Shaggy gives his views on dancehall

Today the STAR picks up on the second instalment of a four part interview done with Shaggy by reporter Krista Henry. This comes in time for his charity concert, 'Shaggy and Friends', to be held at Jamaica House on January 3. After speaking about his early childhood, life in New York and the marines, Shaggy moves onto discussing Jamaican music.


KH: People think of Shaggy as an uptown yute. How true would you say that is?


Shaggy: I didn't know uptown till I came back to Jamaica after Oh Carolina. I used to walk from cross the Causeway (the bridge that links Portmore to Kingston) and go to Skateland. My idol was Yellow Man so I remember going to dance at Skateland and see Yellow Man walk out and di whole dance walk out wid him. I remember going to Cross Roads and seeing Yellow Man walking in his yellow sweat suit. I used to bum drive by Boulevard, Yellow Man drive up in his yellow BMW, him look pon me and seh 'yute, hold it down yute' - those words resonated in my mind for years.


KH: So is Yellow Man someone you still look up to?


Shaggy: Absolutely. I got a text the other night that said Yellow Man is ready to give his services to the hospital, which to me was just like 'wow'. He was the first dancehall artiste that make deejays start mek money. He was the first one that got that international paper.


KH: How are you treated by other dancehall artistes?


Shaggy: Don't have a problem wid dem at all. I don't have any beefs. I'm too grown for that.



silence my critics

KH: Do you consider yourself to be a hardcore Jamaican artiste?


Shaggy: No sah. I'm a cross over artiste straight up. I have the ability to do hardcore dancehall but it's not my forte. When you look at it, I came back and knew I had to connect with the hardcore artistes so I did Wild Tonight and Church Heathen. What I did was silence my critics. I'm not gonna do hardcore all the time, I'm going back to what I'm good at.


KH: Would you rather be seen as a great deejay or a great Jamaican?


Shaggy: Why can't I have both? When I look at myself I want to be seen as someone who made a difference. I want when people look back to say I played a vital part. I don't have to be the leader, just a person who was very instrumental in the development of the culture of dancehall.


KH: What do you think of the present state of dancehall?


Shaggy: I don't think anything is wrong with dancehall. I think dancehall goes through phases like any other music and there's an up time and a down time. Music goes through different vibes. There was a time when it was 'fire bun', a dark time but I enjoyed those times. Then Ele (Elephant Man) came round and it became colourful and people start dance, I enjoyed that era, now its back into a gun style which is also a dark side of music but there's part of that I enjoy too.



clashing

KH: What about the clashing part?


Shaggy: Love the clashing. You haffi remember one of the attractions of dancehall music, even from a foreign audience, is the controversy that comes wid it.


KH: Would you ever clash?


Shaggy: If I was a clash deejay, yes. I used to be a clash deejay when I started in New York. I was on a sound called Gibraltar and that's what I did. Dem time mi did really good. I made it off the top of my head look pon yuh and draw a card that's what I started from. After Oh Carolina my career took a turn.


KH: Do you ever wish you could go back there.


Shaggy: No cause I can do more for the music doing what I'm doing now. I can do more for people's families (and) it's more lucrative this way.


KH: Do you think the clashing thing could ever go beyond Jamaica?


Shaggy: Yes because I go to a place like Italy which has a strong dancehall following and they are into the clash. Look at di Japanese, they have clash dances for thousands of people; it's a whole culture. When di line start to cross is when dem start to tek it personal and it becomes physical. That sheds a negative light on it. Words caan hurt nobody, card is card, it's made to draw if it's entertaining and it makes you laugh. I know I will be at Sting and mi not even worry bout security. Mi waan see it- Kartel and Mavado.


In the next instalment, 'Mr Lover Lover' gets personal, talking about the woman in his life and his children.