Shaggy

GRAMMY-WINNING deejay Shaggy has taken on critics of dancehall, saying they have used the negative actions of some artistes and wrongfully stereotyped others.

Shaggy, who was in London where he appeared in the Notting Hill Carnival, made this observation during an interview which was published in Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper last week.

"For some people, reggae music might just be reggae music, for me, reggae music is a way of life, so an attack on the music is an attack on me," Shaggy said. "I think people like Sizzla sometimes do bring the music down but that's just one person."

Barred artistes

Sizzla and other dancehall acts such as Beenie Man and Capleton have been barred from performing in Britain where authorities say their music encourages violence against homosexuals.

Gay rights group Outrage! led the protests, which led to similar action by other organisations throughout Europe. Shaggy said not all Jamaican musicians target gays.

"You have a whole movement of people who don't think that way," he said. "So you want to make that handful of guys erase what Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, the Skatalites and everyone else did over the last 50 years?" he asked.

Shaggy also promoted the Boombastic Collection while in Britain. The best-of set was released there by Island Records on July 25. It contains Oh Carolina, the deejay's 1995 take on the Folkes Brothers 1959 classic.

That song made the British national charts and set the tone for other hits such as Boombastic and It Wasn't Me, which both topped the Billboard pop charts. The Boombastic album won the Best Reggae Album award at the 1996 Grammy Awards.

Shaggy's last album, Intoxication, which spawned the hit Church Heathen, was released in 2007.