Shaggy: It Wasn't Him

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Mar 11, 2001 Source: CDNOW's allstar Submitted By: Kween Mo It took almost six months for Shaggy's Hotshot to reach No. 1. He tells CDNOW that he's for real. By Aidin Vaziri CDNOW Contributing Writer There are several great mysteries of the universe that will forever trouble scholars and Leonard Nimoy alike. Does the Loch Ness Monster really exist? Who decided to stick a hot dog on a stick, dip it in corn batter, and sell it on street corners? And how is it that, after scoring a few odd hits in the early '90s with such dippy loverman reggae songs as "Oh Carolina" and "Luv Me, Luv Me," Shaggy became the biggest artist in the world today? Just last month, the artist formerly known as Orville Richard Burrell even elbowed heavyweights like the Beatles and Jennifer Lopez out of the No. 1 spot on The Billboard 200. Blame it on Napster. Shaggy's popular resurgence can be traced directly to the outlaw file-swapping Internet software. His latest album, Hotshot, was an immediate flop when it was originally released last summer. But then an enterprising Hawaiian DJ downloaded a copy of the song "It Wasn't Me" and started playing it to death. The song's success soon spread to the mainland and the rest of the world, making the Jamaican-born, Brooklyn-raised singer the unlikeliest success story of the new year. The rest, as they say, is history. Plans for a summer tour with the Backstreet Boys were just confirmed when we caught up with the 32-year-old Shaggy on the road in Palm Beach, Fla. CDNOW: What are you doing? Shaggy: Well, I'm at this Bob Marley Cafe trying to get some food right here. If you want better service, you should pin a copy of The Billboard 200 to your shirt. Nah, man. It's cool. We're all family here. How is it that you keep having hits? I hope it soaks in to people right now that we are hit-makers and to stop giving me such a hard damn time. Every time I feel I have to prove myself over and over again. At least this time I hope they won't be able to ignore it. When they get a Shaggy record, they'll say, "Shit, just play the damn thing right away and stop testing it." It's going to test positive any damn way. Were you ready to retire when this album came out at first and didn't do anything? I was terrified, hell yeah. I was shittin' in my drawers. Because you put so much into it and you hope it goes up. "It Wasn't Me" is about sleeping around with the girl next door. Is this based on first-hand experience? No, not at all. Don't you shag a lot of birds? I wish. I wish I had that much action in my life. I just look for any kind of action that might touch home to any basic person out there. A song like "It Wasn't Me," that subject matter has been around for ages. Then there's "Hey Love." Everybody's feeling that, because it has a story kids can relate to. How many guys have been looking at the chick, but the chick ain't looking at him? She's looking at the guy on the basketball team or the football team. And then later on in life, you become a big star, and she's jocking you. You're just hitting her for the hell of it, because she didn't want to give you none. That's what the record is all about. On "Leave It to Me" you say you live in a mansion with pet reptiles and Rottweilers. Is that true? I wish. Do you have any animals that bite you and then say, "Not too shabby, Shaggy?" I wish. So your life is more like "Keepin' It Real," where you say you don't want a big house? Yeah, it's more like that. When I did the record, I was very angry because of the situation with my old label dropping me. I felt the world was against me. I did a couple songs that had a real angry nature to it. When the album was almost complete, I was listening to it in my car, and I thought, "Wow, this is really dark." When I evaluated my life, I realized I have nothing to be mad about. Even at my worst, I'm better off than a lot of people. I've made a lot of money doing something I enjoy. So I basically scrapped all of those songs, and the next song I wrote after that was "Keep It Real." There's always someone who has it worse than you. From there, the album just took on a very positive outlook. Why do you want to go on tour with the Backstreet Boys? I knew them from 1992 when I was doing "Oh Carolina." I was in Birmingham, England, and the Backstreet Boys were opening for me, so it's kind of strange that it's flipped right now. I remember those guys doing malls and all of that. So them boys, they deserve it, man; they work their asses off. I don't know about 'NSync and Britney, and all that. They came in on the shirttails. I knew the Backstreet Boys when they wasn't shit. They did some hardcore work to get where they are, so I don't mind touring with them. But I must say I don't own a Backstreet Boys record, but I do respect them on that merit. Do you think little girls are going to like Shaggy? I've been doing the circuit for a while, and a lot of stations that supported Shaggy are pop stations as well as crossover and urban radio. I'm just hoping to keep everybody on board. Do you think the Backstreet Boys might try to do a reggae record next year? Nah, they do what they do, man. It will be amazing to see if they stay together. The phenomenon is on the way out. Tell me about your new single, "Angel." It's already on every station all over. Are you going to have strippers in the video? Actually, we are not. Who told you that? Shaggy plus strippers equals ratings. Nah, no strippers in my video. I'll probably have the strippers in my room privately, but not in my music. That's a separate entity. Comment on this item. 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