TORONTO -- Snow is collaborating on a new album with part of the production team behind Shaggy's mega-platinum disc "Hotshot."

The Toronto-based urban-music star told JAM! Music that he is currently recording the new record in Miami with Tony and Dave Kelly, who were among the producers and engineers credited on Shaggy's "Hotshot," one of the biggest-selling albums of the last year.

Those sessions -- along with tracks cut with Blu Cantrell producer Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and "another guy from New Jersey who is just coming out" -- should surface in August on Snow's follow-up to 2000's "Mind On The Moon".

"It's going to be hot," Snow said as he circulated through the Juno nominations press conference in Toronto Monday (he was nominated for best video for "The Plum Song," and for his collaboration with Ghetto Concept).

Whereas "Mind On The Moon" saw Snow moving in a more pop-oriented direction, the new disc will see the rapper and singer returning to his reggae roots. It's a sound he first explored on his breakthrough 1993 release "12 Inches Of Snow," which produced the giant hit "Informer."

"It's more reggae. More reggae. This last album, I had a lot more guitars in my studio. I was clinging to more of a guitar style, which I loved on my last album," he said.

"But now, the crowd, the kids, when I sing 'Informer,' they love it. They weren't around when I was doing it (the first time). So I gotta do some more reggae.

"It was the kids. When I seen the kids, when I sing 'Informer,' I seen how much they love it. It's not all reggae. There's more singing. Everything is mixed. Whatever I feel, I do. I want to do a country song. If I feel it in my heart, I will do it."

When asked if he was encouraged by the crossover success of Shaggy's similar dancehall/hip-hop style, Snow was adamant that he took nothing from Shaggy's work.

"No, he never encouraged me. He never encouraged me. He don't have no influence on my life whatsoever," he said.

When asked if the new album had a title, Snow replied: "Maybe I should title it 'Shaggy Doesn't Influence Me'."