Hot Shot In Herre

11/12/2002 11:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Billy Johnson Jr

At first Shaggy was known for his dancehall style, with leftfield hits like "Oh Carolina" and "Boombastic." But when his 10 million-seller Hot Shot came out, this versatile artist--who's been known to mix elements of jazz and hip-hop into his tunes--became a bona fide pop sensation, with huge crossover singles like "Angel" (featuring guest vocalist Rayvon) and "It Wasn't Me" (featuring Rikrock). Shaggy admits now he was surprised by Hot Shot's enormous success, but somehow the always confident and audacious artist acted like he expected and deserved it all along.

And now Shaggy's back with Lucky Day, and he's still not lacking in the confidence department: In this interview with LAUNCH's own Billy Johnson Jr., he claims that buying his new album is a guaranteed way to score with the opposite sex, that Hot Shot's breakthrough paved the way for the recent success of Sean Paul and Beenie Man, and that he doesn't need professional vocal training because he's already such a great singer. We leave that up to you, the LAUNCH reader, to decide, but whether you believe him or not, you won't be able to deny that this is one damn funny Q&A.

LAUNCH: Did you get to take a break in between Hot Shot and this new album?

SHAGGY: There was no break. It slowed down a little bit, but there was tours. And it's a different kind of work. Touring is different for the simple fact that it's something that I like doing. I don't like sitting around and doing interviews and press and traveling all over the world and doing TV shows--that's not my thing. Doing a concert and doing two hours onstage in front of an enthusiastic audience is more my thing. So yeah, I was doing a lot of concerts, but I was enjoying it. So no real rest. I didn't go take a whole month off. Took a couple of days, probably a week or two, but nothing more than that.

LAUNCH: So how is your music different this time around?

SHAGGY: I knew I wanted to be different when I came back out. I didn't want a situation that I was going to do a combination record where I was going to do a duet with another huge artist, 'cause I just thought that everybody was doing that, and everybody was expecting that cause we just sold 10 million records--we had all this money, so we could hire Jennifer Lopez and do a record with her. I still wanted it to feel like Shaggy. I wanted to come with a record that people couldn't figure out, more or less: so great, in-your-face, you couldn't figure it out what it is, but it's just Shaggy. How do you say...with a tongue-in-cheek vibe to it. I'm up to my same old nasty tricks, so it's all good walking that borderline, so I still wanted that vibe. Was ["Hey Sexy Lady"] my first choice of [single] to come with? It actually wasn't--it was another track that I had in mind, which is a more slow-groove type of a record, but there's a very dance-y kind of a vibe that's going on right now, and I just felt that right now this would be an easier sell. A very important part of putting a single out is performing it, and performing a song like "Hey Sexy Lady" is extreme energy--you have no choice but to get into it, and that was an added bonus for this single.

LAUNCH: What came first, the lyrics or the track?

SHAGGY: The track came first, and the minute I heard it with the horns and whatnot, I was like, "Whoa." The beat was made by Robert Livingston and Christopher Birch, and I think Chris more or less had a melody that follows the groove. I totally changed the melody to counteract the groove, but it actually compliments it. And it had to be very catchy. And to me, how I wrote the whole song, I wrote it in a way that everything on it feels like a hook, everything feels hooky all the way down, even the verses are like a hook. And with the energy, it totally connects.

LAUNCH: Can you talk a little bit about the intensity of performing with your group? Is it all down to chemistry?

SHAGGY: The good thing about the unit that I'm with is we've been together for about eight years. This unit is good 'cause everyone is bluntly honest. We might be doing something, and it don't matter who come up with it--I come up with a lot of stuff--they just totally shoot it down: "I don't care, that thing is wack." And they'll tell you why, and the good thing about these guys is that they won't just tell why it's wack and leave it at that--they say it's wack and then "Try this." They give you a solution. The harmonies wasn't blending quite well a little while ago, and we was like, "I don't know what it is, I can't pinpoint what it is," and another person was like, "Try this note." And we tried a couple of different notes until we finally got it, and that's what it's all about. Nobody is trying to break your ego down--we're all here for the upliftment of this and the betterment. So I think that works, and I think that's what makes the chemistry great. And it just doesn't go on with the players of instruments, but also the production as well.

LAUNCH: So back to "Hey Sexy Lady"--is that a Herb Alpert influence I hear on there?

SHAGGY: Who's that? You know, I don't know. There's definitely a Mexican influence to it. I just think that it was a very unique track, and that's the main thing. I don't think it was we were saying, "We're going to emulate this person" or some style of music. It' s just one of those unique styles of music, and once you hear it, you're just like, "That's dope!"

