Shaggy has stunned fans by using his real voice in a new interview, admitting he played up his Jamaican accent during his singing career.
The 55-year-old rapper (born Orville Richard Burrell) was born in Kingston, Jamaica, but moved to New York City with his mother when he turned 18.
He shared part of a new interview on his website TikTok over the weekend, surprising many fans who had never heard his “real” voice before.
Shaggy also revealed the history behind his famous accent, which he developed to mock his drill instructors.
“I got this vote by making fun of drill instructors in the military. Because in the Marines the drill instructors were like, “Yeah boy, drop it and give me a twenty, let’s go,” he said, in the voice he used on hits like Boombastic.
Shaggy has stunned fans by using his real voice in a new interview, admitting he played up his Jamaican accent during his singing career
The 55-year-old rapper (born Orville Richard Burrell) was born in Kingston, Jamaica, but moved to New York City with his mother when he turned 18.
He shared part of a new interview on his TikTok last weekend, surprising many fans who had never heard his “real” voice before
“And I would mock him as a form of joke, because it motivated your platoon,” he admitted.
He added, “I just sang that song in that voice because, you know, that… it sounded cool,” referring to his first major hit, Oh Carolina, which became a dancehall hit in 1993.
“Oh Carolina blew up and now I’m faced with the situation of having to sing every song like this,” he admitted.
The rapper added that other songs from his 1993 debut album Pure Pleasure, such as Big Up and Mampie, are “sung in a different voice than Oh Carolina,” adding that it’s “not the same tone.”
Many fans on TikTok were quite shocked, including a fan named DJ who commented on the video, “So we’re all hearing a rough, real voice for the first time?”
Another fan named Nick said, “That’s the voice of Shaggy’s government???” while another TikTok user dubbed, “Uh uhh” and said, “Shaggy was military, declares it wasn’t me.”
Sarcastic Kitty added: ‘Not Shaggy gas lighting us up all these years,’ while pinacolada3040 added: ‘WAIT!!! Shaggy HAS NO ACCENT.”
Elle Michelle added: ‘Damn Shaggy actually said ‘it wasn’t me’ while Meliss said ‘shaggy’s real voice. had no idea!!’
“Oh Carolina blew up and now I’m faced with the situation of having to sing every song like this,” he admitted.
The rapper added that other songs from his 1993 debut album Pure Pleasure, such as Big Up and Mampie, are “sung in a different voice than Oh Carolina,” adding that it’s “not the same tone.”
Many fans on TikTok were quite shocked, including a fan named DJ who commented on the video, “So we’re all hearing a rough, real voice for the first time?”
Billie added: ‘Wow I thought shaggy was from Jamaica all the time lol (although he was really born in Kingston, Jamaica) while Gemini vs Gemini added: ‘I’m more shocked that shaggy has no accent at all than the robustness of the musical voice.’
NNRZGD added, “Damn never knew rough voice sounded like that,” while Monty said, “I knew Shaggy was a Marine but I expected his speaking voice to be RRRICE AND PEAS.”
Shaggy has been nominated for seven Grammy Awards and won two, both for Best Reggae Album in 1996 for Boombastic and again in 2019 for 44/876 with Sting.
He has released sixteen studio albums, most recently Com Fli Wid Me in 2022, although it is unclear whether he is working on new music or not.