Beyond The Plate – A Podcast by Food For The Poor
Food isn't just delicious... it can also change your life! Tune into Beyond the Plate, a new podcast presented by International Charity: Food For The Poor. Get inspired with conversations that nourish the soul. Hear amazing stories of transformation from faith influencers, leaders in the nonprofit sector, and the individuals receiving aid in the 15 countries of Latin America that Food For The Poor serves.
Beyond The Plate – A Podcast by Food For The Poor
Ep.14 - International Recording Artist Shaggy: Music, Generosity & Transformation
What if kindness could transform a community and save countless lives? What if that compassion turned into a movement that spanned decades? Join us on an inspiring journey with the legendary reggae and dancehall recording artist, Shaggy. He shares his remarkable story of generosity and the profound impact of his charitable initiatives with fellow superstar musicians. From humble beginnings in Jamaica, to international stardom, Shaggy's journey is not just about musical success but a testament to using his platform to uplift others. Through Shaggy’s inspiring stories, explore his unwavering commitment to making a difference, including his significant contributions to the Bustamante Children's Hospital and producing a star-studded song, ‘RISE AGAIN’ bringing relief to those affected in the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, featuring artists like fellow Jamaican Recording Artists Tessanne Chin (Season 5 Winner of NBC’s The Voice) and Sean Paul (Award Winning Reggae & Dancehall Superstar). Fifteen years since the release of ‘RISE AGAIN’, Shaggy continues to support causes that uplift the human spirit and transform lives.
This episode takes you on an exploration of Shaggy's life, highlighting his deep friendship with, the musical legend, Sting and how it shaped him personally and professionally. Listening to Shaggy's compassion, he reveals a side of him that balances professional triumphs with personal fulfillment. Through music and humanitarian efforts, Shaggy leaves a lasting positive impact on those around him.
As we remember the lives impacted by the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, we invite you to connect with us on this journey of spreading positivity and generosity. With a humanitarian spirit and gratitude, Shaggy emphasizes the importance of supporting organizations like Food for the Poor and how, together, we can make a real difference.
Support Haiti: foodforthepoor.org/haiti15anniversary
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Beyond The Plate is a podcast by international charity, Food For The Poor
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If I'm ever in the position to help them, I would. And then a hot shot happened and we sold 10 million records, had a ton of money, and we were just like, okay, I just walked into the hospital with a check I don't know if it was like $150,000 or something like that. I just walked in with the check and then the hospital administrator says what is this? I said this is for you guys. I'm going to the hospital. He was like don't you know? It's like, are you sure? Like yeah, anyway, I did the check.
Speaker 1:And then, you know, months afterwards, the anesthesiologist there came, who was kind of around the place, called me and was like yo Shaq, come and let me show you what your check did. And he's showing me we bought this, we bought, and he's just showing me all these things. And it really motivated me. At that point I was like, wow, really yeah. He said, since this machine came, we saved these amount of lives. Since this machine came, we saved these amount of life. And I was just like blown away because I'm like I just bought a car that was three times that.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. Welcome to Beyond the Plate. I'm Paul Jacobs, where food is more than just a meal. It's a powerful way to connect, inspire and transform we call it Tertulia, a gathering where bonds are formed and stories are shared. Get ready to dive into real stories that inspire, challenge and nourish the soul.
Speaker 3:I'm Daniel Patino, inviting you to join our Tertulia and explore how food and connection can truly transform lives.
Speaker 2:Let's go Beyond the Plate.
Speaker 3:All right, welcome back to another episode of Beyond the Plate Season two that's right season two. That's right. I almost just went straight through the intro. They renewed our contract. They renewed our contract. They renewed our contract. Just want to celebrate that out in the open.
Speaker 2:I just had to say that before you introduce us, just in case they switch hosts, you know, like in mid-season or something like Darren's and B-Wish. That's right, or?
Speaker 3:Fresh Prince when they switched out the mom. Yeah, nobody noticed. Nobody noticed, but I'm still Daniel Patino. I'm Paul Jacobs and this is Beyond the Plate and, as we usually start off the episode, I like to play a little game. Let's call it. Was it me? Okay, all right, so, uh, paul, first question for you yeah, sure, how about that? Have you sold more than 40 million albums units to date? Oh, no, no, no, wasn't me, wasn't you? Okay? Um ian uh, did you land eight singles on the billboard hot, 107 albums on the billboard 200? It wasn't me, he said it wasn't him.
Speaker 1:It wasn't him either.
Speaker 3:Okay, ben, let's see Ben, this one has to be him. Ben, were you winner of best reggae album at the 61st annual Grammy Awards? Ben's a band leader. Yeah, like here, it wasn't me.
