Jay Sean may be considered an overnight success in America, but he has been working hard in the United Kingdom for the past five years just to get where he is now career-wise. Building his fanbase in the British Asian/Desi music scene, his popularity grew into the mainstream R&B genre, and his songs were charting with the likes of Ne-Yo and Rihanna in the UK. He had the good fortune to be "discovered" by Cash Money Records, which gave him instant creditability with the urban music elite in America.
The Jay Sean story is a great example of the grassroots development that has been going on for over a decade. UK urban artists stopped looking toward America for direction, and started forging their own identity. Along with this came trendy new names for their different styles. Garage, grime, drum & bass, dubstep, bassline and niche were thrown alongside hip hop and R&B. Media also rose up to nurture the UK urban scene as BBC Radio began producing numerous shows dedicated to the urban subgenres, and Channel AKA was programming the music videos on satellite television.
Click Here to Watch the International Spotlight - UK Urban Artists.
Rob Campanell
Director of Content Programming
Blastro.com