Shaggy Talks Rihanna's New Album, Reveals He Turned Down Collaboration Audition

Shaggy passed on doing a collaboration with Rihanna for her new album because he didn’t want to audition.

The 51-year-old reggae musician was reportedly approached by the 31-year-old “Diamonds” singer for her upcoming ninth studio album, which she has been referring to as R9.

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“They approached me for the Rihanna project, yeah,” Shaggy told Britain’s Daily Star. “There’s a lot of great people involved, but for me, I didn’t need to audition to be on the record, I’ll leave that to younger guys.”

He added, “But from what I hear it should be good!”

“It’s healthy competition,” Shaggy continued. “Dancehall is in good place, but we need as many people to do this art form as possible. When it crosses over and becomes popular with artists from other genres and other cultures, that can only be good.”

READ MORE: Rihanna Says She’s Listening to ‘R9′ & Refusing to Release It!