We’ve all had our fair share of errors at work, but imagine if your slip-up led to Shaggy’s rise to fame?
This is reportedly what happened to an employee at a 1990s marketing start-up, who inadvertently shared Shaggy’s 2000 track ‘It Wasn’t Me’ with the masses.
Usually, a workplace blunder might lead to a reprimand or an uncomfortable meeting if you’re unfortunate, but unintentionally kickstarting someone’s career is another level.
Remarkably, the individual responsible stated they were dismissed due to their oversight, which resulted in a significant music leak, including tracks by Mr. Boombastic himself. Quite the blunder.
In a post on the ‘Ask Me Anything’ subreddit, the user opened up about the incident.
They recounted how the day appeared to begin as usual, stating: “We would oftentimes get pre-release albums for review, we would get one or two copies that the entire office had to share so we would burn them onto our work machines to listen to during work.”
Remember the era of burning CDs and downloading tunes via Napster? (If not, ask your parents).
That’s precisely what this person did, as they elaborated: “One Friday I burned several dozen new albums onto my hard disk, one of them being Shaggy’s album.”
Having completed the task, they clocked off for the day, thinking nothing further.
That is, until they discovered that numerous major albums had leaked.
Alongside Shaggy’s music, Madonna’s Music album, as well as tracks by Nelly, Nelly Furtado, and Limp Bizkit, were also leaked prematurely.
What a debacle.
The Redditor shared: “My colleagues and I joked that someone we knew was getting fired.”
Little did they know, they would be the one losing their job.
When the next week began, they explained: “When I got to work that Monday I realized I had left my computer on and those albums had been downloaded millions of times.”
It turns out they hadn’t just burned them to CD.
“I had accidentally saved the burned albums to my SCOUR/Napster shared folder and I realized I was responsible for the leak,” the user admitted.
The situation didn’t conclude favorably for them.
They reminisced about it recently upon watching a documentary about Shaggy and how the ironically named ‘It Wasn’t Me’ catapulted him to stardom.
Reddit users were quick to respond, showering the poster with questions and admiration.
One commented: “Wow I loved/still love that song! I totally remember that happening, I was a Napster user. Did you feel mortified when you found out it was you and you didn’t intentionally mean to do it?”
The poster answered: “Wow I loved/still love that song! I totally remember that happening, I was a Napster user. Did you feel mortified when you found out it was you and you didn’t intentionally mean to do it?”
Another remarked: “YOU’RE THE GUY!!!! This dude is a pirate legend, and responsible for one of the greatest feel-good stories of the 90s.”
They added: “The label was basically treating Shaggy like s**t and ignoring him, until ‘Wasn’t Me’ leaked and exploded. This dude MADE Shaggy.”
In a backhanded compliment, the user noted: “Your incompetence is legendary, bro!”