Speaker 2:It wasn't him either. Okay, well, danny, I got one for you. All right, have you recorded on the Super Bowl 40 commercial spot? That was the highest rated Super Bowl ad in history.
Speaker 3:Let me think about that for a second. I have to remember Nope, it wasn't me. It wasn't me either.
Speaker 2:It wasn't you All right. Well, guess what? As you all know who, that really was our first guest on season two, our season premiere.
Speaker 3:welcome to Beyond the Plate Shaggy Otter no more.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes. International music reggae dance hall superstar Shaggy Welcome.
Speaker 1:Thank you, man. It's glad to be talking to people that's employed, yes.
Speaker 2:We don't know for how long after that intro.
Speaker 1:I hear the ticker.
Speaker 3:I hear the ticker. I hear the ticker.
Speaker 1:Hey, I didn't even realize that they actually switched out the Fresh Prince mom until you just said it.
Speaker 3:Yes, vivian, her mom was switched out and I mean that's something you can look up, but I mean it switched up for the better.
Speaker 1:I was like wait, wait. They switched the mom out Wait.
Speaker 3:I might have to go do my reruns right now to find out, and I love it. This is how we share fun around here on Beyond the Plate, and as we share fun on every episode, we usually like to take it a little in a different direction now. Now, if we took the time to list all your accolades, shaggy I mean all the awards and all the milestones I would have to put some more money in the meter outside, yeah, and we'd probably have to extend the episode for another hour or two. But but on the real, all those successes and awards are all in the view here at food for the poor. This is how we look at it. It's a means to an end, right? So, yeah, you are a musician. You are a musician in costume, though, because the real shaggy is proven to be a humanitarian. All right, shaggy, are you trying to leave this world better than you found it? Is that what you're trying to do?
Speaker 1:I think, I think we all are, I, I would imagine, and if we, if we're not thinking like that, then something is wrong with us, especially if you come from humble beginnings. You know, I'm, I'm from, I'm from riatone in kingston it's a little fishing village, uh, in in downtown kingston. And when you look around and see, you know, when you pinch yourself a little bit and be like, wow, look, look, what I've accomplished, you know I've, I've had the opportunity to uplift my family and kind of change the cycle, the generational cycle of my whole family. And I have a niece just got a full scholarship to uh, you know, to princeton. And you know, I seen all. You know she was the first person in my whole family to go to college, you know, I mean, I mean all of these things. You know, when I'm sitting there getting an honorary degree from brown, when you're when you're sitting there, and when you look across you see Nancy Pelosi and all these people that's receiving it, you're like yo, dude, what am I doing here, you know?
Speaker 1:So I think we all kind of do what we do based on gratitude, you, and just being lucky that we could, we were, because I, I look at ourselves, I look, I certainly look at myself and I think we all are just servants, right? You know, we're all servants here, uh, and we were all given a tool to serve, and my tool is through music, and everyone else has their tool, and, and you do your best in service up until it's time that you have done your service in this open and you're taking, you know, when I I'm on tour and I look there's. You know, we did a tour last summer when it was about three, uh, three to four hundred people that were stage handlers, truck drivers, riggers, security, concession stands, people. I'm like that's 300 electric bills, school fees, mortgages, yes, all because I decided to sing these songs and this rock, and so I look at it as being bigger than me.
Speaker 1:When people's like, oh yeah, you know, you're great, you wrote it, it wasn't me. I'm like, dude, let me tell you something. I did not write it, it wasn't me. I might have physically wrote it, but you know, but that was ordained through me. Listen, if I could come up with that, I'd be doing one every week. Yes, oh yeah, that's ordained through. Oh yeah, as with gratitude and also as part of me being a servant. So me doing philanthropic work is part of my service and that's how I kind of break. That's how I break it down and partnering with Food for the Poor is it fits, because it's Jamaican. I love Robin from, yeah, and I know where it's coming from and I have a platform that I can use and they do great work and we kind of work hand in hand, so it's wonderful.
Speaker 3:And we love Robin too.
Speaker 1:We love Robin too.
Speaker 3:And we love Robin too because it's one of those.
Speaker 2:Was it the?
Speaker 3:Kevin Bacon, the 70 degrees or 60 degrees, six degrees, I forget the degrees, but it's how we communicate and how we get together as a community and it's brought, you know, the beyond the plate to Shaggy, and Shaggy has brought you to our audience and I call him. Robin.
Speaker 2:Hood, robin Hood. That's good, that's right, that's excellent.
