Feature

SHAGGY: GOD STORY

Not many dancehall artists can boast the ability to enjoy success both amongst core dancehall fans and the mainstream audience. Beenie Man enjoyed chart success with his 90's hit 'Who Am I', but is without a doubt still better recognized as a dancehall star.

On the other hand, while Sean Paul’s dancehall roots are still acknowledged thanks to early hits like 'Deport Them' and 'Infiltrate', his ‘cross-over’ into the mainstream market has earned him true pop star status. Shaggy, however, feels he’s able to cross between each market and enjoy success in both – and in fairness, he does. Following the disappointing amount of record label promotion behind his 2005 album 'Clothes Drop', the Jamaican deejay is back with one of dancehall’s current smash hits, 'Church Heathen'.

The popular tune shines an unashamedly critical light on some of the practices of those who claim to be Christians, reminding such culprits that even though they go to church every Sunday, they too are sinners. The track borders on comical, as Shaggy paints the scenario of sitting in church and having “Sister Pam” fill him in about the private lives of the entire congregation– including married woman “Sister Paulette” who is having an affair with “the mini-bus man”! But Shaggy explains that there was no real inspiration for the hit…

“I’m a scenario writer,” he says. “So a lot of my tunes are all about exploring different situations– not necessarily situations that I’ve been through. The aim with this tune was to re-invent myself within the dancehall market, so I wanted to come with something new. I’ve had all the mainstream accolades. But I came from the dancehall with tunes like Big Up and Mampy and that’s where I wanted to return. But I wanted to do something different. In dancehall, you can either do gun tunes, girl tunes or dancing tunes. I’m not into the gun tunes, I didn’t wanna do a girl tune and I didn’t do a dancing tune, coz you really don’t wanna see me dance! So I needed to find something new to touch the core fans, and I decided that a song about the church would get people talking.”

It certainly did. Having enlisted the likes of dancehall artists Babycham and Ninja Man to appear in the video, Shaggy further earned the credibility of core fans. But he’s confident that he doesn’t have to rely on gimmicks to win over the dancehall audience.

“When a reggae artist sells huge numbers and enjoys mainstream success, there’s a temptation amongst core reggae fans to start disliking that artist because they don’t think that he or she is dancehall enough any more. But at the end of the day, you can’t deny a good tune. I’ll write massive chart tunes like 'Angel' and enjoy multi-platinum success. But before that, I had massive dancehall tunes like 'Hot Gal'. So nobody can dispute my credibility within the dancehall.”

While Shaggy’s observations in 'Church Heathen' are both relevant and comical, another of the track’s most poignant features is the haunting, chant-style chorus. The voice behind that is none other than Shaggy’s long-time collaborating partner, Rik Rok, who sung the chorus on Shaggy’s hit It Wasn’t Me. Shaggy explains the unusual technique that transformed Rik Rok’s usually nasally vocals into the deep-voiced vocals that are heard in 'Church Heathen'…

“Sting, my producer, voiced Rik Rok by making him sing into a garbage pale and recording it from various distances. We ended up with about 32 voices that were all put together to create that sound.”

Well, the sound– and indeed, the tune – has put Shaggy back on the core audience’s radar. And that’s something that his previous record deal didn’t allow him to do.

“For the past five years– since the release of my album, 'Hot Shot' – I’ve had serious record company problems. MCA Records closed down so I was moved to a new record company, where there were all new people and it hadn’t really got off the ground properly. My album 'Clothes Drop' was released in 2005, but the company just didn’t want to get behind it with the right promotion. They were used to me releasing pop tunes like Angel and It Wasn’t Me, so when I came with 'Wild 2Nite' – the first single from 'Clothes Drop' – I think it was way too dancehall for them. So when the point came for my contract to be re-negotiated, I decided to move on and I wasn’t interested in signing to another major label. Now, I’m doing things independently, through my own label, 'Big Yard', and I’m happy to be doing things my way.”

'Church Heathen' is out on June 25 on Big Yard Music Group
Words Davina Morris