January 14, 2025 • 50 mins
What if kindness could transform a community and save countless lives? What if that compassion turned into a movement that spanned decades? Join us on an inspiring journey with the legendary reggae and dancehall recording artist, Shaggy. He shares his remarkable story of generosity and the profound impact of his charitable initiatives with fellow superstar musicians. From humble beginnings in Jamaica, to international stardom, Shaggy's journey is not just about musical success but a testament to using his platform to uplift others. Through Shaggy’s inspiring stories, explore his unwavering commitment to making a difference, including his significant contributions to the Bustamante Children's Hospital and producing a star-studded song, ‘RISE AGAIN’ bringing relief to those affected in the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, featuring artists like fellow Jamaican Recording Artists Tessanne Chin (Season 5 Winner of NBC’s The Voice) and Sean Paul (Award Winning Reggae & Dancehall Superstar). Fifteen years since the release of ‘RISE AGAIN’, Shaggy continues to support causes that uplift the human spirit and transform lives.
This episode takes you on an exploration of Shaggy's life, highlighting his deep friendship with, the musical legend, Sting and how it shaped him personally and professionally. Listening to Shaggy's compassion, he reveals a side of him that balances professional triumphs with personal fulfillment. Through music and humanitarian efforts, Shaggy leaves a lasting positive impact on those around him.
As we remember the lives impacted by the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, we invite you to connect with us on this journey of spreading positivity and generosity. With a humanitarian spirit and gratitude, Shaggy emphasizes the importance of supporting organizations like Food for the Poor and how, together, we can make a real difference.
Support Haiti: foodforthepoor.org/haiti15anniversary
https://www.instagram.com/direalshaggy/
https://www.instagram.com/duttypaul/
https://www.instagram.com/thebestess/
https://www.instagram.com/sharonburkesolidagency/
Beyond The Plate is a podcast by international charity, Food For The Poor
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If I'm ever in the position to help them, I would.
And then a hot shot happenedand we sold 10 million records,
had a ton of money, and we werejust like, okay, I just walked
into the hospital with a check Idon't know if it was like
$150,000 or something like that.
I just walked in with the checkand then the hospital
administrator says what is this?
I said this is for you guys.
(00:21):
I'm going to the hospital.
He was like don't you know?
It's like, are you sure?
Like yeah, anyway, I did thecheck.
And then, you know, monthsafterwards, the anesthesiologist
there came, who was kind ofaround the place, called me and
was like yo Shaq, come and letme show you what your check did.
And he's showing me we boughtthis, we bought, and he's just
(00:42):
showing me all these things.
And it really motivated me.
At that point I was like, wow,really yeah.
He said, since this machinecame, we saved these amount of
lives.
Since this machine came, wesaved these amount of life.
And I was just like blown awaybecause I'm like I just bought a
car that was three times that.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
You know what I mean.
Welcome to Beyond the Plate.
I'm Paul Jacobs, where food ismore than just a meal.
It's a powerful way to connect,inspire and transform we call
it Tertulia, a gathering wherebonds are formed and stories are
shared.
Get ready to dive into realstories that inspire, challenge
and nourish the soul.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
I'm Daniel Patino, inviting you to join our
Tertulia and explore how foodand connection can truly
transform lives.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Let's go Beyond the Plate.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
All right, welcome back to another episode of
Beyond the Plate Season twothat's right season two.
That's right.
I almost just went straightthrough the intro.
They renewed our contract.
They renewed our contract.
They renewed our contract.
Just want to celebrate that outin the open.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I just had to say that before you introduce us,
just in case they switch hosts,you know, like in mid-season or
something like Darren's andB-Wish.
That's right, or?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Fresh Prince when they switched out the mom.
Yeah, nobody noticed.
Nobody noticed, but I'm stillDaniel Patino.
I'm Paul Jacobs and this isBeyond the Plate and, as we
usually start off the episode, Ilike to play a little game.
Let's call it.
Was it me?
Okay, all right, so, uh, paul,first question for you yeah,
(02:08):
sure, how about that?
Have you sold more than 40million albums units to date?
Oh, no, no, no, wasn't me,wasn't you?
Okay?
Um ian uh, did you land eightsingles on the billboard hot,
107 albums on the billboard 200?
It wasn't me, he said it wasn'thim.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
It wasn't him either.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Okay, ben, let's see Ben, this one has to be him.
Ben, were you winner of bestreggae album at the 61st annual
Grammy Awards?
Ben's a band leader.
Yeah, like here, it wasn't me.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
It wasn't him either.
Okay, well, danny, I got onefor you.
All right, have you recorded onthe Super Bowl 40 commercial
spot?
That was the highest ratedSuper Bowl ad in history.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Let me think about that for a second.
I have to remember Nope, itwasn't me.
It wasn't me either.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
It wasn't you All right.
Well, guess what?
As you all know who, thatreally was our first guest on
season two, our season premiere.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
welcome to Beyond the Plate Shaggy Otter no more.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yes, yes.
International music reggaedance hall superstar Shaggy
Welcome.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Thank you, man.
It's glad to be talking topeople that's employed, yes.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
We don't know for how long after that intro.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
I hear the ticker.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
I hear the ticker.
I hear the ticker.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Hey, I didn't even realize that they actually
switched out the Fresh Princemom until you just said it.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yes, vivian, her mom was switched out and I mean
that's something you can look up, but I mean it switched up for
the better.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I was like wait, wait .
They switched the mom out Wait.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I might have to go do my reruns right now to find out
, and I love it.
This is how we share fun aroundhere on Beyond the Plate, and
as we share fun on every episode, we usually like to take it a
little in a different directionnow.
Now, if we took the time tolist all your accolades, shaggy
I mean all the awards and allthe milestones I would have to
put some more money in the meteroutside, yeah, and we'd
probably have to extend theepisode for another hour or two.
(04:08):
But but on the real, all thosesuccesses and awards are all in
the view here at food for thepoor.
This is how we look at it.
It's a means to an end, right?
So, yeah, you are a musician.
You are a musician in costume,though, because the real shaggy
is proven to be a humanitarian.
(04:28):
All right, shaggy, are youtrying to leave this world
better than you found it?
Is that what you're trying todo?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
I think, I think we all are, I, I would imagine, and
if we, if we're not thinkinglike that, then something is
wrong with us, especially if youcome from humble beginnings.
You know, I'm, I'm from, I'mfrom riatone in kingston it's a
little fishing village, uh, inin downtown kingston.
And when you look around andsee, you know, when you pinch
(04:57):
yourself a little bit and belike, wow, look, look, what I've
accomplished, you know I've,I've had the opportunity to
uplift my family and kind ofchange the cycle, the
generational cycle of my wholefamily.
And I have a niece just got afull scholarship to uh, you know
, to princeton.
And you know, I seen all.
You know she was the firstperson in my whole family to go
(05:19):
to college, you know, I mean, Imean all of these things.
You know, when I'm sittingthere getting an honorary degree
from brown, when you're whenyou're sitting there, and when
you look across you see NancyPelosi and all these people
that's receiving it, you're likeyo, dude, what am I doing here,
you know?
So I think we all kind of dowhat we do based on gratitude,
(05:44):
you, and just being lucky thatwe could, we were, because I, I
look at ourselves, I look, Icertainly look at myself and I
think we all are just servants,right?
You know, we're all servantshere, uh, and we were all given
a tool to serve, and my tool isthrough music, and everyone else
has their tool, and, and you doyour best in service up until
(06:10):
it's time that you have doneyour service in this open and
you're taking, you know, when II'm on tour and I look there's.
You know, we did a tour lastsummer when it was about three,
uh, three to four hundred peoplethat were stage handlers, truck
drivers, riggers, security,concession stands, people.
I'm like that's 300 electricbills, school fees, mortgages,
(06:34):
yes, all because I decided tosing these songs and this rock,
and so I look at it as beingbigger than me.
When people's like, oh yeah, youknow, you're great, you wrote
it, it wasn't me.
I'm like, dude, let me tell yousomething.
I did not write it, it wasn'tme.
I might have physically wroteit, but you know, but that was
(06:54):
ordained through me.
Listen, if I could come up withthat, I'd be doing one every
week.
Yes, oh yeah, that's ordainedthrough.
(07:31):
Oh yeah, as with gratitude andalso as part of me being a
servant.
So me doing philanthropic workis part of my service and that's
how I kind of break.
That's how I break it down andpartnering with Food for the
Poor is it fits, because it'sJamaican.
I love Robin from, yeah, and Iknow where it's coming from and
I have a platform that I can useand they do great work and we
(07:52):
kind of work hand in hand, soit's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
And we love Robin too .
Speaker 1 (07:58):
We love Robin too.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
And we love Robin too because it's one of those.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Was it the?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Kevin Bacon, the 70 degrees or 60 degrees, six
degrees, I forget the degrees,but it's how we communicate and
how we get together as acommunity and it's brought, you
know, the beyond the plate toShaggy, and Shaggy has brought
you to our audience and I callhim.
Robin.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Hood, robin Hood.
That's good, that's right,that's excellent.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
But, uh, but, shaggy, you're not only a multi-award
winning songwriter and hit makerright now, you've also used
your platform, like you justexplained to us, to strengthen
your community and homeland.
And, uh, back in 2009, youestablished the shaggy make a
difference foundation, uh, whichwas of first of many
foundations.
Also, shaggy and friendsbenefit concerts wait, wait,
shaggy kids, shaggy kids, right?
(08:38):
I mean, the list goes on.
Uh, and you've raised millionsfor the busamante children's
hospital, the, the Caribbean'sonly English-speaking children's
hospital that's located in theheart of Jamaica, in Kingston.
And you've also been quoted,shaggy.
I've always tried to bring thefun when I'm performing and keep
everything very lightheartedand joyous.
I think my purpose and my jobis to bring joy to as many
(09:02):
people as I can, and I want toresonate within all the music
that I create.
Can you elaborate a little bitmore on that?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, joy, because I think laughter and joy is
healing.
You know, you could be goingthrough your roughest day.