Speaker 3:But, uh, but, shaggy, you're not only a multi-award winning songwriter and hit maker right now, you've also used your platform, like you just explained to us, to strengthen your community and homeland. And, uh, back in 2009, you established the shaggy make a difference foundation, uh, which was of first of many foundations. Also, shaggy and friends benefit concerts wait, wait, shaggy kids, shaggy kids, right? I mean, the list goes on. Uh, and you've raised millions for the busamante children's hospital, the, the Caribbean's only English-speaking children's hospital that's located in the heart of Jamaica, in Kingston. And you've also been quoted, shaggy. I've always tried to bring the fun when I'm performing and keep everything very lighthearted and joyous. I think my purpose and my job is to bring joy to as many people as I can, and I want to resonate within all the music that I create. Can you elaborate a little bit more on that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, joy, because I think laughter and joy is healing. You know, you could be going through your roughest day. If you put a comedic spin on it or put some joy to it, you'll feel a little better. You know, some of us are so privileged we don't even understand what we have. You know, when you start going to some of these countries and says, hey, dude, we just dealt a bad card, man, you were lucky.
Speaker 1:Um, I've been to places where it is the conditions that I'm looking at is like yo, um, man, this is, this is bad. But when I'm talking to the people who are living into the conditions, they're like happy, it's as if it's, it's as if they this is all they know, and this is their life and so things. That makes me uncomfortable for them it's just norm, it's you know. And they're kicking ball and playing and having. They don't have devices, they're not having. You know, they're not sitting there, says, oh, my mental. You know I have to. You know, right, uh, I have to work on my mental health. There's nobody looking at what the mental health is. They don't you know these. I always look at, you know. And mental health is's. Nobody looking at what the mental health is they don't. You know these. I always look at you know, and mental health is pretty serious. But I always look at mental health in somewhere.
Speaker 1:It's like it's kind of a privileged thing, because when you look at kids that are going through it, you know that's where, that's all they know. It's they kind of just adapt. I remember when I was in the hood I just adapt, I adapted and just kind of overcame and went. Now I'm not saying that there probably isn't some damage there, you probably. But the damage is sometimes taking them out of that world and putting them in this world and they can't adjust and that becomes that, you know. So joy is definitely something that I use as a tool, you know, and because it's feel good and when you feel good then you will be at your full potential. It's easier to get to your full potential when you feel good, when you have joy in your life. If you have a cup, you got to make sure that cup is to the brim, is filled to the brim, that you could feel reach to that potential.
Speaker 3:And what drew? What drew your heart specifically to such a noble cause as supporting the operations of the Bussamonte Hospital? You know I was.
Speaker 1:I was. There was a friend of mine, tony Kelly, and we're making a record. He was a hotshot. I was making at a time that record and that album and his son got sick and he took the kid to Bustamante Hospital he was Shane is the kids name was Shane and we went there. We ended ended up staying there the night just waiting until they admitted him. His tongue was swollen, oh jeez, and they were working on it.
Speaker 1:And I ended up talking to nurses and doctors that night, just hanging out there until 3, 4 in the morning and they were giving me some stories that they were doing and it was like, yeah, we don't have a blood warmer, so we, we put the blood in a pot monitor. We want the blood to the temperature for surgery. I'm like what? And they were telling me all these unorthodoxy, we've got pliers and screwdrivers, like things that they used because they didn't have the equipment. And I was like, wow, um, but they were lifesavers, you know. And then I said to myself that if I'm ever in the position to help them, I would.
Speaker 1:And then, hot shot happened and we saw it was 10 million records and had a ton of money and we were just like, okay, I just walked into the hospital with a check I think I don't know if it's like 150k or something like that just walked in with the check and then the hospital administration says what is this? I would say this for you guys I'm going to the hospital. It's like well, it's are you sure? Like yeah, you know, because I think they were rubbing his eyes from like from a or something.
Speaker 1:It was just a personal check yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And anyway, I did the check and then, months afterwards, the anesthesiologist there came, who kind of ran the place, called me and was like yo Shaq, come and let me show you what your check did. Oh wow, and he's showing me we bought this equipment, we bought a blood warmer, we bought this, we bought. And he's showing me we bought this equipment, we bought a blood warmer, we bought this, we bought, and, and he's just showing me all these things and it really motivated me. At that point I was like wow, really, yeah. He said, since this machine came, we saved these amount of lives. Since this machine came, we saved these amount of life. And I was just like blown away because I'm like I just bought a car that was three times that, you know, I mean. I mean it just put things into perspective. You know what I mean. And at that point I was just on a different path. And then one day they call me.
Speaker 1:I built a little park in the hospital where people came from out of town, from St Elizabeth to Kingston it's like a three-hour drive and they'll come down and if a kid got sick, the kid would be there and the parents would need somewhere to sit while the surgery is being done. So I created this little park in the middle of the hospital. I had some volunteers come and bought some flowers and did some chairs and did some stuff, and I think it was the Scotiabank had heard about it and jumped on it as a sponsor and kind of helped finish it with me and I was like, all right, cool, that's cool. That's my first time getting into all of this. And then they told me to come down for a ribbon cutting for it with the head of the bank.
