SEAN Paul officially launched his fifth studio album, Tomahawk Technique, at the Fiction Lounge in St Andrew on Wednesday night.

The album — which features input from a number of American producers — was released in Jamaica and the Caribbean a week ago. It is set to drop in North America in August.

Speaking to Splash, Sean Paul explained the reason behind North America — dancehall’s biggest market — being the last region where Tomahawk Technique is being released.

“The thing really took off in Europe thanks to the dance and techno tracks on the album. France was where it happened first, followed by Germany, Belgium and even Poland. So, we took the decision to stay on in that market and push the album since it was doing well there,” he explained.

Tomahawk Technique went to number one in France. The track Hold On was even used as part of the media blitz during the election campaign of eventual president, François Hollande.

Sean Paul adds that once those markets were set, the decision was taken to release the album in Jamaica then move toward North America.

The Grammy-winning artiste is aware of the global downturn in record sales but has confidence in his latest project which he says has sold 200,000 units since its release.

“People were telling me to just keep releasing singles and not to bother with an album, but that is what I do every day in Jamaica. So I wanted to come up with a project that I could present to the international market,” he said.

The Atlantic/VP Records release features producers including Benny Blanc, Rico Love and Sean Paul himself, who donned his producer’s cap for the first time.

He admits this was a little daunting as although he had done production work in the past, this was the first time he was taking a track from conception to the final stage.

Sean Paul had a platinum run with the albums Dutty Rock and The Trinity, which produced massive hits like Gimme The Light and Temperature. His follow-up album, Imperial Blaze, failed to match the sales of its predecessors.