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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Guardian music

Shaggy: Islamic State would pack it in if they listened to reggae and got high

Shaggy
Shaggy … new breed of diplomat. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe for the Guardian

Shaggy has announced to the world the secret of defeating the Islamic State, the jihadist group intent on establishing a new caliphate in the Middle East: it is listening to his music and getting high.

After describing their acts as “crazy shit … horrible”, the reggae star told the Miami New Times that he believed the banning of music among certain Islamic sects contributed to the “evil” of Isis. “If you’re able to cut a man’s head off, you’re sick. But right, music evokes emotion. So if they’re listening to Shaggy music or reggae music, they’re not going to want to cut somebody’s head off,” he said.

“There’re two thing you want to do when you listen to reggae: You get somebody pregnant, or you’re fucking high. High people don’t want to kill nothing; they want to love. They need to bag some Jamaican weed and distribute it amongst Isis. I guarantee there won’t be any more wars out there … Throw some Bob Marley up in there and there’ll be peace. Some of these world leaders need to be stoners though, really.”

Shaggy, who is 46, served in the US marines in Iraq during the first Gulf war. He remains best known for It Wasn’t Me, an international smash hit in 2000. He has a new single called Go Fuck Yourself, but it is not directed at Isis.

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