Sean Paul News

(9/5/03, 10 a.m. ET) -- Jay-Z wanted to be the only performer to join Beyonce on stage during her performance last Thursday (August 28) at the 2003 MTV Video Awards, according to the Jamaica Observer.

Jeremy Harding, Sean Paul's manager, told the paper, "We were told through the president of Atlantic Records, Craig Kallman, that Jay-Z wanted to be the only guest artist to perform with Beyonce at the awards show. Jay-Z did not want Sean Paul on stage with her and he made it clear."

Beyonce performed a two song medley during her VMA performance which included "Baby Boy" her duet with Sean Paul and "Crazy In Love" her duet with Jay-Z. But during her performance of "Baby Boy," Paul's pre-recorded vocals were played while during "Crazy In Love" Jay-Z joined her on stage.

Paul was present at the VMAs as he performed during the pre-show concert and presented an award. Harding attempted to make sense of the situation, "I don't know whether it was jealously (Jay-Z and Beyonce are dating) or a professional threat. But it is a form of hypocrisy as hip-hop views dancehall as the poor little cousin and now it feels threatened because it is right up there in their league. Paul has sold some three million records internationally, two in the US and the rest in other parts of the world. Now all of a sudden there is a clamp down."

Harding also said that Paul was restricted from contact with Beyonce while shooting the video for "Baby Boy." The two are seldom in the same shot.

Calls to Jay-Z's publicists at Roc-A-Fella Records were not returned at press time.

In related news, Beyonce will perform and sit down for an interview on the season premiere of the Oprah Winfrey Show on September 15 on ABC. The Destiny's Child singer's latest film, the Fighting Temptations with Cuba Gooding, Jr., opens in theaters nationwide on September 19.

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