Shaggy says he is proud to wave the banner for Reggae/Dancehall at this Sunday’s Super Bowl LV.
Shaggy will be featured in a Cheetos commercial Hollywood couple Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher. The one-minute-long commercial, titled It Wasn’t Me, will air during the third quarter of the Super Bowl.
In a recent interview with Billboard, Shaggy discussed the impact of Dancehall music on the world. The Grammy-winning star also spoke on his personal role in helping to drive the culture forward.
“I’ve always flown the dancehall flag for my culture and my country. And to be put in this position once more, again, is an honor,” he said. “And any little leg up that we could get to move the culture forward I’m 100% for.”
According to Shaggy he is just grateful for the opportunity to represent on such a massive platform.
“It’s great for this platform to educate people on the significance of the Jamaican culture and dancehall culture and popular music,” he said.
The Dancehall icon went on to emphasize the importance of Jamaican culture in shaping other genres.
“A lot of people see different styles of music coming up. When you look at reggaetón, [before] reggaetón comes dancehall. Those are things that people need to know,” he added.
“I was at Erasmus Hall when El General created the first reggaetón record. We went to school together. I’m on one bench and he was on one desk, and we were spitting lyrics. And to see this art form, that he took dancehall records and sang them in Spanish and then created what is now reggaetón, to see it being this multimillion-dollar entity, it’s amazing. When you look at Afrobeats, I remember going to Africa for years. … Dancehall was the main music played in a lot of these countries. And when you listen to Afrobeats, it’s also a birth child of what dancehall was.”
