“Angel” is more for the ladies, but it still has that seductive charm.
It’s like the sequel to “Boombastic,” which shows your player side. That made me realize we had a special record. I ended up finishing the second verse and the bridge with RikRok. I was like, “Wow, that’s dope.” We ended up just flipping the words and making it cooler by saying “Peeps” and “Shorty.” That was the slang that was going on at the time. While we were playing it, RikRok actually walked in singing that melody. As far as the Juice part, myself and Dave Kelly had already written one verse. It just had that groove that made you want to put your arms around it. So that bass - doom-doom, do-do-doom-doom - is actually a reggae bassline even though it’s from a rock song. He actually made a suggestion of interpolating Steve Miller Band’s. How did you stumble upon it?ĭJ Paul, who used to play at the Club Illusion in Brooklyn, was a really good friend with my longtime producer Sting International. I didn’t realize that “Angel” interpolates Juice Newton’s 1981 cover of “Angel of the Morning”. The conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. And a lot of people don’t want to do put that work in.”īelow, Shaggy speaks to Billboard about his memories from 2001, his legacy, and sparking a Michael Jackson meme. There’s no reason you’re not taking the reins - it just takes work. “It’s a wide-open field now, so you don’t have the gatekeepers I used to have in my time. Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Drake, all these people are tapping into it. “If you look at the history of it, from reggaéton, hip-hop and Afrobeat, all of that came from dancehall. Magic in the Chaos: How Christina Aguilera, Mya, Baz Luhrmann & More Revived ‘Lady Marmalade&rsquo… 1 in Billboard Hot 100 history.īoth hits remain pop culture staples 21 years later: “Angel” is still a go-to for wedding playlists and was performed by Shaggy with a contestant on American Idol in 2019, while “It Wasn’t Me” doubles as references in political and lawsuit commentary, was interpolated on Liam Payne’s 2017 “Strip That Down” debut, sampled on Anuel AA’s “China” in 2019, and most recently reimagined for a Cheetos Super Bowl LV commercial starring Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Shaggy himself. The single also followed Aaliyah’s 2000 “Try Again” as the second non-retail release to reach No. 1 on the Hot 100 and topped the charts in 11 other countries. A month later, “Angel” followed it to No. 2001, as well as the U.K.’s best-selling single of that year, and a Grammy nominee for best pop collaboration with vocals. Inspired by Eddie Murphy’s 1987 Raw comedy special, “It Wasn’t Me” became Shaggy’s first Billboard Hot 100-topper in Feb. Featured on his multi-platinum-certified fifth album Hot Shot (which got a 20th-anniversary re-release with updated tracks last July), they were released at the end of Y2K, but dominated the charts the following year. The 100 Greatest Songs of 2001: Staff Picksīut 2001 became Shaggy’s c career when two singles - “It Wasn’t Me” featuring Ricardo “RikRok” Ducent and “Angel” with Rayvon - catapulted him from bubbling Jamaican export to global star.