Dancehall superstar Shabba Ranks’ Slow & Sexy single featuring R&B singer Johnny Gill was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association on December 30 1992. The dancehall infused R&B track released September 29, 1992 is produced by Clifton “Specialist” Dillon, and mega producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. It set the pace for how dancehall music was marketed throughout the 1990s.
The song which is the lead single from Shabba’s second Grammy winning album X-tra Naked peaked at No. 33 January 9, 1993 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, No. 4 on the US R&B chart and No. 17 on the U.K. singles chart.
According to Data provided to WMV by our Billboard Sales Trackers Luminate, Shabba’s ’93 Grammy Award winning Best Reggae album “X-tra Naked” has sold 522 thousand units of pure album sales with streams of 52 million in the US as of December 7, 2022.
It was the follow up to his previous ’92 Grammy award winning album “Raw As Ever” which has sold 679 thousand units of pure album Sales TEA/SEA: with a total stream count of 87.1M as of December 7, 2022.
The rights and masters of both albums are currently owned by Sony Records.
In 1993, Ranks scored a hit on the Addams Family Values soundtrack to which he contributed a rap/reggae version of the Sly and the Family Stone hit “Family Affair”. His third album for Epic, A Mi Shabba, was released in 1995. He was dropped by the label in 1996. Epic went on to release a greatest hits album, entitled Shabba Ranks and Friends in 1999.
Shabba’s contribution to music’s development goes outside of dancehall and reggae genres with his influence being the stylistic base for reggaeton music which can be traced back to the 1990s hit “Dem Bow”, from Ranks’ album Just Reality. The song produced by Bobby “Digital” Dixon, on the Dem Bow riddim became so popular in Puerto Rican freestyle sessions that early Puerto Rican reggaeton was simply known as “Dembow”.
Shabba Ranks
Ranks made a partial comeback in 2007 when he appeared on a song called “Clear The Air” by Busta Rhymes, which also featured Akon. Shabba released a single on Big Ship’s Pepper Riddim called “None A Dem”, in April 2011. In 2012, Shabba was featured on Tech N9ne’s EP E.B.A.H. on the track “Boy Toy”. In 2013, Shabba was also mentioned and made a cameo in the music video for the A$AP Ferg’s song “Shabba,” which has surpassed 100 million views on YouTube and was certified 2 times Platinum by the RIAA last October.
In light of the many disgruntled artist who have beef and ongoing court cases with with record labels, Ranks came out guns blazing as he addressed several topics relating to the entertainment industry in a post performance interview at the 2022 sailing of the Welcome To Jamrock Cruise. The Mr. Lover Man DJ says in-spite of his success he has been treated unfairly in the industry but he came from nothing and used what he had to achieve superstardom. He has since shifted gears and is now looking to provide opportunities for his future generations.
Shabba Ranks
Prompted by Winford Williams of Onstage the DJ said,
“Paul McCartney nuh give weh him music free inuh, Mick Jagger nuh gi weh him things free,
Bruce Springsteen nuh gi weh him ting free. Mi gi weh enough free, so you see if a guy nah pay me fi Shabba sumn, well my youth them aguh release Shabba sumn.”
The deejay, whose real name is Rexton Ralston Fernando Gordon rose to fame in the late 80s and early 90s and was signed to Epic Records in 1989.
During his post Jamrock Cruise monologue, Shabba instructs his fans to call on the gate keepers of the industry to include him in the music that is being made in the reggae and dancehall community today. “I work and make Dancehall be a multi-billionaire, multi-billions innah this music yah, and you see the people them who a the gate holder or the gate people them innah this music yah a gwan like seh them see every other artists and them don’t see Shabba, so hear what I want all of the people dem fi do”, as he paused. “Me want inuh fi chat to the people dem who a produce dancehall music and reggae music and make them know seh unuh want some Shabba music.”
The Seaview Gardens DJ says the reason he is excluded from producers and record label’s list of artist to work with today is due to his strict business principles.
“Because me a deal with business and some man a deal with hustling them gwan like them nuh wah deal with me. Cause them have a old rule weh dem a use pon new fool, but because me a old fool weh understand the old rule dem gwan like them nuh wah deal with me,” he said to much cheers in the background.
“If a guy nah deal with business, I nah deal with nuh business cause whatever I do from now on is not for me, I have done for me already, it’s for my children’s children”, he added.
In a more sober tone, the 54 year old Bed Room Bully artist emphasized the importance of owning the Masters of one’s music recordings, as that is the only way to ensure success and freedom. He also states that he will not be a slave to anyone else, and that he will emancipate himself if necessary.
“So unuh rob me of me already but unuh cyah rob me of my children’s children…a music me a deal with..If you do not own the masters you are a slave, and i refuse to be anymore slave, because them seh them emancipate we but me haffi emancipate myself.”
Watch Shabba Ranks and Johnny Gill on the Arsenio Hall Show below:
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