Shaggy’s ‘Early In the Morning’ Goes Platinum
Early In the Morning, a collaboration Dancehall megastar Shaggy recorded with Dutch dance-pop trio Kris Kross Amsterdam and English singer-songwriter Conor Maynard, and which samples elements of Jimmy Cliff’s mega-hit song Reggae Nights, has struck platinum.
Shaggy made the revelation on Instagram in a video this morning as he unveiled the gold certification plaque for the track, and indicated that the platinum plaque was to be delivered soon.
“I ain’t no DJ Khaled but there ain’t no shame in my game when I can say … another one! Big up, here we go! This is a gold award… no it’s actually platinum so I’m waiting on the platinum award to come,” he explained.
“Big up to everyone who was involved with this. Of course, Grant who engineered this project for us. Big up to Assailant who collaborated with me and help me write it. And all the guys over there at Spinning Records who are doing a great job. All the fans who keep us going and still streaming and getting gold records so thanks to the fans as without the fans we are nothing,” Shaggy said.
The Rae Town native then noted: “Congratulations to @kriskrossamsterdam @conormaynard on this good award…(now platinum) thank to spinning records, @cherrytreerec @ranchent, @grantvalentine_ @assailant_alliance and the fans for making this one epic!! 🙏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾”.
Just over a week ago, Kris Kross Amsterdam had thanked Shaggy and Conor wholeheartedly, after the song marked another major accomplishment by surpassing 40 million streams.
“40 MILLION STREAMS & COUNTING!!! First of all we want to say thank you to @direalshaggy & @conormaynard for being a part of this record. Secondly, we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who listened to and supported “Early in the morning. Love all the support from you guys❤”.
On Apple Music, Kriss Kross Amsterdam is described as a group that produces feel-good songs for summer pool parties, “often by incorporating hooks from ’90s and early-’00s pop and R&B hits”.
The group was started by brothers Jordy and Sander Huisman and later blossomed into a trio after they were joined by MC Yuki (Yuki Kempees) in 2014. The trio now specialises in fusion music spanning several genres, among them, funk, soul, pop, and hip hop.
The group’s name is also an homage to American rappers Kriss Kross, known for their hit Jump, which also featured a re-mix with Super Cat.
Kris Kross Amsterdam scored an international hit in 2016 with their second single, Sex, a collaboration with Cheat Codes which interpolated the hook from Salt-n-Pepa’s 1991 hit “Let’s Talk About Sex”.
According to Apple, that single charted in at least 20 countries and went quadruple platinum in Sweden following which they collaborated with Conor Maynard and Ty Dolla $ign feature on their third single, “Are You Sure?” which became another international hit and the first in a string of Maynard collabs.
The instrumentals of Jimmy Cliff’s Reggae Night can be heard at intervals during the bouncy Early in the morning track.
Reggae Nights was recorded by Cliff in 1983 and was the biggest hit track from his The Power and the Glory album. It was released by CBS/Columbia Records in the Unoted States, Canada and Mexico and in most European countries.
The song was written by Amir Bayyan and Michael Jackson’s sister LaToya Jackson.
Jackson also covered the song for her 1991 album No Relations.
Jimmy Cliff’s version peaked at number 89 on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart as well as topped Jamaican music charts. It also entered several European tables as well as Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.
The new certification comes on the heels of the Brit Certified Silver accreditation of Shaggy’s I Need Your Love, a collaboration with Romanian singer/producer Costi Ioniță, Congolese-Swedish singer Mohombi, and Lebanese-Australian singer Faydee.
I Need Your Love was issued by the Silver the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in October after it sold over 200,000 copies in the UK.