Shaggy has claimed he was responsible for dancehall becoming mainstream.
The ‘It Wasn’t Me’ hitmaker says his 1993 hit ‘Oh Carolina’ was the first track of the Jamaican genre to enter into the UK charts, and he’s proud of bringing the once underground style of reggae to the masses.
In an interview with the BBC, he said: "When I started, it was really, really tough to get dancehall music played.
"’Oh Carolina was the first dancehall song to go into the British chart and go to number one.
"To see it now, where it is, where it’s a mainstream phenomenon it’s amazing.
"It makes you feel like we did something. We were part of moving our culture to the mainstream."
The 49-year-old musician’s comments come after he and Sting surprised the world with the news they are to release joint LP ’44/876′.
The ‘Every Breath You Take’ hitmaker was joined on stage by Shaggy at his solo gig in Antwerp, Berlin in 2004, so the album is the result of their meeting 14 years ago.
Sting previously revealed that he and the Jamaican-American rapper got together last year "to jam and create music that reflects their mutual love of Jamaica, its music, people and culture" and, as a result of their time in the studio, they’ve come up with some "Caribbean-flavoured songs".
Speaking about how they have "a lot in common", he added: "We have a lot in common. We’re both married to very strong women. We both come from small islands that used to belong to the queen. And we like each other. We like each other’s voices and music and vibe. We’re like kindred spirits."
’44/876′ is released tomorrow (20.04.18).
Shaggy claims dancehall crown