Speaker 1:So I went there to do the ribbon cutting and this, this little rasta rastaman, come to me and says yo, shaggy, I would love for you to see my daughter. Her name is um, her name is apple, and she's she's. She's on one of your machines. He said she's on one of your machines. He said I said my machines. He's like, yeah, she's one of the machines around there. And so you know, I was like all right, cool, cool, cool, you know. And then we did the ceremony and shake hands and kiss babies and all that, and then ended up walking around to this ward and I saw this girl with a bullet. She was an eight-year-old girl with a bullet lodged in her head and she was just like there and I'm sitting there holding her hand and I feel very helpless and I'm just holding her hand and I felt like she was squeezing my hand, like just like that, you know, but she was not really responsive.
Speaker 1:It was like that's like her head was doing this, and it was the most helpless I've ever felt. And I just walked out and said I got to do something else. And then that's when I came up with the idea so we're going to do a concert. And I started to rally. People went to Sharon Burke, who produces concert. I, you know, I'm going to say how are we going to do this? And I kept a dinner at my house and then William Afoud, who is the nephew of Robin, who you know, when I went to them for sponsorship, he kind of was guiding me on how to set up this foundation. He says you can't just do this like this. You need a foundation. I'm like what foundation? Why can't?
Speaker 2:you just keep a concert and just get the money.
Speaker 3:Just keep it on my bank account number.
Speaker 1:Yeah, why can't I just do a bank account number?
Speaker 3:In my routing number. There you go.
Speaker 1:He's like no, you need a foundation, you need to set this up to make it legal. And I was like I don. So william kind of guided me through robin and all of them and we ended up setting up this shaggy make a difference foundation that aided this hospital, you know. And then robin came on board and says, okay, what we do, we ship containers to jamaica so we could bring your equipment that you buy through it to where you know. Uh, it's, it's smoother than you just going, and then you'd have to go through tariffs and all of that. And I was like, ok, great, and that was the beginning of our relationship with me and Food for the Poor and me just doing this whole charity situation.
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Speaker 2:I'm blown away at your humility and all of this because you know you talk about just these things as just a matter of fact, when it had such lasting implications and save lives one of the things that out of this whole Bustamante project over the years that really has struck us has been a specific thing that you did. To me is become very iconic, and it is not easy to do. You have assembled what I call. It's like the Avengers assemble right, all like the, all these superpowers from music, and you did a song called Save a Life and I love the lyrics Take a stand, make it right, lend a hand, save a life. I, I, I'm just, I'm blown away because you know, here you have and this was the first of something that you started and with these concerts and these artists that have all come together, I mean it was really a who's who in reggae and dance hall music. But I want to take a moment just thinking about that song, save a life, life and the project with Boost Money Hospital.
Speaker 2:I want to dial the clocks back. It's January 12th 2010,. Exactly 15 years ago, haiti suffered a massive earthquake that took the lives of almost 300,000. Many would say it would probably more 300,000. Many would say it would probably more 300,000. Men, women, children, innocent lives. Their lives changed in an instant, and not just their lives, but the lives of families, the lives of generations to come, worldwide. But even though it captured the heart of the world, it captured the heart of one other person. That was you. Tell us how you assembled now what was again the second iteration of this amazing, talented roster of dancehall reggae amusing musicians, amazing, and I'm sure there was people behind the mics and producers and whatnot for this Caribbean tribute for Haiti.
Speaker 1:And it was really an anthem Rise. There's two, there's two. There's two stories. Yeah, um for um, save a life. While I was doing the whole concert and I was a novice to all of this, I'm a novice to putting on a concert, I'm doing everything from heart, yeah, just instinctively. I have a few people who have done stuff, like sharon, and people who have done it, you know, and then I have them guiding me. But you know, I'm going off, just shared your adrenaline. And somebody says to me well, you're going to need a song. The song you know, your music, music song will get to people. But I said, well, we got to make a heart string song. So those lyrics you wrote was part of what our thought process of of. Those lyrics you read were part of the thought process of what would be a heartstring pulling song. But then we came on being jamaican, you, there's a rebelness that comes with jamaican, like if you tell a Jamaican don't touch that light switch.
Speaker 2:And I mean as soon as you turn your back, don't touch the light switch.
Speaker 1:You know, what I mean. It's our nature. So I said how do we get them to come in? I said I dare you, and that's how we came up with it. If you, I dare you to take, and I dare you to take a, and I dare you to take a stand, I dare you to think of someone else who was in need of a helping hand. That's how the dare came in and that was the catch phrase of everybody I dare you. And then people, when they started to buy tickets, they said they would film themselves and say Shaggy, I accept the dare, and that was part of the whole thing. So it's tapping into culture in that way, to know what your audience is and know what your culture is. And go Now with Rise. Again, I'm at a studio with a producer by the name of Christopher Birch.