LAUNCH: So do you think that the song is going to cause a commotion in the clubs?

SHAGGY: Um, it's funny--I didn't even think it was a club type of track until it was mixed. Then I was like, "This will blow up some speakers," so I'm feeling that. With the guys, I don't think it's going to prompt them to go out there and try and grab on these ladies--if any these fellas think they can go out and grab on these ladies, they have something else coming, 'cause them chicks are armed and dangerous these days, they will kick your ass. The songs are just here to promote ladies, and to uplift them in a way. If you're sexy and you're hot--I'm not talking about them chicks who think they're sexy, I'm talking about the ones who know they're sexy--I don't care if they're naturally blessed with it or they bought it...if it works for you, then flaunt it.

LAUNCH: What's the difference between a women who thinks she's sexy and a women who knows she's sexy?

SHAGGY: A woman who knows she's sexy has a lot more confidence, you know what I mean? It's more attractive--sex appeal to me is about confidence, and if a lady knows how to work her thing, she can work it.

LAUNCH: Even though it wasn't your first choice to be the single, did you realize that "Hey Sexy Lady" would more than likely be a single eventually?

SHAGGY: I actually didn't think it would be a single, 'cause I thought it was so different--until I started playing it for a bunch of people, and if I played a whole body of work, that was the song. There was a whole lot of other songs on there, the obvious songs like "Strength Of A Woman" that everyone just jumps out to and loves, but that was always a song that they would groove to, and I wasn't mad at it. So when it came around and we all sat down and were like, "This would be a better sell at this point," I wasn't mad at that, 'cause I actually like the song and it was in true Shaggy fashion. I didn't feel we were selling out in any way. I felt the music was different, and whatever I put on radio is always is not what's expected to be on radio, so we maintained that. It makes it harder for us, though, 'cause you know you're going to have the occasional program directors here and there that aren't going to get it. But that's what keeps us different: You're not supposed to "get" it, and if you get it, then you're a damn talented person.

LAUNCH: The reason I ask is because "It Wasn't Me" wasn't supposed to be a single, but radio just grabbed it. How did that experience affect your attitude toward picking a song to be the single this time?

SHAGGY: Well, I think what sold my last album was not so much that you had two great, number one singles, but you had a body of work was good. I think that this is one of the CDs where from start to finish, you won't skip. There will be songs that you like more than others, but there won't be a song that you're going to hate. You're going to put that CD in and listen to it all the way down, and that's what we tried to accomplish in this new CD. I knew that it was important. I think what you're going to find a lot of people A&R-ing this record again. I mean I was on a DJ call--a conference with all the DJs around the U.S.--and they were like, "When's your record coming out?" And I was like, "It's coming out in October," and they were like, "Good--time for it to come now, so we can A&R it, pick our own sh-t from it." So I think that is what they're looking forward to, and the minute it drops, people are going to start picking their own singles from it...which is always a good thing, because that gives it a direction and then it starts to run. I try to make every track feel like a single. I don't like fillers, and if I do a record and it feels mediocre or single or album track-y, I'll take it out and do one that is up to that standard.

LAUNCH: It was a DJ in Hawaii that was one of the first to champion "It Wasn't Me." So have you contacted him about the new record?

SHAGGY: Yeah, I totally owe a lot to him, just from the simple fact that he got hooked up. He's all right, he's cool. But I think this helped him as it helped us. I'm sure he's gone on to bigger and better things. He has an amazing ear. And he's good at it. He picked not just the one song, he heard both of them too--so it was pretty good.

LAUNCH: "It Wasn't Me" was inspired by a routine in Eddie Murphy's standup comedy movie Raw. Have you run into Eddie since the song became a hit?

SHAGGY: Nah, I haven't run into Eddie Murphy at all. It's funny enough; it was everyday life that he was talking about. I get a lot of material or concepts from just day-to-day life or a lot of comics. I'm big on comics, I think comedians are great. I have a song on my album called "These Are The Lips" which I got from Analyze This. It's a very unique track, and I think that people are going to find that funny--and actually, I did that with ["It Wasn't Me" singer] Rikrock, which is also another ironic thing.

LAUNCH: So how did you approach that?

SHAGGY: Well, the main thing in the movie was, "Are you crazy? These are the lips that kiss my kids goodnight!" Which was basically saying, he would freak this chick on the side, but not his wife. And the song is saying the same thing, you know what I mean? I know that it's something that she wants to do but I don't if I should, 'cause it doesn't seem quite right 'cause these are the lips that kiss my kids goodnight. So the argument is that you better freak your chick, because somebody else might be freaking her. So whatever it is you think you're going to do, don't think that old girl at home don't deserve that. 'Cause you might think that she's too good for that, and she's like, "He must be nuts." It's just growing up and giving advice--lover advice.

