Shaggy opened up about mending fences between Spice and VP Records after a decade long feud.
Who wouldn’t want to have veteran Dancehall artist Shaggy as a business ally? He’s one of the few artists who has been able to dominate on the world stage with dancehall and is very respected in many corners of the industry. It seems the diplomatic skills that he’s developed over his nearly three-decade-long career helped compatriot Spice out of a sticky situation when she and label VP Records started heading down a dark road.
While speaking on The Breakfast Club during an interview recently, he explained that the timely intervention came about when the “I Feel A Way” singer approached Shaggy for their most recent collaboration, “Go Down Deh.” During their ensuing conversation, Shaggy asked Spice why she has never released an album, considering how many big hit songs she had amassed over the years.
Using his keen insight, Shaggy realized that there was a communication problem that was leading to the problems between the Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta star and the label. “I think it was a communication problem that was going on, she was representing herself,” he said.
Shaggy added that the deal itself was simply not a good one and the first thing that needed to be done was a restructuring.
“In the initial stage of her deal, I don’t think she had proper representation cause she was young. It wasn’t a very good deal and so we went in there and just kinda restructured it,” he said.
Shaggy went on to say that he believed that they were able to reach a compromise because of the fact that VP recognized Spice’s value to their brand.
“In fairness to VP, they were willing to come to the table because they realised her value at the same time and what happened with all the records that she was doing. She just took her own career in her hands so kudos to her to get herself to this level,” he continued.
As the negotiations continued, Shaggy, who is the executive producer on her upcoming album, was able to show the brand a way that all parties could benefit from a partnership. That included using her catalog to do the album.
“There’s an old saying ‘if it’s not a win-win, it’s a bad idea’ so you really have to come up with a win-win situation that all parties are okay with and she had a win-win situation and they had a win-win situation… I was happy to be involved in it, that I could make it move forward and they were open to the whole thing so it’s really just communication and sitting down there and having these conversations,” he added.
What happened between Spice and VP Records?
In 2018, Spice started to share with her fans how frustrated she concerned the label and what she perceived as their efforts to stop her from producing an album. Spice, who had signed with VP Records in 2009, said that she believed it was “the biggest mistake I’ve made in my entire life.”
She explained to fans how tirelessly she had been working on trying to make the album a reality. “I’m tired of fans asking me about my album I’ve been signed to them for 10 years and they never ever released one album for me. I do absolutely EVERY THING BY MYSELF. I finance my own career and push my own music while Dem siddung inna A/C Inna dem office every day a drink red wine,” she said at the time.
The Queen of Dancehall added: “Up to this day, from 2009 they have not released an album with me, and so I’m ready now to battle with them in court because I have to fight for my fans, my fans need an album from me. They (VP) have left me with no other resort but to fight them to get out of this contract. I’ve just started the process because I’ve given them 10 years.”
Spice, who also spoke during the interview on The Breakfast Club with Shaggy, said she’s still not quite sure how he was able to pull it off, adding: “I think Shaggy has a secret of what he told them cause I don’t know what different him tell them more than weh I’ve been saying for 10 years.”
Fans are looking forward to the release of her debut album, TEN, which is scheduled for release on July 30.
