Shaggy listed his kings, paused, grinned, and quietly slipped his own name onto the list. “Beenie Man is a king. Kartel is a king. Shabba is a king,” he told DJ Mr Famous on Roadblock Radio’s Island Mix, before adding, “I’m a king.”
The clip spread fast across social media, carried by one line: “There’s no one king for a genre.” It’s a neat way to sidestep one of dancehall’s oldest arguments, and an even neater way to make sure nobody leaves him out of it.
His picks come with receipts. Shabba Ranks won back to back Grammys in the early ’90s, Beenie Man took his in 2001 for Art and Life, and Vybz Kartel stayed the genre’s most discussed voice through years in prison before his release in 2024.
Shaggy’s own claim rests on Boombastic, It Wasn’t Me and a Grammy shelf that includes 44/876, his 2019 reggae album with Sting. Mr Famous said the answer “started a big discussion,” which tracks in a genre where the crown has been fought over for decades and plenty of fans believe a title only counts if one person holds it.
The conversation also turned to how younger listeners measure the past. As Mr Famous recalled it, the warning was blunt: “Not because it wasn’t on Instagram didn’t mean it didn’t happen. There’s a lot of grounds that was made before you were where you’re at.”
Shaggy touched on Spice’s recording deal too, and on the grind of his early years. “When I started, there was no radio station that played dancehall or reggae,” he said. “There’s no reggae budget. I realised that I was in the underground, so I had to work 10 times harder with 10 times less budget, 10 times less sleep, and make my records 10 times better.”
That’s the bigger story hiding behind the viral moment. Every Sunday from 7 p.m. to midnight, Power 96 Miami hands five hours to the Island Mix, packed with reggae, dancehall, soca, konpa, Afrobeats and the classics on a mainstream American station.
Miguel ‘Mijo’ Irizarry, the station’s brand manager and PM Drive host, told The Gleaner that Caribbean music has shaped South Florida’s identity for over 20 years. “Our throwback shift highlights the ’90s and ’00s tracks that defined South Florida,” he said. “The Island Mix brings those authentic roots back to our dial, making Sunday nights a natural extension of our throwback sound.”
Irizarry sees the partnership with Roadblock Radio CEO Kacy Rankine as a bridge between corporate broadcasting and the community itself. For Mr Famous, loyalty starts with respecting what the music carries. “Dancehall, reggae, and soca are connected to memories, family, home, and culture,” he said.
He wants listeners in South Florida, New York, Jamaica and beyond to feel that pull every time the show goes live. “When I say, ‘This is DJ Mr Famous.
This is Roadblock Radio,’ I’m proud of what that represents,” he said, and with Shaggy’s crown comments still circulating, the next guest in that chair will likely be asked to name a king of their own.