Speaker 1:I'm doing a song with him, which is a total different song. While I'm in there, we feel like a tremor, like a thing, in the studio. This is in Jamaica. I'm like what is that? That was what I'm saying, but it was a light tremor, it wasn't, you know, and I was like I don't know what it is.
Speaker 1:Anyway, we kept writing a song and doing them, and then the television in the studio right over the board is on, but it's on mute and we just saw breaking news blah, blah, blah, blah. And then the pictures and the. And then we just like stopped and I was like yo, what is this? And then we realized what was happening the earthquake and the devastation and we're seeing they're pulling people out. And we just stopped the studio session and we're just watching what's going on and we're talking about it. And then I had this thing where I'm saying some say how does Haiti come back from this, was the question in there, and I'm like, yeah, we're going to rise, we're Brazilian people, we're just going to, we're going to rise, and that how would they rise from that? How does Haiti rise from this? That's what was said in the conversation and I just took that and just said we shall rise again and that was, and the the song that I was there to write, ended up being this song, now, you know, and I I flipped the beat, kind of, made it, started to write the lyrics and changed it to what we know as what you now know as rise again.
Speaker 1:And then now, by the end of the day, when we demo the record, I'm like, okay, now, who do I get?
Speaker 1:And I just start calling everybody I know and some people we, if you see the video some people we didn't get on it because everything was so quick, yeah, so I had to do things on their phone to send to us, or you know, so how we could try and make who was there, we shot and we, you know, and just tried it because this was done within a couple of days, yeah, of us doing it, you know, I'd call jay will, the director, and I'm just doing, and then digicel had lost their building with all their staff in it, wow, and a lot of people were killed.
Speaker 1:And they heard about what we were doing and said, hey, we would like to help you with this. I'm like, okay, cool, and we'd like to put it through our phones and just raise funds and money for the cause down there and I was like, all right, let's go and, and that was it, and we did the song to the video and gave it to digicel and say do your magic, you know. And that was then they ended up, you know, cutting checks and whatever it is, but that it was very impulsive, the whole thing that happened.
Speaker 2:You're listening to Beyond the Plate with our guest reggae and dancehall superstar, but the greatest title all caps capital H, humanitarian Shaggy, so Shag. I want to dial the clock back a little further, because this, this has to come from somewhere. This humanitarian bent, this, this, this drive, is really a drive. It, this has to come from somewhere. This humanitarian bent, this drive is really a drive. It's not just something you do, it's something that's in you, in your DNA. We call this podcast Beyond the Plate because we really want to capture really a deeper story and we want to kind of go beyond what we find on Wikipedia, go beyond a YouTube search.
Speaker 2:You know, and so you may not remember, but the last time I met you was at a Food for the Poor gala here, the gala At South Florida. I emceed that event and you weren't there as the performing artist, as you've been so many times, you know. Matter of fact, you know, I pointed out to Danny when he started working here. There's a picture where we walk by of you every single day in our offices Selfies. Yeah, there's a little look right here, but that wasn't this particular night. You were there to accept an award with your lovely wife the Ambassadors for the Poor Award. Yeah, it was your collaborative work with this organization that was the premise for that award and why you so deservingly received that.
Speaker 2:But what caught my attention that night was not the celebrity stardom, it was not even so much the award and some of the things that you shared that evening. What caught my attention was family. Yeah, you were surrounded with family, you know, growing up in Jamaica your cousins, your family. It left a mark on you. It left a mark that was probably still instilled in you to this day. What was that like? What has been instilled in you from that young age, as young as you were, with your family, your cousins. That has left a mark that drives you, still in your DNA, with all of this humanitarian work and every project you take on.
Speaker 1:My wife thing seems to think that, like she says, she can't figure it out Because when she looks at my family there's a lot of dysfunction so she doesn't know where I. She doesn't understand it and I, I guess I don't either of where that comes from or desire for this. But I never had, I never had a dad. I met my dad when I was, like I would say, 14 for the first time. I don't really have a very solid relationship, but I do take care of him and you know I take care of him and his family at this point because he had another family and you know, and got him a home and do take care of what I could take care of at this point. So I was there, was never.
Speaker 1:I was a single parent family. You know my mom, and my mom was a struggling writer at the Galena Company, the Daily Galena, the local newspaper, and I have no brothers and no sisters. On her side I have a half brother, half sister which I met years later, down from my father, but I've never met them before. So I was always considered just like an only child. I had a grandmother that was a very loving grandmother, um, but the rest of the family is very, very separate. It's ghetto life.
