Kingston Hits Town (gua.com.my)

by Max Koh

19 April 2007

Teenage sensation Sean Kingston, who was in town recently as part of his ‘Beautiful Girls World Tour’ to promote his self-titled debut album, had a showcase at Zouk KL.

The 18-year-old Jamaican American reggae singer and rapper got the crowd worked up as he sang some of his big hits “Beautiful Girls”, “Me Love” and “Take You There”. Unfortunately, as he only performed for half-an-hour, some came away feeling short-changed. He sang six songs and left the crowd wanting for more, if not cheated out of the RM80 that they paid to get into the club.

Nevertheless, American Chinese rapper Jin, who was featured in ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’, made the buck worth the bang as he impressed audiences with his adroit vocal acrobatics and sharp free styling. Word y’all. Now who says Chinese boys can’t rap? He was the night’s opening act.

Earlier that day, Kingston appeared at Menara Maxis for a meet and greet with fans. During the press conference, 40 lucky Maxis customers got to meet their young idol. In a short interview session with the press, Kingston said he was happy that people were showing him love and buying his albums. He also revealed that he is working on a new album.

“I am currently working with Timbaland on my new album. I also hope to work with people like Kanye West, Pharell, Flo Rida, Ne-Yo and Fergie,” said the Miami-based performer.

Recently, Kingston covered Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry” on The Today Show. The video which was subsequently posted on YouTube has to date received over 336,000 views.

What many people don’t know is that his grandfather used to produce songs for the legendary Marley. Therefore, he claims to be the real deal.

“I am glad to be part of the music and doing this,” said Kingston whose real name is Kisean Anderson. He changed his second name to ‘Kingston’, as it is the capital city of Jamaica and he thought his real name sounded lame.

Well, Anderson or Kingston, the boy sure knows how to get the crowd moving. With two crew members and a DJ, he hit the stage running with the song “Me Love”. He then performed some songs taken from his album such as “Kingston”, “I Can Feel It” and “There’s Nothing”. He got the most cheers, of course, when he performed “Beautiful Girls” before ending the short love affair with the slow and uplifting “Dry Your Eyes”.

Kingston performed the next day at Coco Banana, Sunway Pyramid.