Sean Paul helped bring it to the forefront of the music scene, and Kevin Lyttle turned mainstream audiences on to it. Now Barbados-bred Rupee is "Tempted to Touch" some of that soca music magic with his major-label debut, 1 on 1.

Those artists "set up a new set of eyes," said Rupee, "and created a new focus for the industry, making them look at the Caribbean like, 'What's this new song and new music?' "

Rupee, born Rupert Clarke and nicknamed Rupee by his mother, hopes to answer those questions and make the world take notice of the burgeoning sultry soca sound with his new album, due in February, which mixes traditional soca with R&B and hip-hop. With "Tempted to Touch" on the soundtrack to "After the Sunset," a new film starring Salma Hayek and Pierce Brosnan, Rupee is getting closer to achieving that goal.

"The soundtrack of 'After the Sunset' is musically of a Caribbean theme, reggae, dancehall, soca," Rupee said. "I was very, very fortunate to have 'Tempted to Touch' chosen as the lead single for the movie because it blends in with what the movie is about. It's about temptation."

Rupee said the song, with its catchy chorus that includes such lyrics as "Before the end of the night/ I want to hold you so tight/ You know I want you so much," is about the universal temptation that draws people to what they're not supposed to have.

"Temptation is something we all face on a daily basis," he said. "You know, if you're on a diet and you pass a piece of cake that you're not supposed to eat, you're tempted to eat it even though you shouldn't."

"Tempted to Touch" is, more specifically, about temptation from women. "I'm in carnival environments," Rupee said, "constantly in situations where I am surrounded by women. You know, temptation is a natural thing for me."

The German-born artist, raised in Barbados by a white German mother and black Barbadian father, has been making waves in the Caribbean for years, first in local talent shows, then in the now-disbanded reggae group Coalishun, and ultimately as a solo act.

But Rupee made his first stage appearances at the tender age of 4 when his older brothers brought him onstage at their club performances. "They used me to get girls," Rupee recalled. "At the end of the performance they were like, 'Oh, he's so cute,' you know, but I would go onstage to do a little verse. [My brothers] weren't superstars, but they were doing their thing. I learned from them."

Rupee's years of onstage experience, combined with the recent mainstream arrival of soca - dance music that combines Indian and island sounds with up-tempo percussion - helped the artist secure a deal with Atlantic Records.

"I've been very blessed," he said, "and people of the Caribbean considered me to be one of the top artists out there. I've created somewhat of a buzz there."

Rupee's ascent wasn't smooth from the outset, though. "I lost both my parents to AIDS, HIV," Rupee said. "It was a very trying time in my life, and through the forces of people around me, you know, loved ones, through the Almighty and through music, I allowed myself to turn my situation around and make it a positive."

Rupee penned the track "Woman" in honor of his mother. Perhaps the most divergent song on the record, "Woman" sounds more like an acoustic-guitar-driven ballad than a dance track.

"It's a personal anthem I wrote for my mother based on her life's experience and everything she had been through. ... She just loved everyone despite being infected, and that basically is an anthem for her and women across the world. You know, from my heart it's a really personal deep song."

The tragedies in Rupee's life haven't crippled his drive for success; instead they've made him hopeful. Within the next few years, Rupee wants to make soca music a greater force in the music industry. "Next year, I'm definitely hoping to take soca music to the top of the Billboard charts," he said. "Over the next five years, I plan to harness our young talent and expose it, most definitely.

"I know that there is confusion sometimes," Rupee added. "People call me a reggae artist. But at the end of the day, you can't blame people for what they don't know. My mission is to educate the people, you know? That's my objective - to let them know what soca is."