"       When he considers the enormity of the accomplishment, all Sean Paul can do is shake his head and smile. In his country’s long and rich musical tradition, the storied names that it has produced, he finds himself the most successful Jamaican artist ever on the U.S. charts.

      The natural assumption is that surely it was Bob Marley or the Wailers, perhaps Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh or Toots and the Maytals. But no, it is this reggae and dancehall star whose artistry has been embraced, not just by America but the world.

      "I have to give thanks every day for the life I am able to live as a musician and represent my culture at this level throughout the world," he says, humbly, from his hotel room, where he is just a few hours into a new day. The names that he finds himself above on the sales charts were and are some of his heroes, he says. He hopes they view him as a worthy representative as he spreads his own good vibrations, a heady blend that also includes hip-rock.

      If acceptance can be equated in numbers, it is an impressive embrace. The Kingston, Jamaica-born artist’s latest album, Trinity, is the follow-up to his 6 million-selling, Grammy-winning breakthrough CD, %Dutty Rock%.

      Trinity enjoyed 21 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Reggae Albums chart, and was certified Platinum in Canada, France and the Gulf States, and Gold in Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Switzerland, Japan and the U.K.

      So far in his career, which began professionally in 1995, he has had three No. 1 singles on the U.S. charts ("Temperature," "Get Busy" and "Baby Boy"), five Top 10 hits (including "We Be Burnin’" and "Gimme The Light") and eight chart entries over two worldwide multi-Platinum albums.

      He demonstrated his versatility in duets with Beyonce ("Baby Boy") and Sasha ("I’m Still In Love With You"), and Mariah Carey has asked him to tour with her, opening her Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, the Hits, the Tour, her first trek in more than three years.

      He is said to have redefined the reggae category when he won the Grammy, the music industry’s highest honor, for best reggae album. He also is recipient of MTV Europe’s Best New Artist award, as well as the International Reggae and World Music Awards.

      It all offers many more reasons to be grateful, Paul said. "I just give thanks that people do relate to it. I don’t have a certain formula. It is a mixture of a lot of different things."

      He tries to stay alert to new trends in pop culture. "So people can understand my work, I need to talk about certain things that are familiar to them. When you make music, it’s supposed to be a joyful thing and bring people together. They are supposed to gravitate to it." He works to be that magnet by concentrating on all aspects of a song, from lyrics to melody.

      He believes he brings "a different type of voice" to dancehall music, concentrating on pronunciation and clarity. "A lot of ladies say, ‘I love your voice,’" he says, laughing. He tries to incorporate a lot of different types of hip-hop and popular dancehall elements into his show and music. "It’s very urban," Paul says.

      If you plan to sit and watch his show, think again, says Paul. He’s not happy until he has everyone up and dancing. "I like people to get involved. I make sure people feel they are also on the stage. I want people to feel I am in a party with them, feel a good vibe, free themselves up, sweat a lot and go home tired as hell, and maybe a little bit deaf." He laughs again. There’s no feeling like connecting with an audience, he says. "You can speak to people what you feel."

      In the beginning, it was different for him. "I was scared of the crowd," he admits. "I’m a very good people person but was shy of the crowd. Then the ladies tried to empower me by screaming."

      That did the trick. He became popular in Jamaica. "It gave me a confidence, a fire that won’t let go," Paul explains.

      As much as he loves live performance now, he says his favorite aspect of the music business is writing songs and being in the studio, "where I get to create what happens onstage."

      He has been enjoying touring with Mariah Carey. "She is an excellent artist who showed her talent from year to year. That’s not very easy to do," he says. "I have a very good appreciation of people who stay in the business for more than five years. She has been an inspiration to me, not just because she can sing, but because of her staying power."

      He hopes his own expression will enjoy such longevity. "My music, up to this point, is about partying and having a good time. My influence to do this type of music comes straight from the reggae dance hall and hip-hop," he says. "It comes from a feeling I had as a kid, a youngster, and thinking about the world, growing up without my pops, who went to prison when I was a teenager. I wondered what the world had in store for me."

      What once helped him was to go out and socialize with his friends, he says. "That’s the feeling I put into my music, reggae dancehall and hip-hop, wanting a break from the whole feeling of doing so much studies and worrying about what you want to grow up to be." He attempted to give people a break from their own worries, he says. While that remains his goal, lately he has been writing a lot more "social-conscience songs. We’ll see where it takes me from there."

      Music remains a powerful force with which to communicate, he says. "It has brought people together over thousands of years. Many different cultures make different types of music. These things came together in modern society and we call it various genres. But really, it’s [still] these tribes who have come together musically over the years and had no way of recording. Music was meant to be blended, which is why I can do a song with an R&B artist like Beyonce and it works, and I could do one with a rock band and it probably would work."

      So many people of all ages and backgrounds can relate to reggae because of the many cultures from which it draws, he theorizes. "Jamaica is a small country, but we have been blessed with many different types of diverse cultures being there, 400 years of African, European, Asian and other influences. It makes our work in general very vibrant. The food and music and dance are very vibrant. We understand different cultures of the world."

      With Trinity, he wanted people to have a better appreciation of the talent that is in his country. "I wanted to prove to people that Jamaican producers are good enough on the world level," he says. "It was all done right here in the Third World." Jamaica offers the "real reggae," the "real dancehall," which is the roots of hip-hop, he says.

      He sees the thematic message of the album being that even in the darkest times, people have to find a way to enjoy their lives. "The important thing is to make the most of the time we have without taking away from anybody else," he adds.

      The album’s title suggests a spiritual context, as well as references the fact he devoted three years to completing this, his third album, and the fact that there are three key elements to his music in reggae, dancehall and hip-hop/R&B.

      He views himself as very much of a spiritual person, and feels a sense of responsibility in remembering that in his creative expression. "I always have a feeling of unity in the songs," he says. "I want to provide a very different type of music for the world, something fresh. It is very urban and called dancehall music. I want it to be more socially conscious. My music has already brought joy with its crazy vibes in clubs and people’s cars and homes. Now I would love to say something to people."