Before fans get a new Shaggy album, they'll get a new Shaggy single, the dancehall star's version of the Scooby Doo theme, "Shaggy, Where Are You?," will appear on the upcoming soundtrack to the film, due June 4th. But Shaggy's highly anticipated follow-up to 2000's mega-hit Hot Shot is right around the corner, the dancehall star promises. "I'm already in the middle of the new album and I'm planning on dropping it sometime around September," he says.

Shaggy says he's been working with the same in-house crew, including Dave Kelly, Robert Livingston, Sting International (Shaun Pizzonia) and Christopher Birch. "We never try to use any outside huge producers that cost way too much money. We're just a very tight family. Shaggy by no means is one person. It's almost like a band. I tour with these people. That's what makes this so fun and so nice is the fact is that I'm doing it with my friends. It's a party and I'm hoping that it never ever ends."

According to the singer, the new material is "a lot deeper" and while he won't have a clear perspective on the overall vibe of the album until it's completed, it appears that the massive success of Hot Shot has given him some leverage to play around and experiment.

"If you look at the music industry right now, it's turning back around to the singer-songwriter, which is really good for me," says the Jamaican-born, Brooklyn-raised artist, whose real name is Orville Richard Burrill.

"A lot of previous stuff, we used a lot of samples and maybe a reggae artist has to do that to get on mainstream radio. For the most part, if you bring the music to them in its natural form, nine out of ten [times] you might not get on radio, unless someone mixes in a little Marvin Gaye in or a Booker T & The MGS or Steve Miller or something like that," he laughs. "Now that [I've] sold way past 10 million albums worldwide, I don't have a problem proving myself. It's a lot more original stuff, very deep, as far as my songwriting. It'll still have the same tongue in cheek flavor to it because that's just my personality coming out in these songs. I hang with a bunch of idiots anyway," he jokes, "so it's going to come out on the record."

As for writing more catch phrases like "it wasn't me," or "Mr. lover lover," he's not sure if any will make it into youth vernacular. "We have the first single ready and I think when it comes out everybody will be pleasantly surprised. It's just going to be in the favor of my women -- that's all I can say."

KAREN BLISS
(May 1, 2002)