Shaggy Wants to Be Tough Act for Backstreets to Follow
Source: Wall of Sound
The Backstreet
Boys better look
over their shoulders
this summer;
Shaggy plans to put
a little heat on them.
"I'm going to go out
there and whup
some ass," says
the reggae-pop star,
who will be
supporting the Boys on a summer North
American tour that kicks off June 8 in Orlando,
Fla. He has the goods to do it, too; an album,
Hot Shot, that's spent seven non-consecutive
weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts, thanks to
the hits "It Wasn't Me" and "Angel." With a fourth
single, "Freaky Girl," set to drop next month,
Shaggy will certainly be a force to be reckoned
with.
"I understand that, hey, this is their show. I'm the
support act. But I'm going to be one hell of a
support act," he says. "It's going to be very
energetic, in true Shaggy fashion. I'm hoping to
go out there and give them some pressure so
that they can go out there and whup some ass
even better, because I like them guys."
Really?
"Yeah. I actually like them better than all those
boy and girl bands for the simple fact that I've
known them since 1992, man. I remember in
1992 in Birmingham, England, they opened for
me, and I remember going through Europe and
seeing these guys do malls and their little
routines when it was a handful of people in front
of them. If anybody worked for this shit and
deserves it, they do. 'N Sync and Christina
Aguilera and all, they just came in on the
coattails, man; these boys broke the damn thing
open. They certainly deserve everything, and I
respect them for that."
Shaggy however, does note that "I don't own a
Backstreet album � or an 'N Sync album or any
of them, because that's not my style of thing. But
I respect them for what they do; they bust ass,
man, and they can sing." � Gary Graff