1Biggs Don was discovered in April via a street freestyle on the OTP Control channel.
In the music video 1Biggs Don celebrates with his clique in the streets of Jamaica.
Since the original TikTok video became popular, the Heart Academy student has been performing at stage shows across the island.
American TikToker Andrew Tate came under fire for comments he made about a Jamaican viral sensation Biggz Don.
The British-American kickboxer, commentator and businessman pointed to the fact that in Biggz’ freestyle all the things he was deejaying about were not part of his present image.
“Biggz Don, the first word he says is ‘Rolex pon mi wrist is a bust down’, which means it’s iced out, he’s put diamonds all over his Rolex, but he is not wearing a watch, he just says it,” he said.
He further stated, “Then If you watch the end of the video closely he’s wearing the most dusty flip flops, they don’t even fit.”
Biggs has since recorded a song for the self titled Top G Andrew Tate.
09. Bayka
British Rock band Coldplay caught the dancehall vibe as they were seen hanging out at Frenchman’s Cove Beach in East Portland recently according to sources. The group which consists of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey shared a list of songs they are ‘loving at the moment.’
The endorsement is a lay up for the trap dancehall artist whose stocks went up when the 7 time Grammy Award winners posted his music to their 80 million social media followers across platforms. Let’s see what he does with it in 2023.
08. Valiant
Bursting on the scenes via a TikTok video with the slang “Kotch E Hat A Lie” in the final quarter of the year. He quickly used the popularity of the trend to promote his music and his songs has since been the top 10 of the Apple Music and YouTube daily and weekly charts in Jamaica for 8 consecutive weeks.
Valiant became the first artist to have 10 songs in the top 10 in on YouTube and Apple Music in Jamaica.
07. Serani
The Dancehall singer joined the short list of his peers to have a Gold certification in the U.K. when the hit single No Games sold more than 600,000 units in that country according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
In April this year British singer Ed Sheeran was in the company of grime artist Jaykae at The Roost Pub in Small Heath Birmingham. The two were pouring draft beer, playing pool and casually chorusing No Games. Ed even shows off his rhythm with few dance moves.
06. Sister Nancy
Her Bam Bam hit surged to No. 1 on the U.S. iTunes Reggae chart and was Certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry on January 7, 2022 after it sold over 200,000 copies in the UK. The song’s massive success continued as she performed at some of the biggest shows and festivals across the world as far as Australia during the year. Her legendary rendition of Bam Bam appeared as one of 47 tracks on Netflix’s 2022 series Maid.
Maid, an adaptation of a bestselling memoir, is about the struggles of a 25-year-old single mother Alex, played by actress Margaret Qualley, who finds her living as a housekeeper. The 10-episode series, which premiered last Friday, has vowed critics enough to grab a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score right out of the gate.
Bam Bam appears as the background track for a scene in season one, episode three at around the 9-minute mark. As Alex cleans an apartment robustly, the horns blare with the lyrics, “One ting Nancy cyah understand, wah mek dem talk bout me ambition? Seh, what mek dem a talk bout me ambition, some a dem a ask em wet me come from.”
05. Ishawna
Ishawna’s Brace It featuring Ed Sheeran is one of the more serendipitous moments in dancehall history.
Ishawna co-produced the the 90s Inspired modern dancehall beat along with reggae hitmakers Don Corleone and Skatta Burrel.
The Only Fans singer and Sheeran matched each other’s seductive energy back and forth as they suggestivley say what they want to do to each other in nuanced dancehall lingua. The 3 minute long mix of pop and dancehall allows both artists to stay true to their individual sounds and neither seem to be out of their bounds.
“Me good up, bwoy come wine pon me good up, slide and wine pon me good up,” Ishawna sings and Sheeran responds with “Brace It Brace It pon me.”
“Picture you inah me bed boy,” Ishawna courts his imagination.
“I nah go I nah I nah go leave you never, I nah i nah i nah go diss you ever,” both artists sing on the chorus. They also fill each other’s ad libs and harmonies.