If you put a comedic spin on itor put some joy to it, you'll
feel a little better.
You know, some of us are soprivileged we don't even
(09:31):
understand what we have.
You know, when you start goingto some of these countries and
says, hey, dude, we just dealt abad card, man, you were lucky.
Um, I've been to places where itis the conditions that I'm
looking at is like yo, um, man,this is, this is bad.
(09:51):
But when I'm talking to thepeople who are living into the
conditions, they're like happy,it's as if it's, it's as if they
this is all they know, and thisis their life and so things.
That makes me uncomfortable forthem it's just norm, it's you
know.
And they're kicking ball andplaying and having.
They don't have devices,they're not having.
(10:13):
You know, they're not sittingthere, says, oh, my mental.
You know I have to.
You know, right, uh, I have towork on my mental health.
There's nobody looking at whatthe mental health is.
They don't you know these.
I always look at, you know.
And mental health is's.
Nobody looking at what themental health is they don't.
You know these.
I always look at you know, andmental health is pretty serious.
But I always look at mentalhealth in somewhere.
It's like it's kind of aprivileged thing, because when
(10:33):
you look at kids that are goingthrough it, you know that's
where, that's all they know.
It's they kind of just adapt.
I remember when I was in thehood I just adapt, I adapted and
just kind of overcame and went.
Now I'm not saying that thereprobably isn't some damage there
, you probably.
But the damage is sometimestaking them out of that world
(10:56):
and putting them in this worldand they can't adjust and that
becomes that, you know.
So joy is definitely somethingthat I use as a tool, you know,
and because it's feel good andwhen you feel good then you will
be at your full potential.
It's easier to get to your fullpotential when you feel good,
(11:18):
when you have joy in your life.
If you have a cup, you got tomake sure that cup is to the
brim, is filled to the brim,that you could feel reach to
that potential.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
And what drew?
What drew your heartspecifically to such a noble
cause as supporting theoperations of the Bussamonte
Hospital?
You know I was.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I was.
There was a friend of mine,tony Kelly, and we're making a
record.
He was a hotshot.
I was making at a time thatrecord and that album and his
son got sick and he took the kidto Bustamante Hospital he was
Shane is the kids name was Shaneand we went there.
(12:02):
We ended ended up staying therethe night just waiting until
they admitted him.
His tongue was swollen, oh jeez, and they were working on it.
And I ended up talking to nursesand doctors that night, just
hanging out there until 3, 4 inthe morning and they were giving
me some stories that they weredoing and it was like, yeah, we
(12:24):
don't have a blood warmer, so we, we put the blood in a pot
monitor.
We want the blood to thetemperature for surgery.
I'm like what?
And they were telling me allthese unorthodoxy, we've got
pliers and screwdrivers, likethings that they used because
they didn't have the equipment.
And I was like, wow, um, butthey were lifesavers, you know.
(12:47):
And then I said to myself thatif I'm ever in the position to
help them, I would.
And then, hot shot happened andwe saw it was 10 million records
and had a ton of money and wewere just like, okay, I just
walked into the hospital with acheck I think I don't know if
it's like 150k or something likethat just walked in with the
check and then the hospitaladministration says what is this
(13:11):
?
I would say this for you guysI'm going to the hospital.
It's like well, it's are yousure?
Like yeah, you know, because Ithink they were rubbing his eyes
from like from a or something.
It was just a personal checkyeah.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
And anyway, I did the check and then, months
afterwards, the anesthesiologistthere came, who kind of ran the
place, called me and was likeyo Shaq, come and let me show
you what your check did.
Oh wow, and he's showing me webought this equipment, we bought
a blood warmer, we bought this,we bought.
And he's showing me we boughtthis equipment, we bought a
(13:49):
blood warmer, we bought this, webought, and, and he's just
showing me all these things andit really motivated me.
At that point I was like wow,really, yeah.
He said, since this machinecame, we saved these amount of
lives.
Since this machine came, wesaved these amount of life.
And I was just like blown awaybecause I'm like I just bought a
car that was three times that,you know, I mean.
I mean it just put things intoperspective.
You know what I mean.
And at that point I was just ona different path.
And then one day they call me.
(14:13):
I built a little park in thehospital where people came from
out of town, from St Elizabethto Kingston it's like a
three-hour drive and they'llcome down and if a kid got sick,
the kid would be there and theparents would need somewhere to
sit while the surgery is beingdone.
(14:33):
So I created this little parkin the middle of the hospital.
I had some volunteers come andbought some flowers and did some
chairs and did some stuff, andI think it was the Scotiabank
had heard about it and jumped onit as a sponsor and kind of
helped finish it with me and Iwas like, all right, cool,
(14:53):
that's cool.
That's my first time gettinginto all of this.
And then they told me to comedown for a ribbon cutting for it
with the head of the bank.
So I went there to do the ribboncutting and this, this little
rasta rastaman, come to me andsays yo, shaggy, I would love
for you to see my daughter.
(15:14):
Her name is um, her name isapple, and she's she's.
She's on one of your machines.
He said she's on one of yourmachines.
He said I said my machines.
He's like, yeah, she's one ofthe machines around there.
And so you know, I was like allright, cool, cool, cool, you
(15:34):
know.
And then we did the ceremonyand shake hands and kiss babies
and all that, and then ended upwalking around to this ward and
I saw this girl with a bullet.
She was an eight-year-old girlwith a bullet lodged in her head
and she was just like there andI'm sitting there holding her
hand and I feel very helplessand I'm just holding her hand
(15:56):
and I felt like she wassqueezing my hand, like just
like that, you know, but she wasnot really responsive.
It was like that's like her headwas doing this, and it was the
most helpless I've ever felt.
And I just walked out and saidI got to do something else.
And then that's when I came upwith the idea so we're going to
(16:17):
do a concert.
And I started to rally.
People went to Sharon Burke,who produces concert.
I, you know, I'm going to sayhow are we going to do this?
And I kept a dinner at my houseand then William Afoud, who is
the nephew of Robin, who youknow, when I went to them for
sponsorship, he kind of wasguiding me on how to set up this
(16:39):
foundation.
He says you can't just do thislike this.
You need a foundation.
I'm like what foundation?
Why can't?
Speaker 2 (16:44):
you just keep a concert and just get the money.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Just keep it on my bank account number.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Yeah, why can't I just do a bank account number?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
In my routing number.
There you go.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
He's like no, you need a foundation, you need to
set this up to make it legal.
And I was like I don.
So william kind of guided methrough robin and all of them
and we ended up setting up thisshaggy make a difference
foundation that aided thishospital, you know.
(17:13):
And then robin came on boardand says, okay, what we do, we
ship containers to jamaica so wecould bring your equipment that
you buy through it to where youknow.
Uh, it's, it's smoother thanyou just going, and then you'd
have to go through tariffs andall of that.
And I was like, ok, great, andthat was the beginning of our
relationship with me and Foodfor the Poor and me just doing
(17:34):
this whole charity situation.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
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Speaker 2 (17:50):
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Speaker 3 (18:53):
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Yeah, cheers to that.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
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(20:18):
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I'm blown away at your humilityand all of this because you know
you talk about just thesethings as just a matter of fact,
(20:39):
when it had such lastingimplications and save lives one
of the things that out of thiswhole Bustamante project over
the years that really has struckus has been a specific thing
that you did.
To me is become very iconic,and it is not easy to do.
(20:59):
You have assembled what I call.
It's like the Avengers assembleright, all like the, all these
superpowers from music, and youdid a song called Save a Life
and I love the lyrics Take astand, make it right, lend a
hand, save a life.
(21:20):
I, I, I'm just, I'm blown awaybecause you know, here you have
and this was the first ofsomething that you started and
with these concerts and theseartists that have all come
together, I mean it was really awho's who in reggae and dance
hall music.
But I want to take a momentjust thinking about that song,
save a life, life and theproject with Boost Money
(21:42):
Hospital.
I want to dial the clocks back.
It's January 12th 2010,.
Exactly 15 years ago, haitisuffered a massive earthquake
that took the lives of almost300,000.
Many would say it wouldprobably more 300,000.
Many would say it wouldprobably more 300,000.
(22:03):
Men, women, children, innocentlives.
Their lives changed in aninstant, and not just their
lives, but the lives of families, the lives of generations to
come, worldwide.
But even though it captured theheart of the world, it captured
(22:23):
the heart of one other person.
That was you.
Tell us how you assembled nowwhat was again the second
iteration of this amazing,talented roster of dancehall
reggae amusing musicians,amazing, and I'm sure there was
people behind the mics andproducers and whatnot for this
Caribbean tribute for Haiti.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
And it was really an anthem Rise.
There's two, there's two.
There's two stories.
Yeah, um for um, save a life.
While I was doing the wholeconcert and I was a novice to
all of this, I'm a novice toputting on a concert, I'm doing
everything from heart, yeah,just instinctively.
I have a few people who havedone stuff, like sharon, and
(23:05):
people who have done it, youknow, and then I have them
guiding me.
But you know, I'm going off,just shared your adrenaline.
And somebody says to me well,you're going to need a song.
The song you know, your music,music song will get to people.
But I said, well, we got tomake a heart string song.
So those lyrics you wrote waspart of what our thought process
(23:25):
of of.
Those lyrics you read were partof the thought process of what
would be a heartstring pullingsong.
But then we came on beingjamaican, you, there's a
rebelness that comes withjamaican, like if you tell a
Jamaican don't touch that lightswitch.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
And I mean as soon as you turn your back, don't touch
the light switch.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
You know, what I mean .
It's our nature.
So I said how do we get them tocome in?
I said I dare you, and that'show we came up with it.
If you, I dare you to take, andI dare you to take a, and I
dare you to take a stand, I dareyou to think of someone else
who was in need of a helpinghand.
(24:08):
That's how the dare came in andthat was the catch phrase of
everybody I dare you.
And then people, when theystarted to buy tickets, they
said they would film themselvesand say Shaggy, I accept the
dare, and that was part of thewhole thing.
So it's tapping into culture inthat way, to know what your
audience is and know what yourculture is.
