Nine years after his overnight ascension to the throne of the lost kingdom of the pop-reggae-crossover, Orville "Shaggy" Burrell is probably the biggest raggamuffin star of all time. And the reasons for this are abundantly clear when listening to this mainly very fine collection of pre-'Angel' hits.
Shaggy - Jamaican born, Brooklyn raised - offers a largely unthreatening take on the digital post-reggae, post-rap bad bwoy sound of his birthplace, and laces it with a pop sensibility few artists in any genre can match. That's not to say Shaggy is a chancer diluting a ghetto sound: it's worth remembering that his breakthrough hit, the glorious 'Oh Carolina', was being caned by specialist stations like Choice FM months it was catapulted to Number One. You're also reminded of the story - probably apocryphal - that this Desert Storm veteran recorded his vocals in down time from military duties, still dressed in his US army uniform.
What's striking about many of Shaggy's hits is how they flaunt their rough edges and sharp angles. Rather than watering down ragga, Shaggy's triumph is to understand that the music has a populist heart, and to bring that to the surface rather than bury it under layers of furrowed brows and testosterone-fuelled attitude.
Like Puff Daddy, Shaggy and his producers know that the point at which a sample is too obvious to use is a lot closer than many people dare tread. 'Sexy Body Girl' takes Survivor's 'Eye Of The Tiger' and makes it sound almost contemporary, while 'That Girl' twists Booker T's overly familiar 'Green Onions' into fresh new shapes. There's some inventive rifling of record collections, too, such as 'Why You Treat Me So Bad' cleverly utilising a minuscule sample from Marvin Gaye's 'Inner City Blues'. Covers abound - 'Oh Carolina' joined by readings of 'Piece Of My Heart', 'Get Up, Stand Up' and, erm, 'In The Summertime'. 'Nice And Lovely' ventures into Cab Calloway territory, while the Levi's-endorsed 'Boombastic' is all gurgling lasciviousness and libidinous chuckling.
With the exception of the opener, Sting's largely unnecessary remix of 'Boombastic', everything here sounds different from everything else, but, tellingly, it all sounds like Shaggy. The man's a star, and he's got what it takes to stick around. Look out for '...Part 2' towards the end of the decade.
