Shaggy Didn’t Know His Son Robb Bank$ Was A Rapper Until Years Later

Dancehall megastar Shaggy said he had no idea his son Robb Bank$ was rapping until he came to notoriety several years ago.

Speaking with Shirley Ju of VladTV, Mr. Boombastic noted that he has maintained a tight relationship with his 27-year-old firstborn—but not even their closeness hinted at the fact that an entertainer was brewing right under his nose.

“He’d see us go to the studio here and there, but he wasn’t totally involved in it or anything like that,” Shaggy told Shirley. “Actually, I didn’t know he was rapping until way afterward when it was brought to my attention. By that time, he had already had a large following.”

Shaggy explained, “He was living in Broward at the time and I was in New York and I was always touring. I’d come in and see him back and forth, but they kept it really good from me so I didn’t know until after a while when it finally hit my radar. At the time, he had already have a large following. Clearly, he was really good at what he does why he had that following.”

Robb Bank$, whose real name is Richard Burrell Jr., currently has 180k followers on Instagram and 380k monthly listeners on Spotify.   The underground rapper first gained recognition with the Raider Klan movement in 2012 where he would debut his first mixtape Calendars and his follow-up mixtape Tha City in 2013.

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In 2015, he released his debut album Year Of the Savage, which peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.  He followed up with his Falconia album in May 2022 and a deluxe edition last month.

Bank$’ Grammy-Award-winning dad says his birth in 1994 was a pivotal moment for him.

“It was dope, because at the point, my life had a purpose. ‘Cause you weren’t just living for yourself or making music for yourself anymore. Things really got real at that time because my homie had moved into my house and now you realize you’re living not just for yourself,” Shaggy recalled.

“He was a bundle of joy…a special kid because everybody was just happy he was around and he’s still a very good dude today. Great kid to be around—great person to be around,” the father of five added.

Shaggy shares three daughters with his wife Rebecca, who has been married to him for eight years, and he has another son.

As much as his fast-paced career keeps evolving between music and onscreen gigs; touring and other endorsement obligations, the Angel singer says he does see his rapper son often.

“We’re good. I speak to him almost everyday. I actually see him almost everyday when we’re not respectively touring. He’s very dedicated to music and what I really like about him is that he’s a genuine music person. He’s about the art of the music. He’s not about the gimmick of it. I really like that,” said the proud parent.

Additionally, the It Wasnt Me singer said hard work definitely didn’t fall far from the tree. He claims that the younger Burrell spends a commendable amount of time in the studio and his career is on an upward trajectory.

“He doesn’t engage in too much social media or too much of that madness, even though he probably should because that’s the way music is going today, but he’s having a hard time doing that because he’s really about music,” Shaggy said.

“I don’t think I could find somebody that does studio more than I did that he does. It’s constant with this guy. He’s constantly in the studio, back to back every single night and just making music. I think he just dropped his Falconia album and the hardest part about that was choosing the songs because I think they probably have to go through, I would imagine, close to 100 songs because of the rate he was making these music,” he added.