LAUNCH: How about some style advice? Tell me about your image, the way you look.

SHAGGY: I don't know if I have an image. It's not consciously done, I just get bored. I had cornrows in for a while and I just got bored...not of the cornrows, just the fact that I had to do the sh-t every couple of days. 'Cause they want you to wear that stocking cap sh-t, it's a pain in the ass. Go to bed, and it just looked f--king ridiculous. I just decided that I wasn't going to wear the damn thing. And if I don't wear it, then every two days, you have to sit there two hours and have them cornrow the sh-t. So it was a pain in the ass after a while. So then I was going to let it go wild, and once I did that, I was like, "This is too long, too big," so I just cut it off. So it's easier now: I just get up and go. I'm a little bit more raggedy, but what the hell, this is my vibe, and it's all about how confident I feel; I'm not dressing up to please anybody for any particular reason, it's basically for my own confidence, so if I feel good about it then I roll with it. There's days you get up and feel like dressing the f--k down, and that's just it. And there maybe a day where I go, "You know what? I feel like being clean-cut today," and I might just go bald, or I might just go blonde or something like that. I don't know, I'll figure it out.

LAUNCH: So you're just trying to go with the flow?

SHAGGY: I've never been an artist who's been sold on my image. It ain't a ton of money that was spent to get me on milk cartons or whatever. I think I'm musically driven, and I think things happened because I had some badass songs that are not just hit records, but huge hit records, and that got me to the status of where I'm at: 10 million sold. I don't got no personal trainer telling me to get buff, or some stylist or makeup person coming in to shave my eyebrows. I remember doing a video and the stylist trying to shave the middle of my eyebrows, and I was like, "Get the f--k out of my face with that sh-t!" I'm a dude, f--k that! I ain't trying to be some chick, what the f--k is that? That's me: What you see is what you get. And if you don't like the way I look, then f--k it. You ain't buying me, you buy my CD. So hey, if you don't like how I sound, I can get with you on that.

LAUNCH: Speaking of looks, the "Hey Sexy Lady" video is off the hook, in terms of the beautiful girls.

SHAGGY: The video treatment for the video is bananas, really. It's kind of a semi-Moulin Rouge type of vibe going on there, except it ain't your typical black-and-white kind of outfits, it's more modern. It has a western feel without being too old-time western; it's still modern and very sexy, and of course it's tastefully done. The whole story about it is me inside of this whorehouse. But it's a western-style whorehouse, and just a whole unique kind of dancing, and the vibe of track breeds this western style of choreography, so to speak. And once the ladies get going, they're looking hot. I personally don't pick these ladies, 'cause you know, if I end up picking the chicks, they might not look good on camera. You have to have that "camera eye." I'd be like, "Damn, you got a fat ass, I'll go with that!" Well, to the naked eye the ass looks pretty good, but on camera it might look extra. I don't know all of that. I'm not a professional, all I know is that they are beautiful women, and they come across real tasteful and I don't have some women's rights activist coming marching down my gate cussing that I'm degrading women.

LAUNCH: So, can you explain the title of your album, Lucky Day?

SHAGGY: Well, "Lucky Day" was actually one of my favorite songs on there, which basically speaks about "Mr. Lover Lover" macking. It's basically asking, "Are you looking for a man to make you lose control?/A man who when you need a friend will fill that role?/Be a live a blanket when you're feeling cold?/Girlfriend, this is your lucky day/They don't call me Mr. Lover 'cause I like ice cream/I'm Mr. Lover 'cause I fulfill dreams/When's the last time you man made you come and scream?/Girlfriend, this is your lucky day." So that sums it up. You get your CD, it's your lucky day. You pick up a Shaggy CD, it's your lucky day. Not just for the females, but for the men. Dudes, if you ain't getting laid, you pick up a Shaggy CD and you going to get laid. Ladies, if you pick up the CD, you'll be moist. So I'm cool with it!

LAUNCH: Tell me about your diversity on the album--the different styles of music.

SHAGGY: An album should feel like a rollercoaster ride. It should feel like you're going through different styles of music, but at the same time maintaining the reggae core of it. The good thing about the reggae artform is that it's not just a style of music, it's a lifestyle: It's in the dressing, the language, the melody, as well as the music. So even if I do a record that doesn't have reggae musical elements to it, the style of melody I might choose might be a dance melody or reggae melody that works very well with it. I think that we maintain that on this record, and it does give you that rollercoaster ride and it does have all these different genres of music that is somewhat fused together with the reggae vibe to give it the Shaggy sound. We've maintained the Shaggy sound, and I think it's just done better, 'cause I think we get better at what we do.

