HEAR THIS: Shaggy & Tarrus Riley “Just Another Girl”

Brand New Music From Shaggy’s Upcoming Album Summer In Kingston

This Saturday in Kingston, they’ll be blocking off the streets for Shaggy’s album release party and the premiere of his new video for the single “Sugar Cane.” You’ve already heard that catchy summer-time scorcher, but we’ve got the exclusive preview of the extra-heavy lead cut off Summer In Kingston, his 8-track strickly digital release, which drops July 19th.

The tune is called “Just Another Girl” featuring the great Tarrus Riley. Singy Singy reprises a classic Ken Boothe hook—with its haunting contradiction of trying to get over a girl while you’re still singing about her—and the DJ’s skills are on point as usual. You can front on Shaggy if you like, but reggae’s biggest living hit-maker just keeps knockin’ them out the park. Run that…

[audio:https://www.boomshots.com/tunes/JustAnotherGirlSHAGGYwTaurusRileyBoomshotsdotcom.mp3]

Sound familiar? Some of you original raggamuffin soldiers might be itching to hear that 1971 version with U-Roy and Ken Boothe.

Full track listing for the “Summer In Kingston” digital release, available 7/19/11:

1.    Just Another Girl feat. Tarrus Riley

2.    Sugarcane

3.    Dame

4.    Feeling Alive feat. Agent Sasco

5.    End of the World (Drink Up’)

6.    Soldiers Story feat. Jaiden

7.    Fired Up

8.    The Only One (Lie To Me) feat. Jaiden

Just in case you can’t make it to Kingston this weekend, here’s the official ad from the Gleaner. Shaggy will be joined by Assassin and the Big Ship family. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few unexpected guests pop up at this big release event in the streets of New Kingston.

Shaggy wants the “Sugar Cane” video to showcase what he calls the “splendidness” of Jamaica. “Remember the days when Dennis Brown and Gregory Isaacs and Peter Tosh made revolutionary music, but it wasn’t scary,” he said during a recent interview with Boomshots.com. Although he’s a fan of dancehall, Shaggy says the genre has been in a state of crisis because the fans aren’t buying it and corporate sponsors are reluctant to be associated with it.

“There’s a lot of stagnancy,” Shaggy admits. “But on the flip side you have guys like Slighty Stoopid and Bruno Mars playing Jamaican music and winning. Jimmy Buffet is doing what reggae artists should be doing. This is the direction that I’m gonna take, but I’m gonna do it from Jamaica.”

Born in Jamaica, Shaggy moved to Brooklyn as a teen. After joining the Marines and serving in Operation Desert Storm, he returned to New York and began pursuing a music career. After he achieved international fame, he built a studio in Jamaica and began spending more time in the land of his birth. Now under new management, Shaggy is going hard to represent the music the way it should be, and giving back to Jamaica with his annual “Shaggy and Friends” benefit concert to support Bustamante Children’s Hospital.

“It’s been a tough year here,” he says. “And remember I live here. But I want people to know this is the place you can come and hang out and enjoy yourself. We need to get that back into the corporate mind and into the mainstream mind. That’s the whole concept behind the title ‘Summer in Kingston.’ It’s a bold step, but I’ve always been bold. It’s not a safe step that is needed to incite change. It’s a risky one. And I’ve just gotta be that risk-taker.”