Speaker 1:You know, a friend of mine say ghetto means get out. You know, wow, yeah, and, and, and you know you can. You shouldn't glorify the ghetto, you know, in the sense of we should all aim to get out of it and use it as a mark of where you don't want to go back to. You know, um, and you try to to elevate yourself and your thoughts and your life out of it. And I think it really just boiled down to me being a dreamer. You know, I, I, I was a dreamer, I, I, I dreamed of, I watched television and I dreamed of the people sitting at the table having a meal together. I was never a guy that did that, because my grandmother just gave me a bowl, everything I ate with a spoon, and we lived in a little one room and that, that was that was that, you know?
Speaker 1:I mean it was never let's sit at a table and hold hands and pray. There was never a family thing. You know, I never had christmas. There was never a christmas tree in my house. It's not something that I do, you know. We never, if it's a birthday, my uncle come by and say oh, here's 20 bucks, go get an ice cream.
Speaker 1:I mean it's that's, that's what it is. Um, and I think that as I go I met my wife and my wife really had that family type thing and it took me years to kind of figure that out, because they will argue like really straight up, argue like, say some mean things, and in the morning they're having coffee like nothing happens. And I was like, how do you all do that, you know? And she's like, well, that's, that's what family does, and I'm, and so it took me a minute to know what that is, or, or, you know, and, and the camaraderie and how they look out for each other and and, and I got that through her family, by me being with her and seeing, and then when we started having children of her own, it became that.
Speaker 1:And so now, you know, as a guy that's into music and touring, you know, and I'm always gone, you know I'm getting these calls, I'm. You know she, as a guy that's into music and touring, you know, and I'm always gone, you know I'm getting these calls, I'm. You know she's instilling everything in the family that you know, everything it's family, family. And so I kind of just stumbled my way into it in a way, and now I've gotten to a point where, okay, bing light bulb, wow, this is the most important job you have, dad, that is the most important title you'll ever have. And as my daughters grow up and my sons have grown up, my son is 30 now and he is my best friend. My other son is 28. He works with me on tours with me, my 19-year-old daughter is in college and she comes back and forth and then you just find a lot. It dawns on me, everything is surrounding you and then you're like, oh my God, I'm their go-to and it just hits you heavy. It's like I'm in charge of all this.
Speaker 3:I'm their leader, yeah.
Speaker 1:And for some reason I've always been the leader of my tour group and leader of my company and you know I have a lot of people that I employ, but it didn't feel. You know, it's a job and we're touring, it makes money, it revolves, they have their lifestyle and you're the guy and you write these songs and you go out and you sing them and you tour them and you see where it changed people. But then when you're kids, you're like you're responsible, because I'm not responsible for people who are employed by me, my assistants and my musicians. I'm not responsible for them. You know what I mean. I, you know I employ them, you know, and they're my extended family, but I'm not responsible for them.
Speaker 2:These ones. I'm responsible for I can imagine Shaggy's wife saying to one of the kids wait until your father gets off tour.
Speaker 3:I'm Mr Boombastic, not Mr HR.
Speaker 1:I'm not human resources. And then you're gonna have to also realize that, no matter how much you are that guy, you'll never trump mom.
Speaker 3:That's right she's part of the committee.
Speaker 1:That's right, because you you are now, uh, as a dad and as a husband, you're gonna realize that once kids are there, you're're now. If it's five kids, you're six. If you have dogs, if it's two dogs, you're eight. That's a lot. I'm just saying that's where you land, you know. And then you just kind of start to get to that point to realize, okay, but this is what love is, this is what family is, is this is what love is, this is what family is and this is what life is. And and then it becomes worthwhile.
Speaker 1:Like I have a lot of accolades and I've done a lot of things and I've sat in some rooms with some really great people. You know, you sat with the pope and the the top super, all my heroes, I've met them all and they all know my name. Uh, but you, there's nothing more than your kids. And so what you saw there that night was that you know they'll dress up and come out, as it's important. You know, no matter what I'm doing, I'm saying we're doing it, say oh, yeah, so we're gonna have this happening or that happening in family. Everybody drop what they're doing. And that's the most important thing, and I have to give it to my wife for really instilling that, because I didn't know anything about that.
Speaker 2:I learned that from her. If no one is convinced that God has a sense of humor, here is an individual who is raised in a single parent household. In a dysfunctional family, is now the center of familyhood in your family.
Speaker 1:That to me Thrust into it, thrust into it.
Speaker 2:That to me is God saying you don't know anything and you're not in control. I'm God and I'm in control. Oh yeah, I figured that out a long time ago.
Speaker 1:You know I'm, I'm, like I said, we're servants. So you know I'm, I'm, I'm doing a service here. I have no control you do your best with what you can, but it's God's plan that is.