LAUNCH: How do you feel about the way things are going now with reggae music, in terms of its popularity?

SHAGGY: It's a great time to be a reggae artist. I see what's happening to Beenie Man, and I look at my former label and I see the budgets that these guys are putting down is amazing. And I was like, "God, we accomplished something." And now Beenie Man is getting the same respect and same kind of opportunity that any other kind of genre of music would get. You talk about a guy they're doing a million-dollar video for. Where in this business have you ever heard of that? I know that happened because of the success of Hot Shot, and I sat down and I thought, "I would just like to be inside these record companies' marketing meeting sand just hear how many times Shaggy's name is called in planning this." And it just makes you feel wonderful that we have broken this barrier down and gotten some sort of respect. You look at a guy like Sean Paul and the budget they put behind this Sean Paul video to get Little X to do it, and how they put this product out...finally, they're actually investing into this genre of music. Damian Marley, you see Samantha Mumba with him right now...all of this is I would say is because of the Hot Shot situation. And you got to be happy for that, straight up. 'Cause now it looks like we're going to be a force to be reckoned with, somewhat of a movement. Bounty Killer and No Doubt--it's good to be a reggae artist right now. Everybody is opening up to it right now. It's like, "Well, OK, I guess it's fine to put a couple of dollars into these artists and market them, 'cause hell. Shaggy did, and boy, did he do it!" You're talking 10 million records. You're talking about a genre of music that you wouldn't think would sell that kind of records, but it did.

LAUNCH: Were you surprised by that success?

SHAGGY: We don't make the record to flop, mind you, but 10 million records is whole lot of damn records. I wasn't planning on selling 10 million at all. I ain't mad, 'cause my pockets are fatter. I ain't mad at all, I'm happy for that. But yeah, it was a little surprising, especially when "Angel" was going on and I saw how the numbers were moving on a weekly basis; I was like, "Whoa!" And I remember when we were on the number one spot, and J.Lo came in, and we were like, "OK, she's going to hit us out of the spot," and they hit us out of the spot and we were like, "OK, that's it," and then the next week we jumped right back in. And I was like, "Damn, is this little reggae album doing that?" But it was a lot of hard work put into it. Nothing came easy. To get a lot of press wasn't easy. To get on MTV wasn't easy--we bust ass. And to date, that's the most work that I've done in my career.

LAUNCH: Was the experience has been bittersweet in a way?

SHAGGY: It think it is bittersweet. Sweet in the fact that you accomplished what you set out to do; bitter in the sense that I still got to go out and do that. It's not a situation where you can put a Shaggy record out and sit back and watch it happen. I don't think it is for any artist, no matter how large they are, but I do think that for some artists they do have it a little easier, and for me I do have to work three times as hard as any other artist from any other genre of music to get the same result. That makes it a little bit frustrating at times, but it's rewarding when the result comes out and it's positive.

LAUNCH: Tell me about your singing techniques--your voice, different pitches, when you talk, when you sing...

SHAGGY: I was in the military for about four years, in the Marines, and I had this unique ability to make up cadences, so I would make up dirty cadences. And they would be very funny; I'd just make them up in my head, sh-t that was really funny. I remember running and singing these cadences and it was a kick for everybody, 'cause they were actually really raunchy and some of them were making fun of our commanding officers, and they would encourage me do it. We'd be on these seven- or eight-mile runs and I'd be out there singing. We'd do it for a couple of miles, and I'd go into this sound, 'cause it projects. And when you running seven, eight miles, you're tired, but you doing that and yelling at the top of your lungs--I didn't know that was voice training, I just thought I was screaming. I was doing records while I was in the military, and the very next record I did after "Big Up" was "Oh Carolina" and it just caught on, and one of the unique things about it was the tone of voice. Everybody was moved by the tone of voice--it was a very distinctive sound. And I was like, "Well, let me do the next record like that. So I did "Boombastic," and it just kind of caught on. I can't very well talk like this every day, it's just a voice that you put on--it doesn't hurt or anything, it's just pretty easy. It's like when you scream, you sound different than when you talk regular. It's from the stomach, not like from my throat. I'm not a trained singer as far as school-trained or anything like that, but I found out after a while that I have a very high range. I found that out by being around Brian and Tony Gold, who were trained singers. That made me realize that I could go really high or really low, and I kind of just use it to my advantage. I remember one time they said it would be better if I went to voice school, and I went to this lady--she was a Cuban lady, she did all the top singers in Jamaica. I went there and we were doing these exercises, and every exercise I did she was like, "Whoa! This power, this strength, it projects!" Then she'd give me another exercise. I was like, "F--k, what the hell do I need you for? If everything I do is that damn good, then I must be that damn good." I didn't waste my money anymore--I just went on my merry way.

