Rising Star: Sean Kingston

In a time when hip-hop is under fire for its foul language from critics like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, Sean Kingston has come along to save the day.

This 17-year-old Miami-born, Jamaica raised, hip-hop-meets-reggae-meets-R&B artist is quickly climbing up the charts with his hit single “Beautiful Girls,” a song without any bad words.

“I’m going to stick with that, man, because I think I’m a role model to the youths and the kids out there,” Kingston told Matt Lauer during a recent visit to “Today.” “There’s a lot of kids out there that like what I do, so I don’t feel like me putting profanity in my lyrics is the right way to go.”

A sample lyric from Kingston’s infectious summer song? How about these curse-word free lines:

“See it started at the park/used to chill after dark/Oh when you took my heart/That’s when we fell apart/cause we both thought, that love lasts forever (lasts forever).”

If those lyrics sound familiar, it is because Kingston’s song is already in high rotation on not just the charts, but television. ABC recently used his cut for the promos for Season 4 of “Desperate Housewives.”

Now that he’s stormed the charts (iTunes, Billboard’s Hot 100) with “Beautiful Girls,” and the internet (he flooded MySpace during an online listening party), Kingston has finally dropped his self-titled, debut album.

“As an artist, my goal is to make a powerful and classic album,” Kingston said. “I want everyone to feel my music and understand my heritage and that’s what this album will do. The music is all about the authentic Sean Kingston vibe.”

Helping Kingston along the way was his producer, JR Rotem, who signed the young rising star as the first artist on his Beluga Heights imprint for Epic.

Rotem has nothing but high praise for the youngster. “I worked with some of the best and I don’t see why Sean can’t grow to be one of them,” Rotem enthused. “His potential is limitless.”

And it doesn’t hurt that Kingston has music in his blood. His grandfather, Jack Ruby, produced reggae legend Bob Marley.