Los Angeles, Aug 26 (IANS): Rap legend Shaggy has hit out at the bizarre rumours that he mixes marijuana in his tea, and chain smokes weed, calling it fabricated nonsense.
The 54-year-old rapper says he rarely ever touches the drug and insists that the suggestion he drinks it in his tea is utterly "bogus", reports mirror.co.uk.
Shaggy, whose hits include the smash singles, 'Angel', ‘It Wasn't Me’ and ‘Boombastic’, has said that while he does go out for 'the occasional puff' with friends, he largely stays clear of the substance, so chain smoking weed is out of the question.
Talking about his interest in marijuana, he said: “I never said I put it in my tea. I don’t drink weed in my tea. I don’t even smoke it.”
"I might have an occasional puff here and there in a social environment with my friends but nothing of that nature. I’m not an avid weed smoker. I don’t have anything against anyone that smokes weed.”
“I’m from Rastafarian family and my uncles are all Rastafarians and I’ve been raised around it all my life.”
Shaggy is set to perform at the Notting Hill Carnival in London as part of the traditional end of summer Bank Holiday event. In promotion of his new event, the rapper has been going through a spree of interviews, talking about both the performance as well as personal questions.
The performer had teased his performance during an interview with ITV earlier this week, revealing he will be playing a brand new song.
He said: “We’ve been blessed with a catalogue of great music and we bring it to the people. It’s the soundtrack for a lot of people’s lives. And with this particular track, it’s such a feel-good track.”
Further talking about his new song, he added: “It’s a track that, what I try to accomplish with this song, ‘Mood’, is bring not just Carnival, but bring a song that will work outside of Carnival.”
“When you’re in that mood, you’re not just in a good mood during Carnival, you could be in a good mood on Christmas.”
“You want that to really transcend through different times.I think people are just going to come out and have a good time. I say to everybody, wear comfortable shoes because you’ll be dating all day.”
And explaining exactly where fans can catch him in action, he said: “This year we’re going to be at the Rampage Stage and also on Saxon and having a good time.”