Shaggy
Since reggae artist Shabba Ranks’s mainstream success three years ago, dancehall has been searching for its next ambassador. At first, fans had pinned their hopes on Buju Banton and Terror Fabulous. But Banton has pushed aside crossover dreams and firmly ensconced himself in Rastafarian culture, aiming his latest album, Til Shiloh, specifically at Jamaican reggae fans. And Fabulous hasn’t been seen on pop charts since last year’s hit, “Action.”
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True to form, Shaggy strolled onstage at the Cubby Bear in a baggy black-and-white shirt and black pants, mugging and admonishing his dancehall fans to “rela-a-x.” Whether doing a silly song like “Oh Carolina” or a sexy one like “Boombastic,” Shaggy showed the crowd that he doesn’t take himself too seriously. When he slowly started “wining,” or gyrating his pelvis, to the slow rhythms of “Boombastic,” the women started screaming. But then Shaggy quickly turned their screams to laughter by stopping in midtwist and throwing them a comical expression. He even poked fun at “Oh Carolina” with “Jenny,” a send-up masked as a love song: “Carolina she left me and gone / Went to number one and now she kicked up a storm…She was a top ten lady from the time she was born / Now she went and played me / Now my love is gone.”
As a Jamaican-born American citizen, Shaggy has wittily mastered the musical cultures of both countries–acting as a bridge between two worlds. That’s one thing you couldn’t say about Terence Trent D’Arby, who was playing the same night down the street at Metro. D’Arby first hit it big in England, but he’s had a harder time in the U.S. because he wants to be both a soul singer and a rock ‘n’ roller. Consequently he’s stuck in a commercial no-man’s-land.
