Last Friday, Hot 97 kicked off New York City’s Caribbean Labor Day Weekend in magnanimous fashion! I cannot name another reggae/soca show in North America (Jamaica notwithstanding) that has more Caribbean superstars. Here’s the roll call of appearances (in no particular order): Gyptian, Tessanne Chin, Shaggy (who brought out Neyo as his surprise guest!), Shabba, Bunji Garlin, Maxi Priest, Beenie Man, Kes and the list goes on!!
This year, for the first time ever, event organizers took On Da Reggae Tip outdoors. The show coined as “the biggest reggae party of the summer” was held at JBL Live at Pier 97 amidst stunning Manhattan skyline views and a breathtaking waterfront.
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(Photos: Hill Scott)
Shaggy Gives Stellar Performance
In the midst of this heavy line up of artists was Shaggy and one may ask “how will Shaggy top his Hot 97 Reggae Tip performance last year”? For those who don’t recall last year’s performance, let’s refresh your memory. After performing a few songs of his catalog Shaggy called out Agent Sasco aka Assasin but the crowd would literally become dumb founded and start running and jumping when Shaggy called out the original ‘Don Dadda’ Super Cat, who has not performed in over 10 years.
Well at 8:10 pm the band was ready and all you heard was the rhythm of Church Heathen drop as Shaggy began to DJ while stepping across the stage. The crowd of several thousands began to scream and cheer as their hands went up in the air with excitement. Shaggy wasted no time as he called out a fellow Ranch entertainment artist and friend Rayvon who began to sing ‘Big Up’. Then Red Fox who had the crowd in the palm of his hand would run out and begin dj-ing one of his classics ‘Pose Off’.
“Loving what I do is very important and my support team and relationships I’ve built over the years always allows me to deliver in such a manner at Hot 97 Reggae Tip. As we all know you only have a few minutes to captivate that crowd and its on to the next” ~ Shaggy.
Shaggy would go on to sing one of the crowds favorite “Fight this Feeling”, as the crowd sang line for line. Then you heard Shaggy make an introduction in regards to his new single “With You”, which also features international reggae crooner Sanchez. From side stage you began to hear ‘OOOOOOOHHHH OH’ (signature Sanchez sound) and walking out was Sanchez. If you thought the crowd could not jump anymore, you were wrong. Sanchez and Shaggy new single was so well received by the crowd you would have thought this single was released 6 months ago.
To top that off, Shaggy made yet another introduction, this time it was a single from his recent album ‘Out of Many One Music’. The single title “You Girl” features Neyo and Yes! Neyo walked out on stage to perform their hit single “You Girl” together. Ladies were ecstatic and the decibel level of Pier 97 was “Turnt Up’. Shaggy still had one more surprise up his sleeves and that was none other than Treach of Naughty by Nature. Closing this segment of guests were Ranch Entertainment group RSNY, who came on stage with high energy as they performed their single ‘Blaze it Up’ on Ranch Entertainment ‘Heaven Bless’ rhythm.
