It was a year of highs and lows for Shaggy. In November he was one of five Jamaican acts nominated in the Best Reggae Album category for the 65th Grammy Awards slated for Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on February 5 2023. His effort is Com Fly Wid Mi, produced by British rocker Sting.

By December, Shaggy was again grabbing the headlines but not for his music. According to media reports, the entertainer had not turned over J$100 million raised from the 2018 staging Shaggy And Friends concert; proceeds which were earmarked to build an intensive care unit at the Bustamante Hospital for Children in St Andrew.

He defended his action, adding that the attacks were unwarranted and disturbing.

“That narrative would cause discomfort at the end of the day,” he said, “but our model has never been to turn money over to government. That was never our model; I don’t know where they got that from. If you look at previous things that we have done: we purchased equipment and refurbished equipment ourselves, we also maintain them ourselves. We’re the ones who fly technicians down — and we don’t just do our equipment, we do the whole hospital.”

The two-time Grammy winner assured the puvlic that, “The money is safe; it is still there. If you tell me I have moved a little slow towards it, I am the type of person [who] if I’m spending people money, I’m going to spend it right.”

Started in 2009, the biennial Shaggy And Friends concert raised more than US$1.6 million for the Bustamante Hospital for Children.