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Shaggy makes album for the ladies
(CNN) -- Ask Shaggy who coined the offensive phrase "a woman's place is in the kitchen" and he'll tell you: "It wasn't me!" No, sir. Listen to his latest album, "Lucky Day," and you'll learn that these days reggae's New York loverboy is all about paying homage to the ladies and lifting their spirits. "We just dedicated the whole album to women," Shaggy told CNN's The Music Room in a recent interview. "When I analyze my whole life and what has happened, women have played a very important part." Album tracks like "Strength of a Woman" and "Full Control" preach love and liberation, while on the first single, "Hey Sexy Lady," Shaggy shows his wild side. Jamaica-born Shaggy (real name Orville Richard Burrell) burst onto the international music scene in 1993 with the smash hit, "Oh Carolina."
Since his 2000 release, "Hotshot," which spawned radio-winning hits "It Wasn't Me" and "Angel," he has toured the globe extensively and started a record company, Big Yard Music Group. He's also collected a plethora of awards, winning the 2002 Brit Award for "Best International Male" in February as well as being named "Best Selling Male Artist," "Best Selling R&B Male Artist" and "Best Selling American Artist" at the 2002 World Music Awards in Monaco in March. "Lucky Day," which Shaggy co-produced, hits stores October 29. He gave TMR the skinny on the album:
TMR: Where have you been these past two years? Your fans have been missing you. Shaggy: I've been in the studio. I've been doing a lot of touring worldwide. We're fortunate to have had success, not just in America, but worldwide. We sold 10 million (albums) worldwide, so that's a whole lot of fans and a whole lot of concerts to do. But we just completed the album, "Lucky Day," and I'm very pleased with the outcome of this album. TMR: Tell us about it. Shaggy: "Lucky Day" is what I would call the Shaggy roller-coaster ride. It takes you to different moods. I listen to music in moods. If I'm in the mood for a party -- and it depends on the kind of party you're throwing -- you might put on some Busta Rhyme and you get that party all hyped. The album brings you to that kind of vibe. It gives you mood swings. If it wasn't called "Lucky Day" a great name for it would be "Mood Swings" because it puts you in a different mood all the time. TMR: What songs on "Lucky Day" do you enjoy performing live? Shaggy: "Strength of a Woman" is always a crowd favorite, despite the fact that no one has ever heard it really. But it always gets a great response. I think I'm very passionate about that because that was the very first song I wrote for the album. We just kind of dedicated the whole album to women and the uplifting of women. When I analyze my whole life and what has happened, women have played a very important part. I'm from a single-parent family. My mom is like my mom and dad. She's my world. So (this album is) just me paying homage to ladies all around. TMR: Do you like performing live? Shaggy: I think the reason I got into the music business was basically for the live aspect of it. I never planned on doing this. The main thing was the fact that I can't really do anything else! Have you ever seen me kick a ball? It's not pretty. I just know how to write, I know how to make music and I did it as a hobby. Who would have thought it would be 10 million records later on? The live aspect: that's the high. You do it and it's unlike any high that you have ever had. If I get that every night, I'm pleased. TMR: What does Jamaica mean to you? Shaggy: Jamaica is home. I was born and raised there. I have a home there, but I like to call myself an international man of the world. I'm a "global resident" so to speak. I think we all should look at the world like that. The whole world is one big yard. Jamaica is a yard, so I like to think of the world as a yard. But Jamaica is home and that's where you get that soul from and that's where the spirit comes from and my people are there.
TMR: There's something you're trying to project to the world that is very Jamaican. What is that? Shaggy: I just want to bring the culture to the world. And it's hard to bring this culture to the world because a lot of people don't understand it. We just want to be a force to be reckoned with. There are people who have done that way before me: Bob Marley, of course, Peter Tosh and people like Jimmy Cliff, who was the great influence on me. I could only carry on the tradition and do it my way. There's no way I could do it like Bob Marley or Peter Tosh, because those guys have perfected it. There's nothing I can do to make it better. So I basically have to do it my way. Back to The Music Room main page.
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My mom is my world. This is just me paying homage to ladies all around. 
