As Hurricane Melissa to a Category 5 storm pointing right at Jamaica, Shaggy knew he had to help, he just wasn't sure how. So he asked ChatGPT.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know anything about relief and how to prepare for a storm," the Grammy-winning reggae musician said. 鈥淚 went to ChatGPT and looked at what we would need in a storm and we just bought that. Luckily, that鈥檚 exactly what they needed.鈥�
Orville Richard Burrell, known for pop-dancehall hits like 鈥淏oombastic" and 鈥淎ngel,鈥� was born and raised in Kingston until he moved to New York when he was 18.
He was in Miami when Melissa made landfall, but lives in Kingston. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where the wife, kids and dogs are,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 where I call home," he said.
READ MORE: Jamaica rushes to prepare for peak tourism season as it digs out from Hurricane Melissa
After the that killed across the northern Caribbean, Shaggy, 57, mobilized relief immediately for Jamaica, shuttling supplies from Miami and hand delivering them to the worst-hit areas.
He's now made it a mission to bring attention to his country's needs. 鈥淚t's urgent to get the word out and make sure people don鈥檛 forget.鈥�
The needs are dire, he said. 鈥淚 think Jamaica鈥檚 forever changed by this.鈥�
Shaggy spoke with The Associated Press on Wednesday from New York City. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
What went through your mind as Melissa approached Jamaica?
When I heard that a Category 5 is coming, I鈥檓 saying to myself, 鈥榃hoa, this is going to be catastrophic.鈥� I just started preparing myself, hoping I can get in there and be effective.
I called my friend Dan Newlin. He has two planes and I said, 鈥楲et鈥檚 load these planes up and we鈥檒l just shoot down there.鈥� As soon as the airport opened, we hit the ground.
Tell us about the impacted areas.
It took us about six hours to get to a place that normally would be about two-and-a-half hours. There鈥檚 debris everywhere, there is sand and mud and some (roads) are still flooded, power poles are in the road.
I got there in the middle of the night, there was no electricity, it was pitch black so all I could give out was just water.
We drove six hours back to the city that night, and we put all the stuff into smaller vehicles ... things like tarpaulins, female sanitary pads, Pampers for kids, flashlights, batteries. (The next day we) took another route, which took us about four hours this time. That's the only way to do it.
(St. Elizabeth parish) looked like they dropped an atomic bomb there with how damaged it was. We pulled up right before the bridge and they had just shut the whole town down because they said it was ground zero.
And we just pulled up right there and opened the truck and said, 鈥淲e鈥檙e gonna give it out right here.鈥� We thought we were going to get chaos because we didn鈥檛 have much security. But the truck pulled up and they just started to form a line by themselves. That鈥檚 how orderly it was.
What did you see and hear from people impacted?
No one could really prepare for that. No one has ever seen it. I feel for them.
The psychological effects it鈥檚 going to have on these children. A couple days ago they were probably playing, and now they鈥檙e standing in a queue just trying to find some food for their tummies.
We don鈥檛 just need to be rebuilding as far as food and shelter, but you鈥檙e also going to need some counseling.
How can people help Jamaica?
If people can鈥檛 do cash, or (in) kind (donations), one thing they can do is keep it on their socials, keep it trending. We鈥檝e got to keep the awareness up, because we鈥檙e going to need the aid. These places aren鈥檛 going to be fixed until probably 10 years before this is back and running the right way.
I'm working closely with Global Empowerment Mission. They have an that you can just click on the items and Amazon will ship it straight to GEM and because they have boots on the ground they will get it straight into these neighborhoods.
is also well established. It鈥檚 a Jamaican charity organization. They鈥檝e been helping Haiti and places like those.
There鈥檚 also the site that has been set up by the government.
What would you want people who haven't been to Jamaica to know about the culture and the people there?
We鈥檙e very resilient people. There鈥檚 a lot of love and a lot kindness. I鈥檝e seen this firsthand.
Kingston now operates as an hub that can get food and supplies in and out. You鈥檙e seeing a lot of people, just regular Jamaicans, who are loading up their cars on the weekend and just going down there and that really helps.
You鈥檙e feeling that community, camaraderie, within the Jamaican society. I love that.