(24:30):
And go Now with Rise.
Again, I'm at a studio with aproducer by the name of
Christopher Birch.
I'm doing a song with him, whichis a total different song.
While I'm in there, we feellike a tremor, like a thing, in
the studio.
This is in Jamaica.
I'm like what is that?
(24:50):
That was what I'm saying, butit was a light tremor, it wasn't
, you know, and I was like Idon't know what it is.
Anyway, we kept writing a songand doing them, and then the
television in the studio rightover the board is on, but it's
on mute and we just saw breakingnews blah, blah, blah, blah.
(25:11):
And then the pictures and the.
And then we just like stoppedand I was like yo, what is this?
And then we realized what washappening the earthquake and the
devastation and we're seeingthey're pulling people out.
And we just stopped the studiosession and we're just watching
(25:36):
what's going on and we'retalking about it.
And then I had this thing whereI'm saying some say how does
Haiti come back from this, wasthe question in there, and I'm
like, yeah, we're going to rise,we're Brazilian people, we're
just going to, we're going torise, and that how would they
rise from that?
How does Haiti rise from this?
(25:57):
That's what was said in theconversation and I just took
that and just said we shall riseagain and that was, and the the
song that I was there to write,ended up being this song, now,
you know, and I I flipped thebeat, kind of, made it, started
(26:18):
to write the lyrics and changedit to what we know as what you
now know as rise again.
And then now, by the end of theday, when we demo the record,
I'm like, okay, now, who do Iget?
And I just start callingeverybody I know and some people
we, if you see the video somepeople we didn't get on it
because everything was so quick,yeah, so I had to do things on
(26:42):
their phone to send to us, oryou know, so how we could try
and make who was there, we shotand we, you know, and just tried
it because this was done withina couple of days, yeah, of us
doing it, you know, I'd call jaywill, the director, and I'm
just doing, and then digicel hadlost their building with all
(27:02):
their staff in it, wow, and alot of people were killed.
And they heard about what wewere doing and said, hey, we
would like to help you with this.
I'm like, okay, cool, and we'dlike to put it through our
phones and just raise funds andmoney for the cause down there
and I was like, all right, let'sgo and, and that was it, and we
(27:26):
did the song to the video andgave it to digicel and say do
your magic, you know.
And that was then they ended up, you know, cutting checks and
whatever it is, but that it wasvery impulsive, the whole thing
that happened.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
You're listening to Beyond the Plate with our guest
reggae and dancehall superstar,but the greatest title all caps
capital H, humanitarian Shaggy,so Shag.
I want to dial the clock back alittle further, because this,
this has to come from somewhere.
This humanitarian bent, this,this, this drive, is really a
(28:05):
drive.
It, this has to come fromsomewhere.
This humanitarian bent, thisdrive is really a drive.
It's not just something you do,it's something that's in you,
in your DNA.
We call this podcast Beyond thePlate because we really want to
capture really a deeper storyand we want to kind of go beyond
what we find on Wikipedia, gobeyond a YouTube search.
You know, and so you may notremember, but the last time I
met you was at a Food for thePoor gala here, the gala At
(28:27):
South Florida.
I emceed that event and youweren't there as the performing
artist, as you've been so manytimes, you know.
Matter of fact, you know, Ipointed out to Danny when he
started working here.
There's a picture where we walkby of you every single day in
our offices Selfies.
Yeah, there's a little lookright here, but that wasn't this
particular night.
(28:48):
You were there to accept anaward with your lovely wife the
Ambassadors for the Poor Award.
Yeah, it was your collaborativework with this organization
that was the premise for thataward and why you so deservingly
received that.
But what caught my attentionthat night was not the celebrity
stardom, it was not even somuch the award and some of the
(29:12):
things that you shared thatevening.
What caught my attention wasfamily.
Yeah, you were surrounded withfamily, you know, growing up in
Jamaica your cousins, yourfamily.
It left a mark on you.
It left a mark that wasprobably still instilled in you
to this day.
What was that like?
What has been instilled in youfrom that young age, as young as
(29:35):
you were, with your family,your cousins.
That has left a mark thatdrives you, still in your DNA,
with all of this humanitarianwork and every project you take
on.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
My wife thing seems to think that, like she says,
she can't figure it out Becausewhen she looks at my family
there's a lot of dysfunction soshe doesn't know where I.
She doesn't understand it and I, I guess I don't either of
(30:06):
where that comes from or desirefor this.
But I never had, I never had adad.
I met my dad when I was, like Iwould say, 14 for the first
time.
I don't really have a verysolid relationship, but I do
take care of him and you know Itake care of him and his family
(30:29):
at this point because he hadanother family and you know, and
got him a home and do take careof what I could take care of at
this point.
So I was there, was never.
I was a single parent family.
You know my mom, and my mom wasa struggling writer at the
Galena Company, the Daily Galena, the local newspaper, and I
(30:53):
have no brothers and no sisters.
On her side I have a halfbrother, half sister which I met
years later, down from myfather, but I've never met them
before.
So I was always considered justlike an only child.
I had a grandmother that was avery loving grandmother, um, but
the rest of the family is very,very separate.
It's ghetto life.
(31:14):
You know, a friend of mine sayghetto means get out.
You know, wow, yeah, and, and,and you know you can.
You shouldn't glorify theghetto, you know, in the sense
of we should all aim to get outof it and use it as a mark of
where you don't want to go backto.
(31:34):
You know, um, and you try to toelevate yourself and your
thoughts and your life out of it.
And I think it really justboiled down to me being a
dreamer.
You know, I, I, I was a dreamer, I, I, I dreamed of, I watched
television and I dreamed of thepeople sitting at the table
(31:56):
having a meal together.
I was never a guy that did that, because my grandmother just
gave me a bowl, everything I atewith a spoon, and we lived in a
little one room and that, thatwas that was that, you know?
I mean it was never let's sit ata table and hold hands and pray
.
There was never a family thing.
You know, I never had christmas.
There was never a christmastree in my house.
(32:18):
It's not something that I do,you know.
We never, if it's a birthday,my uncle come by and say oh,
here's 20 bucks, go get an icecream.
I mean it's that's, that's whatit is.
Um, and I think that as I go Imet my wife and my wife really
had that family type thing andit took me years to kind of
(32:40):
figure that out, because theywill argue like really straight
up, argue like, say some meanthings, and in the morning
they're having coffee likenothing happens.
And I was like, how do you alldo that, you know?
And she's like, well, that's,that's what family does, and I'm
, and so it took me a minute toknow what that is, or, or, you
(33:00):
know, and, and the camaraderieand how they look out for each
other and and, and I got thatthrough her family, by me being
with her and seeing, and thenwhen we started having children
of her own, it became that.
And so now, you know, as a guythat's into music and touring,
you know, and I'm always gone,you know I'm getting these calls
(33:21):
, I'm.
You know she, as a guy that'sinto music and touring, you know
, and I'm always gone, you knowI'm getting these calls, I'm.
You know she's instillingeverything in the family that
you know, everything it's family, family.
And so I kind of just stumbledmy way into it in a way, and now
I've gotten to a point where,okay, bing light bulb, wow, this
is the most important job youhave, dad, that is the most
(33:46):
important title you'll ever have.
And as my daughters grow up andmy sons have grown up, my son
is 30 now and he is my bestfriend.
My other son is 28.
He works with me on tours withme, my 19-year-old daughter is
in college and she comes backand forth and then you just find
(34:07):
a lot.
It dawns on me, everything issurrounding you and then you're
like, oh my God, I'm their go-toand it just hits you heavy.
It's like I'm in charge of allthis.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
I'm their leader, yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
And for some reason I've always been the leader of
my tour group and leader of mycompany and you know I have a
lot of people that I employ, butit didn't feel.
You know, it's a job and we'retouring, it makes money, it
revolves, they have theirlifestyle and you're the guy and
you write these songs and yougo out and you sing them and you
tour them and you see where itchanged people.
(34:48):
But then when you're kids,you're like you're responsible,
because I'm not responsible forpeople who are employed by me,
my assistants and my musicians.
I'm not responsible for them.
You know what I mean.
I, you know I employ them, youknow, and they're my extended
(35:09):
family, but I'm not responsiblefor them.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
These ones.
I'm responsible for I canimagine Shaggy's wife saying to
one of the kids wait until yourfather gets off tour.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
I'm Mr Boombastic, not Mr HR.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
I'm not human resources.
And then you're gonna have toalso realize that, no matter how
much you are that guy, you'llnever trump mom.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
That's right she's part of the committee.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
That's right, because you you are now, uh, as a dad
and as a husband, you're gonnarealize that once kids are there
, you're're now.
If it's five kids, you're six.
If you have dogs, if it's twodogs, you're eight.
That's a lot.
I'm just saying that's whereyou land, you know.
(35:55):
And then you just kind of startto get to that point to realize
, okay, but this is what love is, this is what family is, is
this is what love is, this iswhat family is and this is what
life is.
And and then it becomesworthwhile.
Like I have a lot of accoladesand I've done a lot of things
and I've sat in some rooms withsome really great people.
You know, you sat with the popeand the the top super, all my
(36:18):
heroes, I've met them all andthey all know my name.
Uh, but you, there's nothingmore than your kids.
And so what you saw there thatnight was that you know they'll
dress up and come out, as it'simportant.
You know, no matter what I'mdoing, I'm saying we're doing it
, say oh, yeah, so we're gonnahave this happening or that
happening in family.
Everybody drop what they'redoing.
(36:39):
And that's the most importantthing, and I have to give it to
my wife for really instillingthat, because I didn't know
anything about that.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
I learned that from her.
If no one is convinced that Godhas a sense of humor, here is
an individual who is raised in asingle parent household.
In a dysfunctional family, isnow the center of familyhood in
your family.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
That to me Thrust into it, thrust into it.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
That to me is God saying you don't know anything
and you're not in control.
I'm God and I'm in control.
Oh yeah, I figured that out along time ago.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
You know I'm, I'm, like I said, we're servants.
So you know I'm, I'm, I'm doinga service here.
