Hot Shot 2020 has been billed as a rerub of Shaggy’s colossal turn of the century release Hot Shot. It’s not quite an accurate description of an album that has already been released in three different forms and shifted nine million copies though. In fact, this version only has six tracks in common with the original and adds cover versions, re-recordings of some of Mr Boombastic's other huge hits, like “Oh Carolina” and, of course, “Boombastic”, and a few other odds and sods. However, taken on its own terms as a grab bag of Orville Burrell’s musical highlights, it hits the spot on a relaxed sunny day with a strong drink at hand.
From the original Hot Shot, there’s new versions of Shaggy’s anthem for cheating boyfriends, “It Wasn’t Me”, but with Rayvon taking the place of original sparring partner Rikrok, and pop reggae hit “Angel”, but now with Sting providing backing vocals, among other tunes. It’s all pretty predictable and inoffensive stuff, if a tad more laidback than the versions of twenty years ago. What isn’t predictable, however, are some of the cover versions on offer. These include Peter Tosh’s shout out to roots music, Rasta and smoking ganja with the Queen, “Buk-in-Hamm Palace” and a fairly faithful take on Eddy Grant’s classic, “Electric Avenue”.
Of course, there’s nothing to rock the boat on Hot Shot 2020 and this album won’t do anything to remove Shaggy from his place as the favourite reggae artist of those people that don’t really like reggae. It does take the odd playful poke at his somewhat cheesy image, however, with a cover of “Under the Sea” from Disney’s Little Mermaid and an almost anti-“It Wasn’t Me”, called “Strength of a Woman”. It’s just a pity that there couldn’t have been a bit more Peter Tosh and a bit less Sting on offer.
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