Teino Evans, Staff Reporter
Shaggy, who releases 'Clothes Drop' this summer, in performance at the Jamaica Reaches Out Tsunami Relief concert held at Jamaica House in March. - CARLINGTON WILMOT/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
INTERNATIONAL REGGAE artiste Orville Burrell, popularly known as Shaggy, is again getting ready to deliver a monster release. His fifth album, entitled Clothes Drop, will be released in June.
According to Shaggy, this album comprises of his best work yet and he is very confident that it will do well.
"Mi nuh mek nutt'n fi flop yuh nuh, wi always expect seh it a guh do well. Dis a di best work so far, and mi feel seh it a get better and better. Mi feel seh 'Lucky Day' was a better album than 'Hot Shots' in terms of songs, but not in terms of sales, so I can't really say if this one will surpass all the others," he said. According to Shaggy, he only wants to achieve a critically acclaimed album.
In terms of flavour, Shaggy says he will be bringing his usual style to the table, but with a few extra twists as he promises a variety of styles and fusion.
"Wi kinda experiment with some reggae lover's rock, non-Shaggy style in terms of the choice of harmony, an yuh a guh just hear people seh 'wow, wi never hear nothing like this yet'! It will be integrated with different types of music, but there is always that reggae element there," he said.
On this album, Shaggy says persons can expect to enjoy "a whole heap a tune, argument, and controversy".
The tracks, he says, go from one extreme to the next, as he says "you have your girl tune, comedy tune and mi even have a tune weh mi a talk 'bout child molestation". The entire album, Shaggy says, is like a roller-coaster ride, as it will carry the listener through different moods.
The producers who have worked on the album include the likes of Sting International, Armanda Cologne, Christopher Birch, Will Eye from the Black Eyed Peas, Tony Kelly and others.
COLLABORATE
Only two collaborations have managed to make it to the final cut of 14 tracks, as he says he is not a big fan of doing songs with certain artsites.
"Mi nuh like collaborate with superstars, because of a bad experience I had in the past. Di people dem weh mi collaborate wid a mi fren dem," he said.
Surprisingly, Rik Rok was not in the final cut, but instead the Black Eyed Peas and Olivia from G-Unit managed to make the final 14.
Shaggy says he has done over 80 tunes within the last year and a half and, despite doing many songs with Rik Rok, none of the tracks that they did together fell under the theme of his album.
Shaggy, who recently signed to Interscope Records, says that after being in the music business for over 15 years, he is still the man to beat.
"On my last album (Lucky Day), I sold 2 million copies without having an international hit...sometimes I think I set the bar too high for myself," he said.
That, however, is the least of Shaggy's worries, a man who has achieved multi-platinum status, only something that others could only dream of.
Shaggy, however, still feels as if he were cheated. This is in relation to the many criticisms that he has had to face about his style of music.
"Persons say that I don't do dancehall/reggae in its natural form. This is hypocritical because when it was me alone on the international scene everybody use to seh I was the representative for dancehall/reggae," Shaggy said.
Shaggy says that is why it is so important for him to come back out with another big hit.
"Coming back out for me now is important and I've not only been blessed with hits but monster hits," he said.
