Boombastic

Orville Richard Burrell grew up in Kingston, Jamaica. He moved to Brooklyn to start his music career when he was eighteen. He joined the United States Marine Corps and served in the Gulf War. He used the downtime to write songs. The stage name he performed under was Shaggy. In America that word meant something benign. In Britain it meant something else entirely. When he found out, he built a character around it. His UK breakthrough came in 1993 with a cover of “Oh Carolina.” The original was recorded by the Folkes Brothers in 1960. His version went to number one in the United Kingdom. The character and the comedy had found an audience. America was next.

“Boombastic” is built on a sample from “Baby Let Me Kiss You.” The original was recorded by King Floyd in 1971. Floyd was a New Orleans soul singer. Shaggy worked on the song with the dancehall producer Robert Livingston. Several remixes were released. The one in the video is the Sting/Shaggy remix. It is a slower version that replaces the King Floyd sample with a loop from Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” The “Sting” in that credit is Shaun Pizzonia. He produces under the name Sting International. Not the one from the Police. “Boombastic” is not a word in any dictionary. It sits next to “bombastic.” Highly exaggerated for dramatic effect. Going over the top was not an accident. It was the whole idea.

A Levi’s claymation commercial broke the song in America. It ran constantly through the summer of 1995. “Boombastic” reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 in the United Kingdom. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 1996. Then Virgin Records dropped Shaggy. His third album, Midnite Lover, had not found an audience. He signed to MCA and came back in 2000 with Hot Shot. It reached number 1 in America and sold over six million copies in the United States. “It Wasn’t Me” and “Angel” were the singles. Released July 11, 1995. In 2001 he sold more albums than Bob Marley did during his entire lifetime.