” Paul laughs.

“But yeah, big ups to Shivarine Chanderpaul.” The rapper concludes.

Since announcing that fans have been saying the lyric wrong since the release of the chart-topping song, many have taken to Twitter to share their shock.

One fan said: “Always knew it was Chanderpaul when he sang Sean da Paul,” with another adding: “There’s a different level happy buzz around since Sean Paul mentioned Shiv Chanderpaul. I wouldn’t have thought even in parallel universe that the signature “Sean-Da-Paul” came from Chanderpaul. Amazing man, amazing.”

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While a third said: “I have been living a lie for 20 years!”

Meanwhile, one fan who tweet in 2017 they thought the lyric was in fact the cricketers name, said: “Fact: I used to think that Sean Paul was shouting out Chanderpaul at the beginning of every song in a weird tribute to the cricket player.”

They later shared a picture of the original tweet with the words “Omg”.

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