Claudine Housen/Staff Photographer
Shaggy bares his chest at the Half Moon's Lights, Camera, Party! charity event at the Half Moon Village, in October 2005.

Dancehall music has undoubtedly come a far way, so much so, that Jamaican artistes have been penetrating the international market, following in the path that has been paved by the likes of Shabba Ranks and Supercat and, more recently, Beenie Man and Shaggy.

According to Shaggy, dancehall music is currently in a very good position, but more can still be done to ensure that its influence is more far reaching.

"Me feel seh di man dem weh a do well now inna dancehall ... Mi feel seh dancehall inna di best position it has ever been in now. Back wid me an Shabba an Cat dem, it did harder; radio wasn't playing it. Mainstream a play dancehall in its authentic form now. Back then we had to do remixes in order to get played," Shaggy said.

"Sean was there at the right time to carry on the thing when Gwen Steffani did the song with Bounty," he said. But in terms of going the full distance, he says, "We have not had a Billboard number one apart from Sean Paul, the only other person was myself. So the song dem nowadays mek some noise, but it nuh carry yuh the full way."

Shaggy says he only has praises for Sean Paul.

"Me is a man weh wi' get vex if a man seh som'n bout Sean. Is di only artiste, wid all di success, still deal wid yuh right. If dem waan compare me to him or him to me, it's an honour, class act, me nuh have nutt'n bad fi seh bout di yout. He is a competition of mine; him mek mi waan deal wid di game better, but he is a welcomed competition. But bad mind and grudgeful is unhealthy. Listen, mi achieve everything in life weh mi waan achieve already. Mi nuh have time fi dem ting deh. Mi jus a have fun wid di music right now," Shaggy declared.

Culture of the market

Shaggy recommends that artistes do songs "that can resonate into something bigger. The song haffi designed fi dem can do betta. Is a hard ting fi do, but it haffi do. If yuh a go shot a tune, look at the culture of the market that you are in and be clever in doing something that people can latch on to. The dance tunes will work fi a while, but dance nuh have no longevity."

Shaggy was not represented in this year's Grammy nominations, but according to Shaggy, he has done it all, so a Grammy is the least of his concerns right now.

"Yuh a talk 'bout a man weh inna di ting fi 15 years, dat a di least. If an album like Hot Shots spent the longest time on the charts and dem sidestep it, den mi lose offa it, cause you nominate me fi Boombastic an mi win. I'm the same guy, just a different song. I was not nominated during that time and those other albums had more hip-hop producers, like Beenie did a use the Neptunes. They are conveniently dancehall. Mi lose offa Grammy, mi nuh watch it, but mi happy for anybody weh win it," Shaggy said.

"My aim is to come back and pick up where I left off. Me at my heights, mi did lock down in a record deal weh mi couldn't do di damage weh mi did waan do. If it (Grammy) come it come," he said.

However, as Shaggy seeks to do more 'musical damage', he says it is not all about himself, as the Big Yard family is always looking to "invest back inna di music both in New York and Jamaica and now wi a open inna Florida. An wi always a look fi new talent, but yuh have fi a mek noise, nuh friend ting or family ting, no, no man nah come inna Big Yard unless him real hard. Yuh can have 10 per cent talent and 90 per cent attitude an mek it, an yuh can have 90 per cent talent and 10 per cent attitude an nuh mek a dime."

- TAE