Diana King speaks on DJ Khaled sampling her dancehall classic “Shy Guy” on his new album, Father Of Asahd.
DJ Khaled tapped some big names in reggae/dancehall for his new album with Buju Banton, Mavado, and Sizzla getting featured on the album’s opener, “Holy Mountain.” Buju is also featured on the last single on the project, “Holy Ground.” Another dancehall icon whose work is featured on the album is Diana King. Her 1995 classic “Shy Guy” was sampled on the single “Jealous” featuring Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, and Big Sean.
According to King, the song has been sampled so many times that she is unable to keep track. “Shy Guy has been covered or sampled almost every year since it was first release in 1995, so I’m pretty much used to it by now,” she said.
Diana King continues, “Jealous has it’s own mark. The sample is not obvious and I like that. I don’t love all the songs related to Shy Guy, but if I signed off on it, I’m OK with it. I kinda look at them all as my grandkids in song form. It feels great to have them.”
“Shy Guy” was a massive hit in the mid-1990s. The song was written by Diana King and Andy Marvel, and the dancehall icon says DJ Khaled received the proper clearance to sample the song through her representative at Sony ATV Music Publishing.
“They [DJ Khaled team] got in touch about six months prior to the album’s release,” she said.
King revealed that “Shy Guy sold over 5 million copies in an era when there was no social media to market the song to a wider audience. “A song like Shy Guy never existed at the time. A fusion of reggae, dancehall, soul and pop,” she said. “It was very unique, catchy and had an immense worldwide appeal that led to it becoming an international hit, selling over five million copies … and all this before social media.”
