It wasn’t until a DJ in Honolulu, Hawaii illegally downloaded “It Wasn’t Me” that it became the hit it’s known as today. When the album finally was released, it didn’t do well on the radio, and Shaggy was on the verge of being dropped. The label only felt confident about releasing Hot Shot when Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were behind it, and the record would have otherwise been on the cutting room floor. Label executives wanted Shaggy to create a single for the album with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who were two of the biggest producers and songwriters at the time. Although Shaggy and Sting eventually convinced Robert that the song should go on the album, senior executives thought Hot Shot was a “pile of junk,” and that there wasn’t a song on the album they could release to radio. Producer Sting International and Shaggy both absolutely believed in “It Wasn’t Me” as a hit from the very beginning, but Shaggy’s manager Robert, who called the shots for most of his releases, didn’t even want the song to go on the album. In fact, the entire Hot Shot album was considered to be a record of throwaway hits that wouldn’t make it anywhere. Someone in the studio at the time even recalls Shaggy saying, “Yeah, man, that one’s not gonna get finished and go on the album,” when “It Wasn’t Me” was played. In July 2020, VICE released a short documentary to their YouTube channel that discussed the making of the song, including the way it was originally shot down by higher-ups. Shaggy attributes the inspiration for “It Wasn’t Me” as coming from Eddie Murphy’s comedy special Raw, which he found relatable and funny because infidelity and relationship problems were everywhere.
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