Entertainment, Music - Army Times

It’s a ‘Beautiful’ summer for Kingston

Rapper Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls” describes a personal heartbreak, but one that has worked out nicely for the 17-year-old newcomer.

The song of young love gone awry, which heavily samples Ben E. King’s 1961 classic Stand by Me, reached No. 4 on the Nielsen BDS national radio airplay chart in just a month — a virtually unprecedented ascent for a new artist that ensures it will dominate airwaves for the summer.

“I was dating this girl for about two years, and I caught her cheating with my best friend,” says Kingston, whose self-titled album arrives July 31. “There are a lot of beautiful girls, but sometimes, they come with a lot of problems.”

That cautionary note aside, the song’s upbeat vibe connects with a range of listeners. “Beautiful Girls”is both musically breezy and lyrically arresting, says Sean Ross of Edison Media Research.

“You don’t hear a lot of up-tempo singalong songs where the hook is the word ‘suicidal’ sung over and over,” Ross says. “It’s edgy enough for a 16-year-old but familiar enough for a 40-year-old because of ”Stand by Me.“ It probably would have been a hit at any time of year, but anything with a Caribbean feel seems to mean ‘summer’ to program directors.”

As soon as Kingston heard “Stand by Me”playing on an oldies station while he was in the studio with producer J.R. Rotem, he knew he wanted to incorporate it into a new song.

“I’m a very big doo-wop fan,” he says. “My mom used to play a lot of the old-school stuff around the house.”

Kingston was born in Miami but has spent much of his life in Jamaica. He is the nephew of reggae star Buju Banton and grandson of Bob Marley producer Jack Ruby. Still, he found himself homeless in Miami three years ago, after his mother and older sister were jailed on federal tax-evasion charges.

He e-mailed Rotem (Rihanna, 50 Cent and The Game) through the MySpace page for Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment and asked Rotem to listen to his music. To Kingston’s surprise, Rotem told him to get in touch if he were ever in Los Angeles. After Kingston moved there to live with his brother, Rotem signed him as the first artist on his Beluga Heights venture with Epic Records.

Other producers on the album — which combines elements of rap, R&B, reggae and pop — include Cool and Dre, DJ Khaled, The Runners and DJ Felli Fel. In addition to “Beautiful Girls,” the album includes Prosecutor, Kingston’s account of his family’s court ordeal; “Colors 2007,” featuring Rick Ross and The Game; and a reggae remix of Colors with Vybz Kartel and Kardinal Offishall.

Kingston says he’s trying to make feel-good music and won’t use profanity in his songs. “People don’t want to hear that from a kid,” he says. “I want to make music for everybody.”