I have no control you do yourbest with what you can, but it's
God's plan that is.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Shaggy.
We're nearing the finish lineand we're talking to Shaggy,
reggie and Dancehall SuperstarShaggy.
Now, shaggy, let's take amoment here, let's dream for a
bit, let's close our eyes, but,folks, if you're listening and
you're driving, don't close youreyes.
You're working with some of themost recognizable names in
music and culture.
One of my favorites was the nprtiny desk concert with sting.
(37:46):
I mean that place constantly atthe house, when we're cleaning,
when we're having dinner, whenwe're trying to go to sleep.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
It's just playing on loop whoa, whoa, I'm an illegal
alien.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
I'm a jamaican in new york Got my two-year-old saying
that Now, if you have a dreamproject to make a world-changing
difference and that wouldchange the course of a
generation, who would you wantto work with to accomplish this?
That's the easiest thing.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
That's my best friend , that's the person I enjoy
working with the most.
Uh, the collaboration of Stingand I is it's not.
It's not artist to artist, it'sfriendship, it's it's.
You know, I mean, I talk toSting every single week.
Uh, uh, this this week I spoketo him three times so far.
(38:42):
Um, you know, he'll be comingin miami for my birthday.
Um, I was, I went to new yorkfor his birthday with my wife
and went through his it's, it'sfamily, it, it has just become
that I, he's the brother, Ididn't know I needed you know it
, just it, just it just happened, it, it, it came at a time I
was with you know I needed youknow it, just it, just it just
(39:02):
happened it.
It it came at a time I was withyou know, I think there's an
expiration date on everyfriendship.
To be honest with you, I don'tknow if you ever had a friend
that you were in school with, uh, and then you were probably
really really close with them,and then you lost contact with
them and then you saw them again.
It was like, hey, let's, let'sconnect again and it just it
(39:22):
doesn't match the same, becausethat person has served their
time in your life.
You know they've done their job.
You know that that thatfriendship has expired.
You.
There's nothing else you canlearn from that person.
You know, and I've had somegreat people and I've had some
wonderful journeys with somepeople who I learned a lot from,
some people who have done mewrong, and, and those, those l's
, I turned the next way fromlost to lessons.
(39:44):
You know, and and uh, I'velearned from them all and I
wouldn't change a thing for theworld because I I even I might
have lost money, I might havelost this, I might have lost,
but the knowledge I gained andthe person that it has shaped me
into is is I am very, verycomfortable with.
I'm still a work in progress,like we all are um, but I'm glad
(40:05):
, and stink came at a time wheremy my insecurity was at its
highest.
Um, I had people around me whomade you know a lot of money.
If you know, their whole liveswere made because of what I do
and and sometimes you findpeople who are not um to their
(40:25):
full potential and so what theywill do throughout their
frustrations to make themselvesfeel better is to bring you down
to make themselves feel better,you know, bring you to their
level to make themselves like ohyeah, he's not that good and
he's not this.
So yeah, yeah, you can't do thisand you can't do it.
And I'm like, okay, I can't doit.
Why?
Because you can't do it, youknow.
(40:47):
And then if they start sayingit loud enough around you and
especially their people that youreally love and respect, then
you really start not being ableto do it.
I think steam came at a timewhen it dawned on me when I
think we're doing an interviewin england and they asked him
why would he?
I was in interviews, why would?
Why you want to?
Uh, what made you want to workwith shaggy?
(41:08):
And he turns around, said thisone right here is a genius, and
I just kind of stepped back.
It was like yeah he said he justused the g word and he was like
, yeah, it's a genius.
His process of, of, ofrecording and making music is
unlike anything I've ever seen.
You know, I'll make write asong.
My process is different.
I'll take it, I'll spend dayswith it.
(41:30):
Uh, I'll do one part and comeback.
I've seen this man write foursongs in one day and he doesn't
play an instrument and he hasthe most amazing melodies and
and he says it's a process thatI've never seen and I've learned
so much from it.
And he just kind of broke itdown and I was just like it
dawned on me after that when Isaid, well, if this guy is the
(41:53):
police, you know 150 millionrecords, yeah, you know one of
the greatest songwriters of alltime.
And he thinks that I'm good.
How come all of you who've madeevery kind of money and bought
homes around me don't think I'mthat good?
(42:13):
Wow, time to change my circle.
And that's kind of like whatreally happened.
That's why I said Sting came inat that point that I didn't.
He helped me my confidence, hehelped me as an artist.
And then he taught.
He started to teach me thingsthat I didn't know, like the
instrumentation.
My ears got cleaner.
(42:34):
He taught me to sing Like I wasa I was a rapper like a DJ
dancehall.
He taught me to sing like I wasa I was a rapper like a dj
dancehall.
He taught me how.
He made me sing sinatra recordsin reggae.
I'm like, what are we doinghere, you know?
And I remember being on theboat when we were playing
tonight and I just startedsinging because I love sinatra
music, and he jumps over he saysoh, you're the same, that's,
you're the same tone.
It's your, your, your, uh, yourbass tenor, just like him.
(42:57):
Him is you sound just, it'samazing how you sound like.
And I'm like what?
And then he showed up my houseand said we're doing an album in
reggae.
Let's go, and I'm like what wegot nominated for a grammy, um,
but to have my confidence thatheavy that I could take the some
of the most complex musicalarrangements ever known to man a
(43:24):
lot of them done by QuincyJones too and actually sing
those songs and make them my own, came from an enormous amount
of confidence that came fromthis person who saw bigger
things in me than I saw myselfWow, you know, and made me
believe it.
So if there's anything that I'mdoing, I don't care what it is.
(43:45):
You know, sting is my guy.
That's the guy I'll do it with,100%.
He's the person I'm mostcomfortable with.
We're going to laugh about it.
We're going to tell each otherwhen we're wrong.
You know, it's that easy.
Speaker 2 (44:02):
Wow, if this guy played bass guitar, I'd say the
same thing, right?
Speaker 3 (44:05):
If he was a bass tenor, I might have told him
something.
I might have told him somethingonce or twice.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Wow, this has been first of all.
This has been an absolute honor, shaggy, to have you, but all
of our guests from season oneand beyond know that when we end
every episode of Beyond thePlate, we always end on a
positive note.
We end on a positive note.
(44:33):
Shaggy, you're going to get thelast word on this positive note
.
I want to go back to Rise Again.
The lyrics from Rise Again.
Tragedy showed and came to giveus a chance to show that we
really cared.
If you were to rewrite thislyric it shouldn't be hard.
You write four songs in one dayYou're going to rewrite one
(44:55):
lyric for us tonight.
Fifteen years later after theearthquake, haiti still has
great needs families andcommunities.
If you were to rewrite thelyric for 2025, tragedy showed
and came to give us a chance toshow that we really cared.
What would you share with thepeople of Haiti right now?
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Well, it's hard to rewrite something because that
was in the moment and I'm not abig fan of rewrites, to be
honest with you but I think whatwe need to do, based on the
situations we sometimes forget.
Like life moves on andespecially in today's generation
(45:36):
, where social media is, there'salways something else to take
you off of what's important.
You know, it's the distraction,so to speak.
I think what I would do iswrite a lyric speaking about
(45:58):
staying focused on what is theimportant thing and not being
distracted.
Distraction is the biggestthing that's going to get us in
this day and age, because you'regoing to have all kinds of
narrative coming at you that youdon't even know what to believe
.
These days we're seeing it withAI, we're seeing it with
(46:20):
everything You're not going toknow what the truth is, and the
only way you know what the truthis is unless you stay focused
on what it is.
It's boots on the ground.
That's what it is.
There's nothing you can.
You cannot tell me what's goingon in Haiti.
I'll have to go there and feelit myself.
I'll have to research it andsee it, because that's going to
(46:44):
be the hardest one time.
You could be just like oh mygod, let's do this, you know,
and then you have everything isa scammer, everything is this,
everything is that.
So it makes it hard forsomebody who really wants to
help when there's so many peopletrying to scam their way into
something else.
So I think at this point is Iwould rewrite it to where don't
(47:09):
be distracted, faced, putyourself into the situation and
go seek it.
And that's kind of how I viewanything that I get into now.
I, you research it and go at itand trying to feel it.
Like I always said, there'smusic, you hear music.
You feel anybody could soundgood.
(47:29):
Um, you know, just based on, on, uh, how you, how you feel, you
know, you know we could makeyou sing.
You know, just from technology,make you sound better than in
(47:50):
the shower.
You know what I mean.
We could do that.
But can I make you feel it?
You know, feel, come from.
Know, feel come from struggle,come from pain, come from
passion, come from I writing andsinging, something that makes
you believe what I'm saying andlive what I'm saying, and that I
(48:16):
see so many artists, especiallyinternet artists, or take
talkers that make records at ourcatchphrase records, but the
message is lost.
It's just it sounds good, butyou can't feel it.
And everything you do you gottago feel it and for me, where
Hedy's concerned, it's gotta bethat situation where you go feel
(48:39):
and and us trying to promote itto people.
We have to do things to makethem feel it.
You can't just promote what'sgoing on in haiti by just
reporting it.
You got to find a creative wayto tap in to make people feel it
.
You know I, you remember whenthey uh, what was it?
What was that?
(49:00):
Is that sarah mcclachlan song,right?
Speaker 2 (49:06):
away sad puppy eyes.
You, you.
If you don't shed a tear,something's wrong with you.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Dude, let me tell you something.
Exactly just like you know, andafter you've given us a couple
of times, you're like alright,yeah, and it plays again, it
pulls.
You have to find things to makeyou feel it, and that's what
needs to happen.
You have to tap into somethingthat you feel.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
So that's the best I can give you at this point that
is the best, because that's nota positive word for the episode,
that is a positive word forthis new year 2025.
Shaggy, we are honored to haveyou on our.
That is the best, becausethat's not a positive word for
the episode, that is a positiveword for this new year 2025.
Shaggy, we are honored to haveyou on our podcast.
We're honored to know you andto be a part of what you're a
part of.
God bless you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Thank you, man.