LAUNCH: So you're in the military for four years, then all these years later September 11 happens. What was your reaction to that day?

SHAGGY: You don't expect that to happen, man, and I don't think that it dawned on me until I visited the site after a while, and I was like, "Whoa." Watching it on TV and then seeing in person that the structure isn't there anymore, it's kind of a wakeup call. That hit home a little bit.

LAUNCH: Did it make you feel glad that you served your time?

SHAGGY: I learned a lot in the military, and I met a lot of good people in the military; there are good times and bad times, and I don't regret it. I do think if you're not cut out for it don't do it, and not everybody is cut out for it. I don't think that everybody should be forced into it; some people excel at it, and some people don't. I was just one of them who didn't. I did my job, but taking orders and sh-t don't work well with me, man. I got to have a say in something. I'm more of a team player, a team-type of vibe. I like that better.

LAUNCH: Do you feel that you get the respect of other reggae artists?

SHAGGY: I think so. I go to Jamaica and I get the vibe. I get very good reception from people. I think people know who I am and what I've accomplished. I think I get a lot of respect from my peers. I think a lot of them are driven by what I have done and they see me as their competition, and that's good. A lot of them would want to clip my wing in a minute 'cause a lot of them aspire to be in my position, and that's good. I think that I'm doing my job on all levels and it makes my job better--it encourages me to be better so they can't clip my wings. So that kind of works on both ends. I respect them a lot and I like what they're doing, and I'm willing and able to help at any time, to offer my views and advice whenever I can both physically and mentally, to uplift them.

LAUNCH: I noticed that you share the spotlight onstage with your group--why is that important?

SHAGGY: Because back in the days I used to tour with Maxi-Priest, who gave me a break. Maxi-Priest was a person who first brought me on tour and showed me what it was like to have an international audience. I remember being in Brazil and watching 20,000 or 30,000 people sing this guy's songs, and I remember being in the 'hood and never hearing a Maxi-Priest song. It made me realize that there is a bigger picture out there. He literally took my hand and took me through interviews and showed me what it was like to do TV and radio, and I was blessed with that. That Maxi-Priest showed me that. You can't know this unless you're there. I remember there'd be times when he encouraged me to be in front of these audiences when I was onstage. I couldn't maneuver myself and deal with this unless I dealt with it firsthand, and he allowed me that opportunity. With these guys, whether it be a Rikrock or a Rayvon or whoever, they gain experience from this, and they can watch me and I can give them a little bit of my knowledge so they can be better at what they are up against. I hope that they aspire to be better than me, so they become my competition at night. If I'm onstage, I'm competing with a Rikrock or I'm competing with a Rayvon or I'm competing with a Brian or Tony Gold. You can't compete with somebody if they're not getting the same opportunity to shine. And the only way I get to compete with them is if they have the same amount of stage time, same amount of presence to go out there and try and upset my ass at night. And I'm on top of my game if they never do that. So that's what I do, and it actually gives them a break. I don't play hiding people in the back or doing a video and cutting them out. I'm not with that. That's not the way I saw things growing up in this business, with Max and all that.

LAUNCH: In hip-hop, dissing is real big. Is that something that goes on in Reggae?

SHAGGY: There's been feuds in reggae and dancehall for years--competition. I stay away from it for the simple fact that I look at the bigger picture. But there's been an ongoing feud for years between two prominent dancehall artists, Bounty Killer and Beenie Man. I was watching BET, and that feud is still very much alive. Beenie Man was dead on top of it. It's kind of sad in a way, you know? I know in hip-hop they do it as a promotional thing, but in reggae it ain't promotional--these guys are really at each other. I don't think that they actually like each other. Which is not good.

LAUNCH: You have such a dynamic personality. Do you have any interest in acting?

SHAGGY: Not right now. I'm not feeling that acting thing right now. I mean, they be sending me scripts and trying to get me involved, but it's got to feel right. It don't feel right. I got to feel like I'm done doing what I'm doing here in music before I can say, "OK, let's go do this acting thing." I have to have a passion for it. And right now, my passion ain't with this acting thing. Whenever I gather a passion for it, no doubt I could be good at it, 'cause whatever it is I put my mind to I excel at. That's just me.