I had no clue Shaggy had a new album out. I didn’t know what to expect when “Clothes Drop” started, but to be honest it really follows in the vein of eir last album “Hotshot”. Starting out with the very funky, tropical-influenced hit “Clothes Drop”, Shaggy shows that ey still has it. What should be the immediate thing noticed about “Clothes Drop” is the fact that the disc’s seventeen tracks are music, instead of the five or six skits that are filler on the average rap disc. This album can do double duty as a party mix, as tracks like “Ready Fi Di Ride” keep the beat going even if the general sound is different from the other tracks on the disc. The slightly more gruff, rock-influence dtrack “Broadway” is just another vehicle for Shaggy’s distinctive voice; much like eir protégé Sean Paul, Shaggy cannot make a track that does not prominently feature eir voice.
It is not a necessarily bad thing; actually, it may actually be a positive as there is a maturity to Shaggy’s voice that has been imbued on it by the decades of involvement in the music industry. One major issue that really hamstrings “Clothes Drop” occurs on “Wild 2Nite”; even though the track is touted as “featuring Olivia”, eir vocals on the track sound indistinguishable from the other female vocals on the track. This results in a nasty déjà vu concerning events that are maybe eight minutes away from each other. However much of an issue these similar-sounding females are in destructing the strong opening to “Clothes Drop”, the humorous and catchy flow of Shaggy during “Back in the Days” really makes up in toto. The fact is that the disc should get a plus for having seventeen cuts, but this plus is balanced by a negative for having tracks like “Wild Ride” that really do not provide any furthering of the disc. The slight staggered rhythms present on the vocal dissonance achieved by the work between Shaggy and will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas) start off “Shut Up and Dance” strongly, but the chorus plumbs the depths achieved by a number of other r&b acts in the recent past.
The disc may be a little much to listen through without interruption, but “Clothes Drop” will do admirably played on the systems of any party in the next few years. While there are not as many immediate hits as “Two-Way” on “Clothes Drop”, there are not quite as many bum tracks on this go-around.
Top Tracks: Back In The Days, Broadway
Rating: 5.1/10 Shaggy – Clothes Drop / 2005 Universal / 17 Tracks / http://www.shaggyonline.com / http://www.geffen.com / Reviewed 05 October 2005