Album category for his commercially successful album Boombastic. The Grammy win capped off a great year for Shaggy, who scored multiple hits on both sides of the Atlantic thanks to the 14-track Boombastic album, which features the chart-topping title track, the charted singles In the Summertime featuring Rayvon, Why You Treat Me So Bad, Day Oh, and the double-sided hit Something Different/The Train is Coming.

In an interview with the Jamaica Observer, Shaggy said that Boombastic was created at a time when he felt inspired and motivated to be different. “No one can really anticipate the outcome of any project. I just know that at that time I was in a place where I was inspired and motivated to be different. Oh Carolina was different and Boombastic was different. This was risky because the wave at that time in dancehall sounded nothing like what I was making, but I liked the sound and knew the song (Boombastic) was special,” Shaggy recalled.

The album was nominated alongside Rasta Business by Burning Spear, Hi-Bop Ska! The 30th anniversary Recording by The Skatalites, Live it Up by Third World, and Free Like We Want 2 B from Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. Asked to describe the feeling when he learnt of his first Grammy nomination, Shaggy said: “Frankly I took it all for granted, everything happened so fast, even being at the Grammys felt surreal. I just think it wasn’t that big a deal; I felt like every year I’m gonna win one of these until reality kicked in and I had a ton of nominations and no wins, lol.”

Released via Virgin Records in July 1995, the album Boombastic peaked at #34 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, #37 on the UK Albums chart, #35 in Switzerland, #43 in Sweden, #10 in New Zealand, #24 in Germany, #25 in Austria, and #11 in Australia. The 14-track set features production work by the likes of Tony Kelly, Robert Livingston, Bobby Digital, Shaun “Sting International” Pizzonia, and Phillip Smart. (Jamaica Observer)