The Roots’ Questlove Praises Shaggy’s ‘It Wasn’t Me’ For Bankrolling Promo Of His Album
With its comical one-liner hook anchored by Shaggy’s gruff and charisma, It Wasn’t Me has stood the test of time, proving more meaningful than mere entertainment value. American musician Questlove of the jazzy Hip Hop group, The Roots, disclosed that his then labelmate’s song was so lucrative, it contributed greatly to their own promotional efforts.
As mixed reactions continue pouring in for Shaggy’s Cheetos Super Bowl ad, a pensive Questlove tweeted on Sunday, “I will never slander #ItWasntMe the success of that song single-handedly paid for Things Fall Apart’s promotional budget.”
Both Shaggy and The Roots were signed to MCA Records at the time of the release of Things Fall Apart’s in 1999. The Hot Shot collab is once again a hot topic after Sunday’s Cheetos commercial refresher, and Questlove seized the moment for another of his signature behind-the-scenes snippets.
I will never slander #ItWasntMe the success of that song singlehandedly paid for Things Fall Apart’s promotional budget
— ?st (@questlove) February 8, 2021
Long before the cushiony advent of streaming, indie acts or those seen as less commercially viable weren’t usually given the full label rollout for promotion or marketing. However, Shaggy’s Dancehall chart-topper brought MCA such a surge in revenue that it boosted the efforts behind Things Fall Apart, the Roots’ Grammy-nominated fourth studio album.
Few could still be doubting It Wasn’t Me’s incredible clout after Sunday’s Super Bowl ad, which saw Hollywood power couple, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher join in on the playful patois antics for Cheetos’ tempting new Crunch Pop Mix.
While Quest didn’t tweet further on Shaggy’s crossover smash, a debate did get underway in his comments about a previous tweet where he credited a K-Ci & JoJo song with funding the same 1999 album.
A Twitter user dug up an old tweet which read, “right when MCA [Records] was about to call it a day an indy Hawaiian station started to play All My Life—-the succe$$ of that song funded Things Fall Apart.”
The fan challenged Questlove for citing more than one title — All My Life by the R&B duo and Shaggy’s It Wasn’t Me — in the story of the album’s success. While it may have been a slip on the artist’s part, another shrewd fan stepped in with a plausible breakdown of the process.
“The budget to make an album and the budget to promote an album fall under two different categories. So All My Life probably paid to cut the actual album and It Wasn’t Me prob took care of the promo for it” she explained.
However, Questlove’s backstory about the viral effect of the “indy Hawaiian station” checks out for It Wasn’t Me, just one in a series of happy accidents surrounding the guilt-dodging banger including its brief reassignment to Tanto Metro and Devonte.
Other fans in Questlove’s comments acknowledged the large debt owed to Mr. Boombastic.
One quipped in response to his comment, “And Things Fall Apart was a masterpiece. Thank you @DiRealShaggy” while another wrote of the multi-platinum cut, “That song still slaps in the right locations and ppl know it…they just don’t like to admit it to themselves…”