Shaggy's reggae renaissance

25 August 2007

0Comments | Comment on this Article

It would be easy to dismiss his positive spin on things as rhetoric, but the 38-year-old has a proven track record of Lazarus-style recoveries, and the survival skills one might expect of a former US marine who served in the first Gulf War.

The reggae artist - whose real name is Orville Richard Burrell - first burst into the charts with 'Oh Carolina' in 1993, but it was with third album 'Boombastic' in 1995 that he became a global star, scoring a number one single with the title track in the UK and selling more than one million albums in the US alone.

But the New Yorker soon learnt the fickle nature of the business. When 'Piece Of My Heart', the first song from his next album, 'Midnite Lover', limped to just 72 on the US top 100 Shaggy's label Virgin Records withdrew all support. Rudderless, the album didn't even chart at all.

Fast forward four years and Shaggy was suddenly bigger than ever; a genuine global superstar boasting a monster hit of an album. 'Hot Shot', with two massive singles in 'It Wasn't Me' and 'Angel', sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and was one of the stand-out records of 2001.Unfortunately, when follow up 'Lucky Day' came out a year later, the cycle repeated itself all over again, and Shaggy found himself label-less once more. Next came 'Clothes Drop', and relative obscurity.

But with new single 'Church Heathen' having built up a huge underground following, and collaborations with the likes of Akon on new album 'Intoxication', Shaggy's career is set to take yet another twist. Taking into account his ability to prove the critics wrong, who would bet against that twist being a return to global superstardom?

Here, he talks about his involvement with the MOBOs, his expectations for the new album, and the decision to leave behind his womanising ways.

Q: You are presenting the MOBOs next month. Have any artists from the British urban music scene particularly impressed you?

I have been off the scene for a minute so I hope people don't get really mad when I'm in their presence and I don't know who they are.

I'm not too keen on a lot of what's going on. I've been back home in Jamaica for a while so I don't really know who's hot and who isn't.

Q: On the international scene there are now more artists from the West Indies making an impact. Is that something you are pleased to see?

Of course. I am very impressed by Rihanna, who's from the Bahamas. She has grown quite a lot since she came out with 'Girl Like Me', which was kind of a novelty record. She's certainly proven everyone wrong - all the people who ever doubted her. And she's grown tremendously musically and in terms of her image in the short space of time. And I think the best is yet to come from her.

She has an incredible machine behind her. L.A. Reid is a top music executive who has dealt with the best and he did an extra-ordinary job on her. I love what they did with getting her away from the whole Beyoncé Knowles image thing. It was a deterrent where fans are concerned because she had the same hair colour, she kind of looks like her a little bit and she's got the same style of music somewhat and you just don't go into the shadow of someone like Beyoncé. So I think it was brilliant she cut her hair and changed the colour and changed the style of her music. She's going to be huge.

Q: Your new album 'Intoxication' is out next month. Are you confident it will do well?

I'm very pleased because it reminds me of 'Hot Shot' because there was no A & R (Artists and Repertoire) then either.

We did most of the work on 'Hot Shot' when we were between labels and it sold 10 million. And it just became a situation where I was no longer with a label again and it's worked well, like last time.

I wanted to just kind of build the credibility back on the street because that's what we couldn't accomplish with the major labels. When you have a label and you sell millions and millions of copies it's hard to really build the credibility back up from scratch.

Q: So you're not a fan of the major labels then?

Most people want to become a big artist so you can get control of your music. What you don't realise is the bigger you are the less control you get because you are now a commodity that makes a lot of money for them and the suits are going get involved.

People are going make sure that they put their two cents in because they want to be a part of your success.

That's why I've been silent for so long because I don't give up that easily and it becomes a tug of war situation when you're on a major label.

Q: What sort of problems did you have working with big labels?

They interfere a lot in your career. They'll put pressure on you to make certain moves. I prefer things low key in that way.

The biggest collaboration inside my career was with Janet Jackson with 'Luv Me, Luve Me' in 1998 and it was probably the worst experience I've ever had.

We ended up with a number three song in the US but she didn't want to appear in the video and she didn't want to do any promotions, it was just a nightmare.

Now I never do songs with people because they're hot. I do songs with people because I have some sort of relationship with them.

After that we did songs like 'It Wasn't Me' with Rik Rok and 'Angel' with Rayvon. Just regular guys that are ready to do the grind with me, you know what I mean?

I like doing records with people who want to get into the dungeons and get it done. It has to be a relationship situation that I have with these people before we start collaborating on records.

Q: You do have a collaboration with Akon on the new album though.

Yeah. I've known Akon from before he became big, when he was doing dancehall so it wasn't a hard collaboration at all. We got on great in the studio and put in the hard grind. He knows the score and we get on.

Q: The track you recorded together, 'What's Love?', is about a man who feels tied down to his girlfriend and wants to play the field. Was it written from personal experience?

No, but it's one of those situations that probably every man can relate to. I don't think I've ever wanted to come out of a relationship and not done it. When I want to go I just go. I'm not looking for an excuse.

Q: Are you spoken for yourself at the moment?

I've been with someone for six or seven years now. Would I ever cheat on her? No, no, no, no. Me? Never.

Q: You performed a duet with Ali G when you released 'Me Julie' in 2002. What made you decide to do that?

The majors, a very powerful executive within the Universal group, suggested I did that song. To be honest with you I was actually a very big fan of Sacha also. I saw the Ali G skits, and his show and thought he was extremely funny.

The song was what it was. It wasn't a situation where I could just submit a song and they use it because he wanted to be more involved. Sacha wanted to be on the song so that changed the perspective on the whole thing.

He's not an artist and I tried to put him down at the end of the song because of that, but nevertheless it was a number two song and it doesn't do much harm at all.

Q: You're releasing 'Church Heathen' as a single. Was that always the plan?

No. 'Church Heathen' was an underground record but it has proven itself to be more than that. Not only was it a huge dancehall record but it started to cross over within the mainstream also and we were forced to do another video again just to compete. So it's now moved from just being a song that caught on at the grass roots to being a set-up for the mainstream album and that's good.

Q: Do you think it will impress your British fanbase?

My credibility is pretty solid here so once you have good credibility it's kind of open for you to come in with the right songs. The only ingredient you need after that is the right song to make it happen.

Q: Kanye West and 50 Cent are both up for MOBO awards. Are you looking forward to hooking up with them there?

I don't really look forward to things like that you know. If we kick it off we kick it off. If not I lose no sleep.

Q: You recently performed in your home country of Jamaica at the cricket world cup. That must have been a great experience?

We did the world cup song 'The Game of Love and Unity' and I thought it was a good track. The song was actually written by Rupee, a Caribbean calypso singer and they asked me to basically give sixteen bars on it and I did my thing. It was a good song. I like it.

The performance was in Jamaica and they did a brilliant job with the opening ceremony considering the time they had to do it.

Q: Are you a cricket fan

I'm a cricket fan in the sense that legendary West Indies bowler Courtney Walsh is my neighbour and lives right next door to me. He picks my mangos off my tree. We do house-watching sometimes. If he is away he comes over and leaves his key at my house and says 'Yo, make sure nobody robs my place'. He is there now and he keeps an eye on my house every now and then.

Q: What have you got coming up?

Just promotion and more promotion as my record drops on October 8. My schedule is pretty heavy. My girlfriend is not even here with me because I just don't have time for anything else.

I expect it to be more like 'Hot Shot' than my last two albums so I'm hoping it charts well. A number one would be a great thing!

By Robbie McIntyre.

0Comments | Be the first to comment!