Shaggy Turned Down Feature On Rihanna’s New Reggae Album ‘R9’
Veteran dancehall artiste Shaggy had reportedly turned down the opportunity to work on Rihanna’s forthcoming album which is set to be heavily influenced by reggae and dancehall. Rihanna and her fans have unofficially dubbed the album “R9” in reference to the fact that the project will be the Barbadian artist’s ninth studio production.
According to the DailyStar, Shaggy was approached to work with Rihanna on the record which was confirmed by Vogue to be “reggae-inspired or reggae-infused.” Rihanna noted in the Vogue interview that it’s “not gonna be typical of what you know as reggae, but you’re going to feel the elements in all of the tracks.”
Shaggy admits that he almost considered the offer, but ultimately decided against since he was unwilling to audition for a spot. He said to the Star: “There’s a lot of great people involved but for me I didn’t need to audition to be on the record, I’ll leave that to younger guys.”
The It Wasn’t Me singer added that: “But from what I hear it should be good.”
Rihanna and Shaggy last performed together at Sting’s 80s themed Rainforest Fund Benefit Concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York in December.
While Shaggy won’t appear on Rihanna’s new album, Koffee did hint at a collaboration with the Barbadian singer in November last year during an interview with I-D Vice. Koffee is also said to have written for R9. Her involvement with the album was first confirmed by California rapper Haiti Babii during an interview with BET.
There were also reports in August last year that Rihanna registered a new song with her music publisher, BMI that was titled Private Loving with credits to Demarco and Monique Lawz.
Some members of the dancehall industry feel mainstream artists like Drake and Rihanna dilute the genre, but Shaggy believes its all healthy competition. He said: “Dancehall is in good place but we need as many people to do this art form as possible. When it crosses over and becomes popular with artists from other genres and other cultures, that can only be good.”
Rihanna’s fans (who are called the Navy) were left fuming after 2019 ended without R9 being released as promised. Her last album was Anti in 2016.
The 31-year-old singer recently teased the Navy by sharing a meme of a dog dancing to music with the caption: “Update: me listening to R9 by myself and refusing to release it.”
That bit of trolling was savage, but it at least appears to confirm that the album is complete and ready for release whenever she decides to drop it.