Sean Paul had established himself as a major act locally prior to the release of Dutty Rock in 2002. He had scored two Billboard charting singles with Deport Them and Haffi Get Da Gal Ya (Hot Gal Today) with Mr Vegas; plus, he had a handful of hits including Nah Get Nuh Bly and Infiltrate.

But Sean Paul created history with his Grammy-winning set Dutty Rock. Released by VP/Atlantic Records, the album not only sold more than six million copies worldwide, but it is still the only album from a Jamaica-based artiste to score 5 Top 15 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Dutty Rock featured the hits Gimmie Di Light, Get Busy, Like Glue, I’m Still in Love with You (featuring Sasha) and Baby Boy (with Beyoncé).

Sean Paul, who attended the College of Arts, Science and Technology (now known as the University of Technology Jamaica), played water polo for Jamaica. After meeting producer Jeremy Harding, his career took off in the late 1990s.

He moved from being a member of the uptown Dutty Cup Crew to establishing himself as a solo artiste in his own right in just a few years.

What Sean Paul managed to accomplish hasn’t been accomplished by another dancehall act out of Jamaica.

Dutty Rock won the Best Reggae album Grammy award at the 46th annual event which took place on February 4, 2004 at the Staples Centre in California. The other nominees in the category were Friends for Life by Buju Banton, Free Man by Burning Spear, Ain’t Givin Up by Third World and No Holding Back by Wayne Wonder.

The album featured production work from the likes of Delroy “Delly Ranks” Foster, Jeremy Harding, Mark Ronson, Steelie and Clevie, and the Neptunes.

Ce’Cile, Busta Rhymes, Farenheit, Tony Touch, Chico and Sasha were also featured on the album, which debuted at number 2 on the UK albums chart, number 9 on the Billboard 200 (with first week sales of over 65,000 copies) and number 1 on the Billboard Rap Album chart.