Shaggy Says It’s An Honor To ‘Fly The Dancehall Flag’ At Super Bowl LV

Reggae/Dancehall superstar Shaggy says it’s an honor to represent Dancehall music at the upcoming Super Bowl LV.   The Jamaican singer joins Hollywood couple Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher on Cheetos’ minute-long Super Bowl LV commercial, titled It Wasn’t Me, which will air during the third quarter at Super Bowl LV on Sunday (February 7).

Speaking with Billboard Magazine, Shaggy discussed the impact Jamaican music and culture has had on the world and his own contributions to the genres.   He told Billboard that he felt honored to represent original Dancehall on a global platform such as the Super Bowl.

“I’ve always flown the dancehall flag for my culture and my country. And to be put in this position once more, again, is an honor,” he said.  “And any little leg up that we could get to move the culture forward I’m 100% for.”

Asked if he believed Dancehall culture would get a moment during the Cheetos commercial, Shaggy said “I hope it’s a step. It’s an amazing platform. I hope to do it justice.”

“It’s great for this platform to educate people on the significance of the Jamaican culture and dancehall culture and popular music,” the Angel singer added.

The Grammy Award-winning artist said it was important that people know the significance of Jamaican culture and its influence over Reggaetón, Afrobeats, and Hip Hop.

“A lot of people see different styles of music coming up. When you look at reggaetón, [before] reggaetón comes dancehall. Those are things that people need to know,” Shaggy said.

“I was at Erasmus Hall when El General created the first reggaetón record. We went to school together. I’m on one bench and he was on one desk, and we were spitting lyrics. And to see this art form, that he took dancehall records and sang them in Spanish and then created what is now reggaetón, to see it being this multimillion-dollar entity, it’s amazing. When you look at Afrobeats, I remember going to Africa for years. … Dancehall was the main music played in a lot of these countries. And when you listen to Afrobeats, it’s also a birth child of what dancehall was.”

“So it’s great for this platform to educate people on the significance of the Jamaican culture and dancehall culture and popular music. Hip-hop itself came from Kool Herc, originated out of Jamaica. This small island with about 3 million people has an amazing impact culturally, globally. And it should be celebrated and at least people should be educated on it. So I’ll use this platform to do that,” Shaggy explained.

On his breakthrough hit song, It Wasn’t Me which featured Ricardo “RikRok” Ducent, Shaggy told Billboard, “this song took me on an amazing ride 20 years ago, and it’s still doing some amazing stuff.”

The track, which appeared on his Hot Shot album, is Shaggy’s highest-charting song to date. To celebrate its 20th-anniversary last year, he released Hot Shot 2020 which included updated versions of the biggest hits from the album.