Keep doing the good work, man.
Food for the poor has alwaysbeen great.
Thanks, sir.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
Fist bump, shaggy Fist bump.
Fist bump, shaggy fist bump.
All right, big fist bump yeahappreciate it, thank you you
(50:24):
just went beyond the plate.
Don't miss out on a chance tomake a real difference.
Folks follow us on instagramand tiktok at beyond the plate
podcast and subscribe to ouryoutube channel.
Stay connected by texting bestbite to 51555.
Speaker 2 (50:30):
You're gonna get a cool link and we look forward to
having you with us on the nextepisode of beyond the plate.
If I'm ever in the position to help them, I would.
And then a hot shot happenedand we sold 10 million records,
had a ton of money, and we werejust like, okay, I just walked
into the hospital with a check Idon't know if it was like
$150,000 or something like that.
I just walked in with the checkand then the hospital
administrator says what is this?
I said this is for you guys.
(00:21):
I'm going to the hospital.
He was like don't you know?
It's like, are you sure?
Like yeah, anyway, I did thecheck.
And then, you know, monthsafterwards, the anesthesiologist
there came, who was kind ofaround the place, called me and
was like yo Shaq, come and letme show you what your check did.
And he's showing me we boughtthis, we bought, and he's just
(00:42):
showing me all these things.
And it really motivated me.
At that point I was like, wow,really yeah.
He said, since this machinecame, we saved these amount of
lives.
Since this machine came, wesaved these amount of life.
And I was just like blown awaybecause I'm like I just bought a
car that was three times that.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
You know what I mean.
Welcome to Beyond the Plate.
I'm Paul Jacobs, where food ismore than just a meal.
It's a powerful way to connect,inspire and transform we call
it Tertulia, a gathering wherebonds are formed and stories are
shared.
Get ready to dive into realstories that inspire, challenge
and nourish the soul.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
I'm Daniel Patino, inviting you to join our
Tertulia and explore how foodand connection can truly
transform lives.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Let's go Beyond the Plate.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
All right, welcome back to another episode of
Beyond the Plate Season twothat's right season two.
That's right.
I almost just went straightthrough the intro.
They renewed our contract.
They renewed our contract.
They renewed our contract.
Just want to celebrate that outin the open.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I just had to say that before you introduce us,
just in case they switch hosts,you know, like in mid-season or
something like Darren's andB-Wish.
That's right, or?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Fresh Prince when they switched out the mom.
Yeah, nobody noticed.
Nobody noticed, but I'm stillDaniel Patino.
I'm Paul Jacobs and this isBeyond the Plate and, as we
usually start off the episode, Ilike to play a little game.
Let's call it.
Was it me?
Okay, all right, so, uh, paul,first question for you yeah,
(02:08):
sure, how about that?
Have you sold more than 40million albums units to date?
Oh, no, no, no, wasn't me,wasn't you?
Okay?
Um ian uh, did you land eightsingles on the billboard hot,
107 albums on the billboard 200?
It wasn't me, he said it wasn'thim.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
It wasn't him either.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Okay, ben, let's see Ben, this one has to be him.
Ben, were you winner of bestreggae album at the 61st annual
Grammy Awards?
Ben's a band leader.
Yeah, like here, it wasn't me.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
It wasn't him either.
Okay, well, danny, I got onefor you.
All right, have you recorded onthe Super Bowl 40 commercial
spot?
That was the highest ratedSuper Bowl ad in history.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Let me think about that for a second.
I have to remember Nope, itwasn't me.
It wasn't me either.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
It wasn't you All right.
Well, guess what?
As you all know who, thatreally was our first guest on
season two, our season premiere.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
welcome to Beyond the Plate Shaggy Otter no more.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yes, yes.
International music reggaedance hall superstar Shaggy
Welcome.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Thank you, man.
It's glad to be talking topeople that's employed, yes.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
We don't know for how long after that intro.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
I hear the ticker.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
I hear the ticker.
I hear the ticker.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Hey, I didn't even realize that they actually
switched out the Fresh Princemom until you just said it.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yes, vivian, her mom was switched out and I mean
that's something you can look up, but I mean it switched up for
the better.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I was like wait, wait .
They switched the mom out Wait.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I might have to go do my reruns right now to find out
, and I love it.
This is how we share fun aroundhere on Beyond the Plate, and
as we share fun on every episode, we usually like to take it a
little in a different directionnow.
Now, if we took the time tolist all your accolades, shaggy
I mean all the awards and allthe milestones I would have to
put some more money in the meteroutside, yeah, and we'd
probably have to extend theepisode for another hour or two.
(04:08):
But but on the real, all thosesuccesses and awards are all in
the view here at food for thepoor.
This is how we look at it.
It's a means to an end, right?
So, yeah, you are a musician.
You are a musician in costume,though, because the real shaggy
is proven to be a humanitarian.
(04:28):
All right, shaggy, are youtrying to leave this world
better than you found it?
Is that what you're trying todo?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
I think, I think we all are, I, I would imagine, and
if we, if we're not thinkinglike that, then something is
wrong with us, especially if youcome from humble beginnings.
You know, I'm, I'm from, I'mfrom riatone in kingston it's a
little fishing village, uh, inin downtown kingston.
And when you look around andsee, you know, when you pinch
(04:57):
yourself a little bit and belike, wow, look, look, what I've
accomplished, you know I've,I've had the opportunity to
uplift my family and kind ofchange the cycle, the
generational cycle of my wholefamily.
And I have a niece just got afull scholarship to uh, you know
, to princeton.
And you know, I seen all.
You know she was the firstperson in my whole family to go
(05:19):
to college, you know, I mean, Imean all of these things.
You know, when I'm sittingthere getting an honorary degree
from brown, when you're whenyou're sitting there, and when
you look across you see NancyPelosi and all these people
that's receiving it, you're likeyo, dude, what am I doing here,
you know?
So I think we all kind of dowhat we do based on gratitude,
(05:44):
you, and just being lucky thatwe could, we were, because I, I
look at ourselves, I look, Icertainly look at myself and I
think we all are just servants,right?
You know, we're all servantshere, uh, and we were all given
a tool to serve, and my tool isthrough music, and everyone else
has their tool, and, and you doyour best in service up until
(06:10):
it's time that you have doneyour service in this open and
you're taking, you know, when II'm on tour and I look there's.
You know, we did a tour lastsummer when it was about three,
uh, three to four hundred peoplethat were stage handlers, truck
drivers, riggers, security,concession stands, people.
I'm like that's 300 electricbills, school fees, mortgages,
(06:34):
yes, all because I decided tosing these songs and this rock,
and so I look at it as beingbigger than me.
When people's like, oh yeah, youknow, you're great, you wrote
it, it wasn't me.
I'm like, dude, let me tell yousomething.
I did not write it, it wasn'tme.
I might have physically wroteit, but you know, but that was
(06:54):
ordained through me.
Listen, if I could come up withthat, I'd be doing one every
week.
Yes, oh yeah, that's ordainedthrough.
(07:31):
Oh yeah, as with gratitude andalso as part of me being a
servant.
So me doing philanthropic workis part of my service and that's
how I kind of break.
That's how I break it down andpartnering with Food for the
Poor is it fits, because it'sJamaican.
I love Robin from, yeah, and Iknow where it's coming from and
I have a platform that I can useand they do great work and we
(07:52):
kind of work hand in hand, soit's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
And we love Robin too .
Speaker 1 (07:58):
We love Robin too.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
And we love Robin too because it's one of those.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Was it the?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Kevin Bacon, the 70 degrees or 60 degrees, six
degrees, I forget the degrees,but it's how we communicate and
how we get together as acommunity and it's brought, you
know, the beyond the plate toShaggy, and Shaggy has brought
you to our audience and I callhim.
Robin.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Hood, robin Hood.
That's good, that's right,that's excellent.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
But, uh, but, shaggy, you're not only a multi-award
winning songwriter and hit makerright now, you've also used
your platform, like you justexplained to us, to strengthen
your community and homeland.
And, uh, back in 2009, youestablished the shaggy make a
difference foundation, uh, whichwas of first of many
foundations.
Also, shaggy and friendsbenefit concerts wait, wait,
shaggy kids, shaggy kids, right?
(08:38):
I mean, the list goes on.
Uh, and you've raised millionsfor the busamante children's
hospital, the, the Caribbean'sonly English-speaking children's
hospital that's located in theheart of Jamaica, in Kingston.
And you've also been quoted,shaggy.
I've always tried to bring thefun when I'm performing and keep
everything very lightheartedand joyous.
I think my purpose and my jobis to bring joy to as many
(09:02):
people as I can, and I want toresonate within all the music
that I create.
Can you elaborate a little bitmore on that?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, joy, because I think laughter and joy is
healing.
You know, you could be goingthrough your roughest day.
If you put a comedic spin on itor put some joy to it, you'll
feel a little better.
You know, some of us are soprivileged we don't even
(09:31):
understand what we have.
You know, when you start goingto some of these countries and
says, hey, dude, we just dealt abad card, man, you were lucky.
Um, I've been to places where itis the conditions that I'm
looking at is like yo, um, man,this is, this is bad.
(09:51):
But when I'm talking to thepeople who are living into the
conditions, they're like happy,it's as if it's, it's as if they
this is all they know, and thisis their life and so things.
That makes me uncomfortable forthem it's just norm, it's you
know.
And they're kicking ball andplaying and having.
They don't have devices,they're not having.
(10:13):
You know, they're not sittingthere, says, oh, my mental.
You know I have to.
You know, right, uh, I have towork on my mental health.
There's nobody looking at whatthe mental health is.
They don't you know these.
I always look at, you know.
And mental health is's.
Nobody looking at what themental health is they don't.
You know these.
I always look at you know, andmental health is pretty serious.
But I always look at mentalhealth in somewhere.
It's like it's kind of aprivileged thing, because when
(10:33):
you look at kids that are goingthrough it, you know that's
where, that's all they know.
It's they kind of just adapt.
I remember when I was in thehood I just adapt, I adapted and
just kind of overcame and went.