Speaker 3:Shaggy. We're nearing the finish line and we're talking to Shaggy, reggie and Dancehall Superstar Shaggy. Now, shaggy, let's take a moment here, let's dream for a bit, let's close our eyes, but, folks, if you're listening and you're driving, don't close your eyes. You're working with some of the most recognizable names in music and culture. One of my favorites was the npr tiny desk concert with sting. I mean that place constantly at the house, when we're cleaning, when we're having dinner, when we're trying to go to sleep.
Speaker 2:It's just playing on loop whoa, whoa, I'm an illegal alien.
Speaker 3:I'm a jamaican in new york Got my two-year-old saying that Now, if you have a dream project to make a world-changing difference and that would change the course of a generation, who would you want to work with to accomplish this? That's the easiest thing.
Speaker 1:That's my best friend, that's the person I enjoy working with the most. Uh, the collaboration of Sting and I is it's not. It's not artist to artist, it's friendship, it's it's. You know, I mean, I talk to Sting every single week. Uh, uh, this this week I spoke to him three times so far. Um, you know, he'll be coming in miami for my birthday. Um, I was, I went to new york for his birthday with my wife and went through his it's, it's family, it, it has just become that I, he's the brother, I didn't know I needed you know it, just it, just it just happened, it, it, it came at a time I was with you know I needed you know it, just it, just it just happened it.
Speaker 1:It it came at a time I was with you know, I think there's an expiration date on every friendship. To be honest with you, I don't know if you ever had a friend that you were in school with, uh, and then you were probably really really close with them, and then you lost contact with them and then you saw them again. It was like, hey, let's, let's connect again and it just it doesn't match the same, because that person has served their time in your life. You know they've done their job. You know that that that friendship has expired. You. There's nothing else you can learn from that person.
Speaker 1:You know, and I've had some great people and I've had some wonderful journeys with some people who I learned a lot from, some people who have done me wrong, and, and those, those l's, I turned the next way from lost to lessons. You know, and and uh, I've learned from them all and I wouldn't change a thing for the world because I I even I might have lost money, I might have lost this, I might have lost, but the knowledge I gained and the person that it has shaped me into is is I am very, very comfortable with. I'm still a work in progress, like we all are um, but I'm glad, and stink came at a time where my my insecurity was at its highest. Um, I had people around me who made you know a lot of money. If you know, their whole lives were made because of what I do and and sometimes you find people who are not um to their full potential and so what they will do throughout their frustrations to make themselves feel better is to bring you down to make themselves feel better, you know, bring you to their level to make themselves like oh yeah, he's not that good and he's not this.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, you can't do this and you can't do it. And I'm like, okay, I can't do it. Why? Because you can't do it, you know. And then if they start saying it loud enough around you and especially their people that you really love and respect, then you really start not being able to do it. I think steam came at a time when it dawned on me when I think we're doing an interview in england and they asked him why would he? I was in interviews, why would? Why you want to? Uh, what made you want to work with shaggy? And he turns around, said this one right here is a genius, and I just kind of stepped back.
Speaker 1:It was like yeah he said he just used the g word and he was like, yeah, it's a genius. His process of, of, of recording and making music is unlike anything I've ever seen. You know, I'll make write a song. My process is different. I'll take it, I'll spend days with it. Uh, I'll do one part and come back. I've seen this man write four songs in one day and he doesn't play an instrument and he has the most amazing melodies and and he says it's a process that I've never seen and I've learned so much from it. And he just kind of broke it down and I was just like it dawned on me after that when I said, well, if this guy is the police, you know 150 million records, yeah, you know one of the greatest songwriters of all time. And he thinks that I'm good. How come all of you who've made every kind of money and bought homes around me don't think I'm that good? Wow, time to change my circle. And that's kind of like what really happened. That's why I said Sting came in at that point that I didn't.
Speaker 1:He helped me my confidence, he helped me as an artist. And then he taught. He started to teach me things that I didn't know, like the instrumentation. My ears got cleaner. He taught me to sing Like I was a I was a rapper like a DJ dancehall. He taught me to sing like I was a I was a rapper like a dj dancehall. He taught me how.
Speaker 1:He made me sing sinatra records in reggae. I'm like, what are we doing here, you know? And I remember being on the boat when we were playing tonight and I just started singing because I love sinatra music, and he jumps over he says oh, you're the same, that's, you're the same tone. It's your, your, your, uh, your bass tenor, just like him. Him is you sound just, it's amazing how you sound like. And I'm like what?
