Whether he is singing or not singing, smiling or not smiling, Jamaican born-singer Shaggy is a slick man I can tell you. He did two lines from his song Keeping it Real for me after a press briefing at Speke Resort Munyonyo, and he was the real McCoy.

Shaggy and some of his fans at Entebbe Airport (Photo by Chicco).

And pop reggae star Shaggy is not shy about sharing his feelings about success.

Neither is he shy about admitting to having children but not being married. After all, he says he is Mr. Loverman.

During an interaction with the press in Speke Resort Munyonyo shortly after his arrival in Uganda, he made it clear that right from the start of his career, he never expected to make it as big as he is making it in the music industry.

“We all set out to be successful. I did not know I would be this big or would have success of this magnitude. I also surprised myself,” he says.

One of his greatest hits is It wasn’t Me, a song which talks about a man who was caught cheating and denies his part in it for this song. One expects that Shaggy would get complaints from his female fans. On the contrary, he says they loved the song.

“Few women will have their complaints, but not many have come to my face. In fact a survey in the US showed that majority of the requests for the song to be played on radio were from women. This shows you who is good at cheating, the women. Pretty much everybody cheats but it is the men who always get caught,” says Shaggy.

He also maintains, It wasn't Me has a good message to put across and there is nothing wrong with it.

For the man who did a stint in the Iraq war in 1991, Shaggy believes it is in the past and part of his history and has nothing to do with his success in the music career. It was a way out for him when jobs were not coming his way.

On why he chose reggae, Shaggy is confident it is one music genre that crosses all boundaries and corners of the world, something he looks at as a way of life for him and many others like Sean Paul, Rik Rok, Reyvon and others.

And will he continue writing songs?

“Hopefully I will be writing for as along as I will be singing, if I have the power in me.”

Shaggy also implied that his next album, since it is also going to be about women and sex, will be a success. According to Shaggy, the fact that he is inspired by women is a part of the reason why he is successful.

“I celebrate women and their sexuality, there is nothing wrong with singing about women.”