Shaggy Reveals The True Meaning Of 'It Wasn't Me' Song

Shaggy says that nearly everybody has misunderstood his song “It Wasn’t Me.”

The 54-year-old rapper says that although most people think the song condoned cheating, it was actually an “anti-cheating song.”

“It Wasn’t Me” was released as part of Shaggy’s 2000 album Hot Shot.

“It’s just that nobody listened to the record to the end,” Shaggy said. “There’s a part in the record where it’s a conversation between two people and you have one guy, which is me at that point, giving that bad advice, like, “Yo, bro, how could you get caught?”
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“Just tell her, ‘It wasn’t me,’” and then at the end, the guy says, “I’m going to tell her that I’m sorry for the pain that I’ve caused,” Shaggy told People. “I’ve been listening to your reasoning, it makes no sense at all. Going to tell her that I’m sorry for the pain that I’ve caused. You might think that you’re a player, but you’re completely lost.”

“Nobody hears that part!” Shaggy continued. “That’s what the song says. But everybody’s just caught up on that, ‘It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me.’ It’s an anti-cheating song. No one ever really buys into that, and I keep explaining it to people. Then, they go listen to it back and be like, ‘Oh dude, I totally missed that.’”

Shaggy says that fans misunderstanding the true meaning of the song for decades actually helped its popularity. As one of the most recognizable songs of the ’00s, he ultimately attributes its popularity to its relatability.

“Yeah, but hey, I think it has helped in the life of the song,” Shaggy said of fans’ misunderstanding. “What’s so good about that song is that it was relatable throughout the years. People do have this whole situation with cheating, and the thing about that is that you could be young, old, Black, white, straight, gay, whatever it is, it’s still relatable.”

If you didn’t see, when Shaggy met Prince Harry in 2020, Prince Harry began singing “It Wasn’t Me” to him!

Check out the music video here!