Luckily for us, his music didn’t end there. On the contrary, it was only the beginning for Mr. Boombastic’s fantastic career. A decade later, the Jamaican-American reggae superstar continues to make music that celebrates his culture. His new album, “Summer in Kingston,” features the hit single, “Sugarcane,” as well as the fun track, “Fired Up,” featuring Pitbull.
Living by the quote of “Failure is not an option,” he has sold over 20 million albums worldwide. With 10 studio albums, five number one hits and a Grammy, Shaggy continues to rock the charts as Jamaica’s only living Diamond-plus selling Dancehall Reggae artist.
In an exclusive phone interview with Arab News, the reggae superstar tells us about the special connection he has with his Middle Eastern fans. That explains why he continues to visit and perform in this part of the world.
In fact, Shaggy will be coming to Abu Dhabi, UAE, on Nov. 11 to perform at the glamorous SKYBAR parties in Yas Island.
We chatted with Mr. Lover Lover about his upcoming concert, his journey so far and his future plans.
 

I think it will be an incredible vibe. The only other time we’ve been to a SKYBAR party was in Beirut…I think it would be a good vibe, good energy…. We’re there for the F1 also, so obviously there’s going to be a lot of excitement because of the festivity. And, you know, we’ve got these songs that people know and love, so it will be an incredible vibe.
 

It will be a combination of old tracks and new ones. There’s a catalog of songs, from as far as “Boombastic,” all the way down to “Angel,” “It wasn’t me,” “Feel the Rush” and “Fly High.”
 

I think what needs to happen is a little more chart action; that’s where the reggae is concerned. It’s a little bit difficult because of how radio is today. It’s really dictated by how many hits and followers you have on Facebook and Twitter and stuff like that, so that puts a little bit of a damper. Most reggae artists are not really the type to be up on Twitter and following and stuff like that — a lot of them do, but I think a lot of the more pop artists have more of a handle on it, as they’re really more organized and are a team of people that help to create content.
It all boils down to the music at the end of the day and I think it just takes one very incredible music and style to really come out to really dominate again, and I think that will happen. Music really evolves as it goes along. It’s an evolution.
 

I find them to be very loyal and very in tune to whatever we do. I find them to be a very creative type of people, people with a lot of culture to them and a lot of tradition to them. I could totally relate to that because being a Jamaican, there’s a lot of tradition and culture where Jamaica is concerned. They have a role for entertainment and news and music. So, it’s a match made in heaven.
 

I think that whole album was I would say the peak of what we’ve done; it was phenomenal. You’re looking at over 10 million sold on that one particular album. We’ve since got hits like “Hey Sexy Lady,” which was from the following album, “Strength of a Woman” was also another one, and songs like “Feel the Rush,” which was for the UEFA Euro Cup Soccer Championship and a huge European number one, as well as “Fly high,” which also was the top 10.
But, I don’t think anything will match to the magnitude of that. Records don’t sell like that anymore nor are they promoted in that way anymore. I think that was definitely the peak of everything. A lot of people do records and they get hit records, but we were blessed with a lot of monsters. “Oh Carolina” was a very monstrous record in 1993 so was “Boombastic,” “Angel” and “It Wasn’t Me.” So, we’ve had a lot of really big ones.
 

Well, because let’s face it, records are free. You can go online at any particular site and get any music for free. So, you’d never find those kinds of sales anymore. The equivalent of a 10 million album would probably be three to four million these days.
 

That’s a track that Pitbull and I did in Miami. It’s about the recession, so to speak. So, we were just kinda out there. It’s a very fun song, kinda tongue-in-cheek in a way. It was kind of meant for people to just take it and have a laugh at it, to stop being so uptight and stop worrying about the recession and just kind of have fun and enjoy life.
 

I like “Dame.”
 

“Strength of a Woman.”
 

I think the highlight of my year has been probably last week where we spent a whole week in studio with the legendary Sly & Robbie making some really unbelievable music.
That’s the main thing that we’re putting together right now this Sly & Robbie featuring Shaggy album. It’s a very traditional style reggae album that we’re doing.
 

I’d say my charity for the Bustamente Hospital for Children. That has been at the forefront of what I’ve been doing as of lately and something that as a Jamaican, most Jamaicans will definitely remember.
 

Nah not really. I kinda did everything that I wanna do. I’m winding down to actually trying to enjoy life now.
 

Not really. I don’t do collaborations like that. It boils down to what song it is. So, if I come up with a song where I think “hmm that sounds like this person,” then I’ll make a call to that person.
 

Life in general. I’m inspired by day to day life, things that people go through, things that make people tick. Everybody has a story, so you try to put stories into songs and try to make it as entertaining as possible.
 

Music, music, music. It doesn’t get much better than that! It pretty much consumes my life.
 

In the near future I’m sure I’ll be back in the Middle East. As far as plans, it’s basically just to get this album that we’ve started together with Sly & Robbie and see where it takes us from there. So, that’s kinda where my head is.
 
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