Now I'm not saying that thereprobably isn't some damage there
, you probably.
But the damage is sometimestaking them out of that world
(10:56):
and putting them in this worldand they can't adjust and that
becomes that, you know.
So joy is definitely somethingthat I use as a tool, you know,
and because it's feel good andwhen you feel good then you will
be at your full potential.
It's easier to get to your fullpotential when you feel good,
(11:18):
when you have joy in your life.
If you have a cup, you got tomake sure that cup is to the
brim, is filled to the brim,that you could feel reach to
that potential.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
And what drew?
What drew your heartspecifically to such a noble
cause as supporting theoperations of the Bussamonte
Hospital?
You know I was.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I was.
There was a friend of mine,tony Kelly, and we're making a
record.
He was a hotshot.
I was making at a time thatrecord and that album and his
son got sick and he took the kidto Bustamante Hospital he was
Shane is the kids name was Shaneand we went there.
(12:02):
We ended ended up staying therethe night just waiting until
they admitted him.
His tongue was swollen, oh jeez, and they were working on it.
And I ended up talking to nursesand doctors that night, just
hanging out there until 3, 4 inthe morning and they were giving
me some stories that they weredoing and it was like, yeah, we
(12:24):
don't have a blood warmer, so we, we put the blood in a pot
monitor.
We want the blood to thetemperature for surgery.
I'm like what?
And they were telling me allthese unorthodoxy, we've got
pliers and screwdrivers, likethings that they used because
they didn't have the equipment.
And I was like, wow, um, butthey were lifesavers, you know.
(12:47):
And then I said to myself thatif I'm ever in the position to
help them, I would.
And then, hot shot happened andwe saw it was 10 million records
and had a ton of money and wewere just like, okay, I just
walked into the hospital with acheck I think I don't know if
it's like 150k or something likethat just walked in with the
check and then the hospitaladministration says what is this
(13:11):
?
I would say this for you guysI'm going to the hospital.
It's like well, it's are yousure?
Like yeah, you know, because Ithink they were rubbing his eyes
from like from a or something.
It was just a personal checkyeah.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
And anyway, I did the check and then, months
afterwards, the anesthesiologistthere came, who kind of ran the
place, called me and was likeyo Shaq, come and let me show
you what your check did.
Oh wow, and he's showing me webought this equipment, we bought
a blood warmer, we bought this,we bought.
And he's showing me we boughtthis equipment, we bought a
(13:49):
blood warmer, we bought this, webought, and, and he's just
showing me all these things andit really motivated me.
At that point I was like wow,really, yeah.
He said, since this machinecame, we saved these amount of
lives.
Since this machine came, wesaved these amount of life.
And I was just like blown awaybecause I'm like I just bought a
car that was three times that,you know, I mean.
I mean it just put things intoperspective.
You know what I mean.
And at that point I was just ona different path.
And then one day they call me.
(14:13):
I built a little park in thehospital where people came from
out of town, from St Elizabethto Kingston it's like a
three-hour drive and they'llcome down and if a kid got sick,
the kid would be there and theparents would need somewhere to
sit while the surgery is beingdone.
(14:33):
So I created this little parkin the middle of the hospital.
I had some volunteers come andbought some flowers and did some
chairs and did some stuff, andI think it was the Scotiabank
had heard about it and jumped onit as a sponsor and kind of
helped finish it with me and Iwas like, all right, cool,
(14:53):
that's cool.
That's my first time gettinginto all of this.
And then they told me to comedown for a ribbon cutting for it
with the head of the bank.
So I went there to do the ribboncutting and this, this little
rasta rastaman, come to me andsays yo, shaggy, I would love
for you to see my daughter.
(15:14):
Her name is um, her name isapple, and she's she's.
She's on one of your machines.
He said she's on one of yourmachines.
He said I said my machines.
He's like, yeah, she's one ofthe machines around there.
And so you know, I was like allright, cool, cool, cool, you
(15:34):
know.
And then we did the ceremonyand shake hands and kiss babies
and all that, and then ended upwalking around to this ward and
I saw this girl with a bullet.
She was an eight-year-old girlwith a bullet lodged in her head
and she was just like there andI'm sitting there holding her
hand and I feel very helplessand I'm just holding her hand
(15:56):
and I felt like she wassqueezing my hand, like just
like that, you know, but she wasnot really responsive.
It was like that's like her headwas doing this, and it was the
most helpless I've ever felt.
And I just walked out and saidI got to do something else.
And then that's when I came upwith the idea so we're going to
(16:17):
do a concert.
And I started to rally.
People went to Sharon Burke,who produces concert.
I, you know, I'm going to sayhow are we going to do this?
And I kept a dinner at my houseand then William Afoud, who is
the nephew of Robin, who youknow, when I went to them for
sponsorship, he kind of wasguiding me on how to set up this
(16:39):
foundation.
He says you can't just do thislike this.
You need a foundation.
I'm like what foundation?
Why can't?
Speaker 2 (16:44):
you just keep a concert and just get the money.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Just keep it on my bank account number.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Yeah, why can't I just do a bank account number?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
In my routing number.
There you go.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
He's like no, you need a foundation, you need to
set this up to make it legal.
And I was like I don.
So william kind of guided methrough robin and all of them
and we ended up setting up thisshaggy make a difference
foundation that aided thishospital, you know.
(17:13):
And then robin came on boardand says, okay, what we do, we
ship containers to jamaica so wecould bring your equipment that
you buy through it to where youknow.
Uh, it's, it's smoother thanyou just going, and then you'd
have to go through tariffs andall of that.
And I was like, ok, great, andthat was the beginning of our
relationship with me and Foodfor the Poor and me just doing
(17:34):
this whole charity situation.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
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Speaker 2 (17:50):
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Speaker 3 (18:02):
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Speaker 2 (18:07):
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All right, they recover thealcohol byproduct.
You can use it to createseltzers, cocktails, you name it
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Bear Brews.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
Based in North Carolina, bear Brews works with
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Whether you're brewing 2,500barrels or 200,000, that's a lot
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Speaker 2 (18:28):
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Oh, I see what you did there.
They even do small batch trialsto prove the market.
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Speaker 3 (18:36):
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Speaker 2 (18:43):
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Speaker 3 (18:53):
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Well, I'll applaud to that.
Yeah, cheers to that.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
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Speaker 2 (19:35):
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Speaker 3 (19:42):
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(20:18):
hispanicgroupnet okay, that'shispanicgroupnet, or.
I'm blown away at your humilityand all of this because you know
you talk about just thesethings as just a matter of fact,
(20:39):
when it had such lastingimplications and save lives one
of the things that out of thiswhole Bustamante project over
the years that really has struckus has been a specific thing
that you did.
To me is become very iconic,and it is not easy to do.
(20:59):
You have assembled what I call.
It's like the Avengers assembleright, all like the, all these
superpowers from music, and youdid a song called Save a Life
and I love the lyrics Take astand, make it right, lend a
hand, save a life.
(21:20):
I, I, I'm just, I'm blown awaybecause you know, here you have
and this was the first ofsomething that you started and
with these concerts and theseartists that have all come
together, I mean it was really awho's who in reggae and dance
hall music.
But I want to take a momentjust thinking about that song,
save a life, life and theproject with Boost Money
(21:42):
Hospital.
I want to dial the clocks back.
It's January 12th 2010,.
Exactly 15 years ago, haitisuffered a massive earthquake
that took the lives of almost300,000.
Many would say it wouldprobably more 300,000.
Many would say it wouldprobably more 300,000.
(22:03):
Men, women, children, innocentlives.
Their lives changed in aninstant, and not just their
lives, but the lives of families, the lives of generations to
come, worldwide.
But even though it captured theheart of the world, it captured
(22:23):
the heart of one other person.
That was you.
Tell us how you assembled nowwhat was again the second
iteration of this amazing,talented roster of dancehall
reggae amusing musicians,amazing, and I'm sure there was
people behind the mics andproducers and whatnot for this
Caribbean tribute for Haiti.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
And it was really an anthem Rise.
There's two, there's two.
There's two stories.
Yeah, um for um, save a life.
While I was doing the wholeconcert and I was a novice to
all of this, I'm a novice toputting on a concert, I'm doing
everything from heart, yeah,just instinctively.
I have a few people who havedone stuff, like sharon, and
(23:05):
people who have done it, youknow, and then I have them
guiding me.
But you know, I'm going off,just shared your adrenaline.
And somebody says to me well,you're going to need a song.
The song you know, your music,music song will get to people.
But I said, well, we got tomake a heart string song.
So those lyrics you wrote waspart of what our thought process
(23:25):
of of.
Those lyrics you read were partof the thought process of what
would be a heartstring pullingsong.
But then we came on beingjamaican, you, there's a
rebelness that comes withjamaican, like if you tell a
Jamaican don't touch that lightswitch.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
And I mean as soon as you turn your back, don't touch
the light switch.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
You know, what I mean .
It's our nature.
So I said how do we get them tocome in?
I said I dare you, and that'show we came up with it.
If you, I dare you to take, andI dare you to take a, and I
dare you to take a stand, I dareyou to think of someone else
who was in need of a helpinghand.
(24:08):
That's how the dare came in andthat was the catch phrase of
everybody I dare you.
And then people, when theystarted to buy tickets, they
said they would film themselvesand say Shaggy, I accept the
dare, and that was part of thewhole thing.
So it's tapping into culture inthat way, to know what your
audience is and know what yourculture is.
(24:30):
And go Now with Rise.
Again, I'm at a studio with aproducer by the name of
Christopher Birch.
I'm doing a song with him, whichis a total different song.
While I'm in there, we feellike a tremor, like a thing, in
the studio.
This is in Jamaica.
I'm like what is that?
(24:50):
That was what I'm saying, butit was a light tremor, it wasn't
, you know, and I was like Idon't know what it is.
Anyway, we kept writing a songand doing them, and then the
television in the studio rightover the board is on, but it's
on mute and we just saw breakingnews blah, blah, blah, blah.
(25:11):
And then the pictures and the.
