Sean Paul is widely regarded as one of the most successful dancehall artists of all time, but fans may be surprised to learn his career might have taken a different path were it not for one West Indies cricketer.
That's after the man behind platinum-selling 'Temperature' revealed the inspiration for his 'Sean da Paul' moniker was—as some have suspected—former Durham and Lancashire star Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Despite the fact Paul has been prominent in the music industry since the mid-1990s, many were stunned to learn the first Indo-Caribbean to play 100 Tests for the West Indies had a hand in reggae history.
Most listeners with even a slight exposure to Paul's library will have likely heard his 'Sean da Paul' chant at one point or another during his songs. Except it turns out fans have had the wrong end of the stick (or bat) for the better part of two decades.
Think you've heard a better sporting namesake than Chanderpaul? Let us know in the comments section.
“There’s a famous cricketer in Trinidad called Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Everybody was like ‘Sean da Paul!’ and yo, that name stuck,” he told VICE while filming a mini-documentary on the origins of arguably his most famous track, 'Get Busy'.
“Then I just started to say it on the intros and met the dude Chanderpaul years later and he’s like ‘Yoooo!’ But yeah, big up to Shivnarine Chanderpaul.”
Guyana-born Chanderpaul was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame just last month, meaning Paul's admission only adds to a special period for the once-prolific batsman. Save for a brief spell representing his birth country, the 48-year-old has been retired from playing since 2017 and is currently coaching the United States' women's and women's under-19s teams.
One curious cricket aficionado who tweaked onto Paul's utterance early on is commentator Santokie Nagulendran, who tweeted in 2017 that he "used to think Sean Paul was shouting out Chanderpaul at the beginning of every song in a weird tribute to the Cricket player.” In an update to his suspicion more than five years later, Nagulendran posted footage of Paul's admission with a simple "OMG."
Chanderpaul played 164 Test matches for the West Indies across a 21-year international career and scored 11,867 runs. That's the eighth-highest Test run total accumulated by any player and the second-most by a West Indies player, second only to Brian Lara (11,953).
However, his tally of 66 Test 50s has proved a much more elusive figure and puts him in a more elite bracket. The only player to record more half-centuries in the Test scene is Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar, who also leads the overall run race by a wide margin (15,921).
