Shaggy is up to his old antics again. The talented and celebrated entertainer is to release his latest project – a music video of his song Bad Man Don’t Cry at Mas Camp on Saturday night.

The song was produced by Shaun ‘Sting’ Pizzonia, the highly respected producer, who also worked in Shaggy’s monster hit song It Wasn’t Me.

The video features some very popular Jamaican personalities and follows a familiar storyline. “The song basically is the classic tale of not knowing what you have until it’s gone,” Shaggy reveals as he spoke with The STAR at Big Yard Studios on Westminster Road in St Andrew.

“Man have a little girl pan the side until he loses her and she ends up in another man’s arms and then he realises he has feelings for her.”

He added that there was a surprise ending to the video.

The concept is something he came up with and took it to local directing whiz kid J.Will, who shared that vision, Shaggy said. The two had collaborated before on the hilarious Church Heathen that featured the comical Ninja Man in 2007.

Renowned director

He spared no expense in producing the video. Wanting to create a vehicle produced by a local director but having an international feel, Shaggy said he “flew in renowned director, Hype Williams’ people, lighting people”, and thousands of US dollars worth of wardrobe from some of the top fashion houses so they could have that “updated stylish look.”

The video will be shown on four giant screens as the Asylum nightclub celebrates 15 years of existence and the occasion will coincide with the worldwide release of the song and video that night.

It will also be the first time that Shaggy will be releasing a song and its video simultaneously and marks the start of a campaign to win back local fans whom he feels have been alienated in recent years.

“When we did Angel and It Wasn’t Me we sold millions of records but while we sold millions we had alienated our core audience,” Shaggy says. “So you find out say the street never a feel Shaggy as much.”

Little success

He pleaded with his record company “because the music had kind of shifted a little bit” to do some core music. He had little success convincing them.

“I tried to exercise my creative freedom and went with a song called Wild Tonight with Olivia. In doing that song and because I was still signed to them, they really didn’t see that video or that song or really understand it, their argument was they were not backing it,”

The song had some success in Jamaica and the Caribbean, but as soon as it began to cross over, he said, they shut it down. “As far as going into radio and all that they hold the chips.”

He said he felt the only way he could move forward was to conquer the local street market. “So my target was to get a song that would connect with the core audience,” he said.

Bad Man Don’t Cry, he believes is that song. He said it is a song everybody can relate to, describing the video as being ten times more hilarious and 10 times more dramatic than Church Heathen. “You know if you’re coming you have to top Church Heathen. That was the aim and I think we succeeded quite well.”

Source: JamaicaStar