And then we just like stoppedand I was like yo, what is this?
And then we realized what washappening the earthquake and the
devastation and we're seeingthey're pulling people out.
And we just stopped the studiosession and we're just watching
(25:36):
what's going on and we'retalking about it.
And then I had this thing whereI'm saying some say how does
Haiti come back from this, wasthe question in there, and I'm
like, yeah, we're going to rise,we're Brazilian people, we're
just going to, we're going torise, and that how would they
rise from that?
How does Haiti rise from this?
(25:57):
That's what was said in theconversation and I just took
that and just said we shall riseagain and that was, and the the
song that I was there to write,ended up being this song, now,
you know, and I I flipped thebeat, kind of, made it, started
(26:18):
to write the lyrics and changedit to what we know as what you
now know as rise again.
And then now, by the end of theday, when we demo the record,
I'm like, okay, now, who do Iget?
And I just start callingeverybody I know and some people
we, if you see the video somepeople we didn't get on it
because everything was so quick,yeah, so I had to do things on
(26:42):
their phone to send to us, oryou know, so how we could try
and make who was there, we shotand we, you know, and just tried
it because this was done withina couple of days, yeah, of us
doing it, you know, I'd call jaywill, the director, and I'm
just doing, and then digicel hadlost their building with all
(27:02):
their staff in it, wow, and alot of people were killed.
And they heard about what wewere doing and said, hey, we
would like to help you with this.
I'm like, okay, cool, and we'dlike to put it through our
phones and just raise funds andmoney for the cause down there
and I was like, all right, let'sgo and, and that was it, and we
(27:26):
did the song to the video andgave it to digicel and say do
your magic, you know.
And that was then they ended up, you know, cutting checks and
whatever it is, but that it wasvery impulsive, the whole thing
that happened.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
You're listening to Beyond the Plate with our guest
reggae and dancehall superstar,but the greatest title all caps
capital H, humanitarian Shaggy,so Shag.
I want to dial the clock back alittle further, because this,
this has to come from somewhere.
This humanitarian bent, this,this, this drive, is really a
(28:05):
drive.
It, this has to come fromsomewhere.
This humanitarian bent, thisdrive is really a drive.
It's not just something you do,it's something that's in you,
in your DNA.
We call this podcast Beyond thePlate because we really want to
capture really a deeper storyand we want to kind of go beyond
what we find on Wikipedia, gobeyond a YouTube search.
You know, and so you may notremember, but the last time I
met you was at a Food for thePoor gala here, the gala At
(28:27):
South Florida.
I emceed that event and youweren't there as the performing
artist, as you've been so manytimes, you know.
Matter of fact, you know, Ipointed out to Danny when he
started working here.
There's a picture where we walkby of you every single day in
our offices Selfies.
Yeah, there's a little lookright here, but that wasn't this
particular night.
(28:48):
You were there to accept anaward with your lovely wife the
Ambassadors for the Poor Award.
Yeah, it was your collaborativework with this organization
that was the premise for thataward and why you so deservingly
received that.
But what caught my attentionthat night was not the celebrity
stardom, it was not even somuch the award and some of the
(29:12):
things that you shared thatevening.
What caught my attention wasfamily.
Yeah, you were surrounded withfamily, you know, growing up in
Jamaica your cousins, yourfamily.
It left a mark on you.
It left a mark that wasprobably still instilled in you
to this day.
What was that like?
What has been instilled in youfrom that young age, as young as
(29:35):
you were, with your family,your cousins.
That has left a mark thatdrives you, still in your DNA,
with all of this humanitarianwork and every project you take
on.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
My wife thing seems to think that, like she says,
she can't figure it out Becausewhen she looks at my family
there's a lot of dysfunction soshe doesn't know where I.
She doesn't understand it and I, I guess I don't either of
(30:06):
where that comes from or desirefor this.
But I never had, I never had adad.
I met my dad when I was, like Iwould say, 14 for the first
time.
I don't really have a verysolid relationship, but I do
take care of him and you know Itake care of him and his family
(30:29):
at this point because he hadanother family and you know, and
got him a home and do take careof what I could take care of at
this point.
So I was there, was never.
I was a single parent family.
You know my mom, and my mom wasa struggling writer at the
Galena Company, the Daily Galena, the local newspaper, and I
(30:53):
have no brothers and no sisters.
On her side I have a halfbrother, half sister which I met
years later, down from myfather, but I've never met them
before.
So I was always considered justlike an only child.
I had a grandmother that was avery loving grandmother, um, but
the rest of the family is very,very separate.
It's ghetto life.
(31:14):
You know, a friend of mine sayghetto means get out.
You know, wow, yeah, and, and,and you know you can.
You shouldn't glorify theghetto, you know, in the sense
of we should all aim to get outof it and use it as a mark of
where you don't want to go backto.
(31:34):
You know, um, and you try to toelevate yourself and your
thoughts and your life out of it.
And I think it really justboiled down to me being a
dreamer.
You know, I, I, I was a dreamer, I, I, I dreamed of, I watched
television and I dreamed of thepeople sitting at the table
(31:56):
having a meal together.
I was never a guy that did that, because my grandmother just
gave me a bowl, everything I atewith a spoon, and we lived in a
little one room and that, thatwas that was that, you know?
I mean it was never let's sit ata table and hold hands and pray
.
There was never a family thing.
You know, I never had christmas.
There was never a christmastree in my house.
(32:18):
It's not something that I do,you know.
We never, if it's a birthday,my uncle come by and say oh,
here's 20 bucks, go get an icecream.
I mean it's that's, that's whatit is.
Um, and I think that as I go Imet my wife and my wife really
had that family type thing andit took me years to kind of
(32:40):
figure that out, because theywill argue like really straight
up, argue like, say some meanthings, and in the morning
they're having coffee likenothing happens.
And I was like, how do you alldo that, you know?
And she's like, well, that's,that's what family does, and I'm
, and so it took me a minute toknow what that is, or, or, you
(33:00):
know, and, and the camaraderieand how they look out for each
other and and, and I got thatthrough her family, by me being
with her and seeing, and thenwhen we started having children
of her own, it became that.
And so now, you know, as a guythat's into music and touring,
you know, and I'm always gone,you know I'm getting these calls
(33:21):
, I'm.
You know she, as a guy that'sinto music and touring, you know
, and I'm always gone, you knowI'm getting these calls, I'm.
You know she's instillingeverything in the family that
you know, everything it's family, family.
And so I kind of just stumbledmy way into it in a way, and now
I've gotten to a point where,okay, bing light bulb, wow, this
is the most important job youhave, dad, that is the most
(33:46):
important title you'll ever have.
And as my daughters grow up andmy sons have grown up, my son
is 30 now and he is my bestfriend.
My other son is 28.
He works with me on tours withme, my 19-year-old daughter is
in college and she comes backand forth and then you just find
(34:07):
a lot.
It dawns on me, everything issurrounding you and then you're
like, oh my God, I'm their go-toand it just hits you heavy.
It's like I'm in charge of allthis.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
I'm their leader, yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
And for some reason I've always been the leader of
my tour group and leader of mycompany and you know I have a
lot of people that I employ, butit didn't feel.
You know, it's a job and we'retouring, it makes money, it
revolves, they have theirlifestyle and you're the guy and
you write these songs and yougo out and you sing them and you
tour them and you see where itchanged people.
(34:48):
But then when you're kids,you're like you're responsible,
because I'm not responsible forpeople who are employed by me,
my assistants and my musicians.
I'm not responsible for them.
You know what I mean.
I, you know I employ them, youknow, and they're my extended
(35:09):
family, but I'm not responsiblefor them.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
These ones.
I'm responsible for I canimagine Shaggy's wife saying to
one of the kids wait until yourfather gets off tour.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
I'm Mr Boombastic, not Mr HR.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
I'm not human resources.
And then you're gonna have toalso realize that, no matter how
much you are that guy, you'llnever trump mom.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
That's right she's part of the committee.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
That's right, because you you are now, uh, as a dad
and as a husband, you're gonnarealize that once kids are there
, you're're now.
If it's five kids, you're six.
If you have dogs, if it's twodogs, you're eight.
That's a lot.
I'm just saying that's whereyou land, you know.
(35:55):
And then you just kind of startto get to that point to realize
, okay, but this is what love is, this is what family is, is
this is what love is, this iswhat family is and this is what
life is.
And and then it becomesworthwhile.
Like I have a lot of accoladesand I've done a lot of things
and I've sat in some rooms withsome really great people.
You know, you sat with the popeand the the top super, all my
(36:18):
heroes, I've met them all andthey all know my name.
Uh, but you, there's nothingmore than your kids.
And so what you saw there thatnight was that you know they'll
dress up and come out, as it'simportant.
You know, no matter what I'mdoing, I'm saying we're doing it
, say oh, yeah, so we're gonnahave this happening or that
happening in family.
Everybody drop what they'redoing.
(36:39):
And that's the most importantthing, and I have to give it to
my wife for really instillingthat, because I didn't know
anything about that.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
I learned that from her.
If no one is convinced that Godhas a sense of humor, here is
an individual who is raised in asingle parent household.
In a dysfunctional family, isnow the center of familyhood in
your family.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
That to me Thrust into it, thrust into it.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
That to me is God saying you don't know anything
and you're not in control.
I'm God and I'm in control.
Oh yeah, I figured that out along time ago.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
You know I'm, I'm, like I said, we're servants.
So you know I'm, I'm, I'm doinga service here.
I have no control you do yourbest with what you can, but it's
God's plan that is.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Shaggy.
We're nearing the finish lineand we're talking to Shaggy,
reggie and Dancehall SuperstarShaggy.
Now, shaggy, let's take amoment here, let's dream for a
bit, let's close our eyes, but,folks, if you're listening and
you're driving, don't close youreyes.
You're working with some of themost recognizable names in
music and culture.
One of my favorites was the nprtiny desk concert with sting.
