Published October 2000 

SHAGGY
From Boombastic to Hot Shot

BY LYNDEN VASSELL

Shaggy transcends dancehall. A lot of people who claim not to be especially big fans of the music are very fond of Shaggy. Even my wife says "there's something about that Shaggy." That `something' can be described in part as "tongue-in-cheek, borderline rude, but in a fun way," acknowledges Shaggy. You can tell by his big mischeveous smile on his latest release, Hot Shot. "Th e album is meant to entertain, not to be negative. I want my songs to tell a story and to be funny at the same time."

This Grammy-winning Reggae/pop superstar bears an impressive resume. Shaggy along with Shabba Ranks and Beenie Man, are the only Reggae/Dancehall deejays to have ever sign ed with a major record label. With the 1993 debut release of Pure Pleasure, which launched Shaggy's international success, the track "Oh Carolina," became one of the biggest hit singles in U.K. pop history. Bombastic, which won him the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Reggae
Album, shattered boundaries on the airwaves, topping Billboard's Reggae, R&B and Rap charts. The title track became the #1 selling single and hit #3 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart.

Since Shaggy's European success and a variety of tours that have taken him all over the globe, he has continued to establish a strong following wherever he has taken his music. If the debut of Hot Shot is any indication, this artist will be rising to even greater heights. Orville Richard Burrell, whose friends nicknamed him Shaggy after the Scooby Doo cartoon character, was born in Kingston, Jamaica. While most of his varied musical influences came before leaving the island nation, all of his adult life has been spent in the United States. Upon settling in Brooklyn, New York, he later pursued a military career as a U.S. Marine. Within a few years he found himself fighting in the Gulf War in Iraq. He later acquitted himself with honor citing the ugliness of war. This fact gave him the drive to take his music to another level.

Shaggy 's music defies easy categorization. One thing for sure is that it is reggae influenced. He sees himself as being in a privileged position to be able to do a song that can cross many borders and be readily accepted. He concedes that there is a conscious deviation from the pure dancehall/reggae format that his music takes and it works. He does not feel that he has sacrificed anything artistically for commercial success on Hot Shot.

" The music is pop in the sense that it is popular and anyone in reggae music who says that they are hardcore this and hardcore that and don't want their music to go popular, is lying their ass off" says Shaggy. " What's the use if I am only going to make music to please myself? What's the sense if I'm going to make music that will not be heard? I'm a global guy, I want my music to be heard globally."

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