Speaker 1:And then he showed up my house and said we're doing an album in reggae. Let's go, and I'm like what we got nominated for a grammy, um, but to have my confidence that heavy that I could take the some of the most complex musical arrangements ever known to man a lot of them done by Quincy Jones too and actually sing those songs and make them my own, came from an enormous amount of confidence that came from this person who saw bigger things in me than I saw myself Wow, you know, and made me believe it. So if there's anything that I'm doing, I don't care what it is. You know, sting is my guy. That's the guy I'll do it with, 100%. He's the person I'm most comfortable with. We're going to laugh about it. We're going to tell each other when we're wrong. You know, it's that easy.
Speaker 2:Wow, if this guy played bass guitar, I'd say the same thing, right?
Speaker 3:If he was a bass tenor, I might have told him something. I might have told him something once or twice.
Speaker 2:Wow, this has been first of all. This has been an absolute honor, shaggy, to have you, but all of our guests from season one and beyond know that when we end every episode of Beyond the Plate, we always end on a positive note. We end on a positive note. Shaggy, you're going to get the last word on this positive note. I want to go back to Rise Again. The lyrics from Rise Again. Tragedy showed and came to give us a chance to show that we really cared. If you were to rewrite this lyric it shouldn't be hard. You write four songs in one day You're going to rewrite one lyric for us tonight. Fifteen years later after the earthquake, haiti still has great needs families and communities. If you were to rewrite the lyric for 2025, tragedy showed and came to give us a chance to show that we really cared. What would you share with the people of Haiti right now?
Speaker 1:Well, it's hard to rewrite something because that was in the moment and I'm not a big fan of rewrites, to be honest with you but I think what we need to do, based on the situations we sometimes forget. Like life moves on and especially in today's generation, where social media is, there's always something else to take you off of what's important. You know, it's the distraction, so to speak. I think what I would do is write a lyric speaking about staying focused on what is the important thing and not being distracted. Distraction is the biggest thing that's going to get us in this day and age, because you're going to have all kinds of narrative coming at you that you don't even know what to believe. These days we're seeing it with AI, we're seeing it with everything You're not going to know what the truth is, and the only way you know what the truth is is unless you stay focused on what it is. It's boots on the ground. That's what it is. There's nothing you can. You cannot tell me what's going on in Haiti. I'll have to go there and feel it myself. I'll have to research it and see it, because that's going to be the hardest one time. You could be just like oh my god, let's do this, you know, and then you have everything is a scammer, everything is this, everything is that. So it makes it hard for somebody who really wants to help when there's so many people trying to scam their way into something else. So I think at this point is I would rewrite it to where don't be distracted, faced, put yourself into the situation and go seek it.
Speaker 1:And that's kind of how I view anything that I get into now. I, you research it and go at it and trying to feel it. Like I always said, there's music, you hear music. You feel anybody could sound good. Um, you know, just based on, on, uh, how you, how you feel, you know, you know we could make you sing. You know, just from technology, make you sound better than in the shower. You know what I mean. We could do that.
Speaker 1:But can I make you feel it? You know, feel, come from. Know, feel come from struggle, come from pain, come from passion, come from I writing and singing, something that makes you believe what I'm saying and live what I'm saying, and that I see so many artists, especially internet artists, or take talkers that make records at our catchphrase records, but the message is lost. It's just it sounds good, but you can't feel it. And everything you do you gotta go feel it and for me, where Hedy's concerned, it's gotta be that situation where you go feel and and us trying to promote it to people. We have to do things to make them feel it. You can't just promote what's going on in haiti by just reporting it. You got to find a creative way to tap in to make people feel it. You know I, you remember when they uh, what was it? What was that? Is that sarah mcclachlan song, right?
Speaker 2:away sad puppy eyes. You, you. If you don't shed a tear, something's wrong with you.
Speaker 1:Dude, let me tell you something. Exactly just like you know, and after you've given us a couple of times, you're like alright, yeah, and it plays again, it pulls. You have to find things to make you feel it, and that's what needs to happen. You have to tap into something that you feel.
Speaker 2:So that's the best I can give you at this point that is the best, because that's not a positive word for the episode, that is a positive word for this new year 2025. Shaggy, we are honored to have you on our. That is the best, because that's not a positive word for the episode, that is a positive word for this new year 2025. Shaggy, we are honored to have you on our podcast. We're honored to know you and to be a part of what you're a part of. God bless you, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you, man. Keep doing the good work, man. Food for the poor has always been great. Thanks, sir.
Speaker 3:Fist bump, shaggy Fist bump. Fist bump, shaggy fist bump. All right, big fist bump yeah appreciate it, thank you you just went beyond the plate. Don't miss out on a chance to make a real difference. Folks follow us on instagram and tiktok at beyond the plate podcast and subscribe to our youtube channel. Stay connected by texting best bite to 51555.
Speaker 2:You're gonna get a cool link and we look forward to having you with us on the next episode of beyond the plate.