(37:46):
I mean that place constantly atthe house, when we're cleaning,
when we're having dinner, whenwe're trying to go to sleep.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
It's just playing on loop whoa, whoa, I'm an illegal
alien.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
I'm a jamaican in new york Got my two-year-old saying
that Now, if you have a dreamproject to make a world-changing
difference and that wouldchange the course of a
generation, who would you wantto work with to accomplish this?
That's the easiest thing.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
That's my best friend , that's the person I enjoy
working with the most.
Uh, the collaboration of Stingand I is it's not.
It's not artist to artist, it'sfriendship, it's it's.
You know, I mean, I talk toSting every single week.
Uh, uh, this this week I spoketo him three times so far.
(38:42):
Um, you know, he'll be comingin miami for my birthday.
Um, I was, I went to new yorkfor his birthday with my wife
and went through his it's, it'sfamily, it, it has just become
that I, he's the brother, Ididn't know I needed you know it
, just it, just it just happened, it, it, it came at a time I
was with you know I needed youknow it, just it, just it just
(39:02):
happened it.
It it came at a time I was withyou know, I think there's an
expiration date on everyfriendship.
To be honest with you, I don'tknow if you ever had a friend
that you were in school with, uh, and then you were probably
really really close with them,and then you lost contact with
them and then you saw them again.
It was like, hey, let's, let'sconnect again and it just it
(39:22):
doesn't match the same, becausethat person has served their
time in your life.
You know they've done their job.
You know that that thatfriendship has expired.
You.
There's nothing else you canlearn from that person.
You know, and I've had somegreat people and I've had some
wonderful journeys with somepeople who I learned a lot from,
some people who have done mewrong, and, and those, those l's
, I turned the next way fromlost to lessons.
(39:44):
You know, and and uh, I'velearned from them all and I
wouldn't change a thing for theworld because I I even I might
have lost money, I might havelost this, I might have lost,
but the knowledge I gained andthe person that it has shaped me
into is is I am very, verycomfortable with.
I'm still a work in progress,like we all are um, but I'm glad
(40:05):
, and stink came at a time wheremy my insecurity was at its
highest.
Um, I had people around me whomade you know a lot of money.
If you know, their whole liveswere made because of what I do
and and sometimes you findpeople who are not um to their
(40:25):
full potential and so what theywill do throughout their
frustrations to make themselvesfeel better is to bring you down
to make themselves feel better,you know, bring you to their
level to make themselves like ohyeah, he's not that good and
he's not this.
So yeah, yeah, you can't do thisand you can't do it.
And I'm like, okay, I can't doit.
Why?
Because you can't do it, youknow.
(40:47):
And then if they start sayingit loud enough around you and
especially their people that youreally love and respect, then
you really start not being ableto do it.
I think steam came at a timewhen it dawned on me when I
think we're doing an interviewin england and they asked him
why would he?
I was in interviews, why would?
Why you want to?
Uh, what made you want to workwith shaggy?
(41:08):
And he turns around, said thisone right here is a genius, and
I just kind of stepped back.
It was like yeah he said he justused the g word and he was like
, yeah, it's a genius.
His process of, of, ofrecording and making music is
unlike anything I've ever seen.
You know, I'll make write asong.
My process is different.
I'll take it, I'll spend dayswith it.
(41:30):
Uh, I'll do one part and comeback.
I've seen this man write foursongs in one day and he doesn't
play an instrument and he hasthe most amazing melodies and
and he says it's a process thatI've never seen and I've learned
so much from it.
And he just kind of broke itdown and I was just like it
dawned on me after that when Isaid, well, if this guy is the
(41:53):
police, you know 150 millionrecords, yeah, you know one of
the greatest songwriters of alltime.
And he thinks that I'm good.
How come all of you who've madeevery kind of money and bought
homes around me don't think I'mthat good?
(42:13):
Wow, time to change my circle.
And that's kind of like whatreally happened.
That's why I said Sting came inat that point that I didn't.
He helped me my confidence, hehelped me as an artist.
And then he taught.
He started to teach me thingsthat I didn't know, like the
instrumentation.
My ears got cleaner.
(42:34):
He taught me to sing Like I wasa I was a rapper like a DJ
dancehall.
He taught me to sing like I wasa I was a rapper like a dj
dancehall.
He taught me how.
He made me sing sinatra recordsin reggae.
I'm like, what are we doinghere, you know?
And I remember being on theboat when we were playing
tonight and I just startedsinging because I love sinatra
music, and he jumps over he saysoh, you're the same, that's,
you're the same tone.
It's your, your, your, uh, yourbass tenor, just like him.
(42:57):
Him is you sound just, it'samazing how you sound like.
And I'm like what?
And then he showed up my houseand said we're doing an album in
reggae.
Let's go, and I'm like what wegot nominated for a grammy, um,
but to have my confidence thatheavy that I could take the some
of the most complex musicalarrangements ever known to man a
(43:24):
lot of them done by QuincyJones too and actually sing
those songs and make them my own, came from an enormous amount
of confidence that came fromthis person who saw bigger
things in me than I saw myselfWow, you know, and made me
believe it.
So if there's anything that I'mdoing, I don't care what it is.
(43:45):
You know, sting is my guy.
That's the guy I'll do it with,100%.
He's the person I'm mostcomfortable with.
We're going to laugh about it.
We're going to tell each otherwhen we're wrong.
You know, it's that easy.
Speaker 2 (44:02):
Wow, if this guy played bass guitar, I'd say the
same thing, right?
Speaker 3 (44:05):
If he was a bass tenor, I might have told him
something.
I might have told him somethingonce or twice.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Wow, this has been first of all.
This has been an absolute honor, shaggy, to have you, but all
of our guests from season oneand beyond know that when we end
every episode of Beyond thePlate, we always end on a
positive note.
We end on a positive note.
(44:33):
Shaggy, you're going to get thelast word on this positive note
.
I want to go back to Rise Again.
The lyrics from Rise Again.
Tragedy showed and came to giveus a chance to show that we
really cared.
If you were to rewrite thislyric it shouldn't be hard.
You write four songs in one dayYou're going to rewrite one
(44:55):
lyric for us tonight.
Fifteen years later after theearthquake, haiti still has
great needs families andcommunities.
If you were to rewrite thelyric for 2025, tragedy showed
and came to give us a chance toshow that we really cared.
What would you share with thepeople of Haiti right now?
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Well, it's hard to rewrite something because that
was in the moment and I'm not abig fan of rewrites, to be
honest with you but I think whatwe need to do, based on the
situations we sometimes forget.
Like life moves on andespecially in today's generation
(45:36):
, where social media is, there'salways something else to take
you off of what's important.
You know, it's the distraction,so to speak.
I think what I would do iswrite a lyric speaking about
(45:58):
staying focused on what is theimportant thing and not being
distracted.
Distraction is the biggestthing that's going to get us in
this day and age, because you'regoing to have all kinds of
narrative coming at you that youdon't even know what to believe
.
These days we're seeing it withAI, we're seeing it with
(46:20):
everything You're not going toknow what the truth is, and the
only way you know what the truthis is unless you stay focused
on what it is.
It's boots on the ground.
That's what it is.
There's nothing you can.
You cannot tell me what's goingon in Haiti.
I'll have to go there and feelit myself.
I'll have to research it andsee it, because that's going to
(46:44):
be the hardest one time.
You could be just like oh mygod, let's do this, you know,
and then you have everything isa scammer, everything is this,
everything is that.
So it makes it hard forsomebody who really wants to
help when there's so many peopletrying to scam their way into
something else.
So I think at this point is Iwould rewrite it to where don't
(47:09):
be distracted, faced, putyourself into the situation and
go seek it.
And that's kind of how I viewanything that I get into now.
I, you research it and go at itand trying to feel it.
Like I always said, there'smusic, you hear music.
You feel anybody could soundgood.
(47:29):
Um, you know, just based on, on, uh, how you, how you feel, you
know, you know we could makeyou sing.
You know, just from technology,make you sound better than in
(47:50):
the shower.
You know what I mean.
We could do that.
But can I make you feel it?
You know, feel, come from.
Know, feel come from struggle,come from pain, come from
passion, come from I writing andsinging, something that makes
you believe what I'm saying andlive what I'm saying, and that I
(48:16):
see so many artists, especiallyinternet artists, or take
talkers that make records at ourcatchphrase records, but the
message is lost.
It's just it sounds good, butyou can't feel it.
And everything you do you gottago feel it and for me, where
Hedy's concerned, it's gotta bethat situation where you go feel
(48:39):
and and us trying to promote itto people.
We have to do things to makethem feel it.
You can't just promote what'sgoing on in haiti by just
reporting it.
You got to find a creative wayto tap in to make people feel it
.
You know I, you remember whenthey uh, what was it?
What was that?
(49:00):
Is that sarah mcclachlan song,right?
Speaker 2 (49:06):
away sad puppy eyes.
You, you.
If you don't shed a tear,something's wrong with you.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Dude, let me tell you something.
Exactly just like you know, andafter you've given us a couple
of times, you're like alright,yeah, and it plays again, it
pulls.
You have to find things to makeyou feel it, and that's what
needs to happen.
You have to tap into somethingthat you feel.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
So that's the best I can give you at this point that
is the best, because that's nota positive word for the episode,
that is a positive word forthis new year 2025.
Shaggy, we are honored to haveyou on our.
That is the best, becausethat's not a positive word for
the episode, that is a positiveword for this new year 2025.
Shaggy, we are honored to haveyou on our podcast.
We're honored to know you andto be a part of what you're a
part of.
God bless you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Thank you, man.
Keep doing the good work, man.
Food for the poor has alwaysbeen great.
Thanks, sir.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
Fist bump, shaggy Fist bump.
Fist bump, shaggy fist bump.
All right, big fist bump yeahappreciate it, thank you you
(50:24):
just went beyond the plate.
Don't miss out on a chance tomake a real difference.
Folks follow us on instagramand tiktok at beyond the plate
podcast and subscribe to ouryoutube channel.
Stay connected by texting bestbite to 51555.
Speaker 2 (50:30):
You're gonna get a cool link and we look forward to
having you with us on the nextepisode of beyond the plate.
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