Shaggy is back!
His new album marks a new direction for Mr Luvah luvah.
His album Intoxication is dropping soon and the first single “Church Heathen”is already a certified hit in the Caribean.
Shaggy will be our guest in Guest star broadcasted on September 22, here’s an extract of what he had to say…
TRACE:Why Intoxication ?
Shaggy:A couple of different titles ran through my head but to be honest with you
it kinda hit me at the last minute.
I was at home listening to the body of work back to back very loud.
And after that I felt … I felt high, I felt intoxicated and I wasn’t even smoking anything
So I thought this music is like a drug, it’s an intoxication !!
TRACE:Tell us about the featurings of the album
Shaggy:I got Akon on it.The track sounded like him… Plus the dude is easy, you give him a call he picks up the phone it’s man to man, no manager this manger that…
If he likes the song he does it if not he doesn’t…
And his voice is definitely special… He blessed the track.
Same thing for Sizzla, the melody sounded like him… and Collie Budz was in my studio as well and I was like “I can see him on that track as well…”
As for Nasha , we work together all the time, she’s incredible, really talented, she’s a rnb artist but she is versatile ….
Trace:What about the production?
Shaggy:It’s home based…
The people I used to work with on my previous albums…
Cristopher Burch… Big Yard people basically.
(Big Yard is the name of Shaggy’s studio)
TRACE:The style of the album
Shaggy:It’s Back to the basics man.
If you look at my career, my motivation has always come from criticism….
I’ve been labelled labelled as a good World music, International music, cross over music but not Dancehall.
Good to sell records but not really a dancehall artist, people like Sean Paul or Damian Marley are seen as the real representant of the Dancehall movement…
So I just wanted to come back with something that would show people what i am made of.
Soi ç went back to the garrison and came up with Church Heathen Number one in the charts for 14 weeks in Jamaica
So what are they gonna say now?
I’m sure they’ll think of something to say, I’m waiting to hear from them ?
TRACE:Independance ?
Shaggy:I am independant now
I had to be independant because when i was on a major i couldn’t creatively express myself.
I’m like Mohamad Ali, you’ve never seen Mohamad Ali in his prime !
Nobody ever saw M. Ali in his prime because when he was in his prime he coudn’t fight.
They took his licence.
Just like me, in my prime I couldn’t do the type of music I wanted because of my contractual agreement with Universal . So i got out of my contract in October, released Church Heathen in November and got number one in December.
Pretty clever huh ?
This coming album is the first one I do without an A&R.
I did it with my crew, this album is 100% Shaggy!
TRACE:Can you define Shaggy’s style?
Shaggy:Shaggy style changes like the weather.There is no 2 Shaggy songs that sound the same. My main thing in music is to entertain
There is nothing i can tell you in my 3 minutes song that you cant learn from a book.
You want knowledge : pick up a book
You want entertainement : pick up a Shaggy record!
Watch the full interview on September 22 in Guest Star.
(08.29.07)
