“It Wasn’t Me” by Shaggy (ft. Rikrok)
The inspiration for this song came from a 1980’s Eddie Murphy comedy special. Likewise “It Wasn’t Me” also has a comedic, albeit sexual, tone. The track is centered on the tale of a man (Rikrok) who is caught cheating by his girlfriend. And he goes to a friend (Shaggy) for advice on how to deal with the situation. Shaggy advises him to deny everything, even though his girlfriend literally caught him in the act of having sex with “the girl next door”, as he had forgotten that he had given his lady a key to his apartment.
Ultimately the track concludes with Rikrok expressing remorse for what he has done and criticizing the entire concept of being “a player”.
Shaggy’s Signature Tune
This track is considered to be Shaggy’s, a reggae artist from Jamaica, signature tune, as in the one that established him as a crossover artist. In fact Shaggy has even put out a new version of this tune, along with a lyric video, as recently as 2020.
But in terms of its original success, “It Wasn’t Me” holds the distinction of having topped the UK Singles Chart and Billboard Hot 100. It also reached number one in France. It replicated that feat on the Eurochart Hot 100 and in a few other countries. In fact by the time all was said and done, the song had charted in over several nations throughout North America, Oceania and especially Europe. Moreover, it achieved triple-platinum certification in Australia and the UK. In fact it proved to be the best-selling song in the United Kingdom for the year of 2001.
Prince Harry loves “It Wasn’t Me”!
Moreover It Wasn’t Me is a favorite of British royal Prince Harry himself. This is according to a story told by Shaggy, whereas he states that the Prince, upon visiting Jamaica, once sang to the tune to him and his daughter. And for the record, Shaggy also performed “It Wasn’t Me” at Queen Elizabeth II’s 92nd birthday celebration in 2018.
Did Shaggy write this classic?
This song tune was written by Shaggy. He however, wrote it with Rikrok, Braun Thompson and the track’s producer, a regular Shaggy collaborator who goes by the name of Sting International.
This was the first collaboration released as a single between Shaggy and Rickardo (Rikrok) Ducent, who himself is of Jamaican descent though was born in England. Rikrok is featured on another track from Hot Shot, entitled Chica Bonita and since the time of the album has become somewhat of a regular collaborator of Shaggy.
This song samples a 1975 instrumental entitled “Smile Happy” by an old school band known as War. And lyrically it was inspired by Eddie Murphy’s classic 1987 standup-comedy film, Raw. Furthermore, Shaggy also seemed to imply that “It Wasn’t Me” was influenced by the 1980 comedy movie Airplane!
When was “It Wasn’t Me” released?
“It Wasn’t Me” is from Shaggy’s fifth album, Hot Shot. The track officially came out, via MCA Records, on 11 September 2000. It also served as the initial single from the project. And as the story goes, it was even intended to be released on its own. However, the song totally blew up after a DJ in Hawaii named Pablo Sato played it on air, deeming it to be the best song from the album which also featured another major Shaggy hit, “Angel” (2000).