The highly anticipated dancehall song cames on the heels of Sheeran winning a million dollar lawsuit but the song has been in the works since he fell in love with Ishawna’s “Equal Rights”, a remix of his “Shape Of You” last year.
Ishawna used the popular track from “Shape Of You” to spit dancehall lyrics about reciprocating oral sex. A topic which is considered taboo in some sections of dancehall culture.
Sheeran told Qmusic Nederland, “There are so many remixes of it, I was in the Caribbean, and I heard like a totally different song, It is really really filthy, but she is just singing about her man going down on her,” he said candidly.
05. Skillibeng
With DJ Khaled collabs, tours and major festival appearances in the U.K and the U.S., Skillibeng defied local detractors and had his fans around the world singing “Whap Whap.”
Skillibeng was featured on “These Streets Know My Name” By DJ Khaled with Bounty Killer, Capleton, Buju Banton and Sizzla. It is the first collab for the Coke artist with all the other veteran artists including Khaled.
His other music video released the same week was Rain with Shenseea directed by Shane (Tory Lanez, Kodak Black,).
Nicki Minaj, whom Skilli collaborated with for the remix of Crocodile Teeth in 2021 brought him out to perform with her at the Young Money reunion in Canada.
The two Caribbean stars performed Crocodile Teeth for the first time.
Skillibeng also performed “Whap Whap” with the support of the Queen Of Hip Hop on stage.
Skillibeng, 25, enjoyed the endorsement of another top flight woman across continents when in July platinum U.K. Jamaican rapper Stefflon Don joined the ‘Coke’ deejay on the Wireless Festival stage
Skillibeng says he believes he is the leader of this generation of dancehall artist,
“I think I am the leader of like the new generation, based off what stats are saying and shows,” he remarked during an interview On The Radar Radio.
“Alotta mah flows have been stolen, alot of my tactics that I teach in interviews have been stolen, I am not even saying tis been stolen,” he says with a pseudo America accent. Younger artist are taking my moves, taking my moves and doing what I teach them and i applaud them,” he continued.
“I am doing the work and it’s all about me doing the work, cause I have been doing the work over the years i been releasing alotta music. I been like putting in the work, bodies of work, I am the only person that like release a mixtape with 35 , 37 tracks going crazy,” he affirmed.
The St. Thomas native topped off the year with the U.K.’s MOBO award for Best Caribbean Music Act 2022.
It’s his first major award and he was also nominated for Best International act alongside Beyonce, Burna Boy, Chris Brown, Drake, Jack Harlow, Jazmine Sullivan, Kendrick Lamr, Summer Walker, and Tems. Burna Boy won that award.
Skillibeng was announced as the opening act for Chris Brown’s sold out “Under The Influence” European tour.
The two RCA records artist’s tour begins February 12 in Dublin and ends March 6, 2023 in Amsterdam.
04. Shenseea
Dancehall princess Shenseea continues to broke records all year at her own pace as her debut album Alpha led the charge as the most streamed project by a dancehall artist this year in the US. The Interscope/Rich Immigrants set was released on March 11 and has so far earned 60,000 equivalent album units (SEA,TEA) according data provided to World Music Views by Billboard sales tracker Luminate.
Alpha sold 4,900 units total from sales and streaming in the United States in its first week of release, according to data provided to World Music Views Luminate. This included 800 copies in pure album sales.
Her first single from the album “Blessed” featuring Tyga was certified Gold in Canada for selling 40,000 units in that country.
Speaking about that achievement to World Music Views Shenseea says, “Thank you to God, my shenyengz and my team. I am blessed.”
Throughout the year the album occupied number 1 positions on Apple music in Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, Seychelles and holds the number 2 position in Belize, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jamaica and St. Lucia.
“Can’t Anymore”, a song on the album produced by London on The Track peaked at number 1 in the Cayman islands, and Dominica.
Shenseea benefitted from Apple music’s entry into the Caribbean last year with the Henkel Glue singer being Apple’s Next Up artist ahead of her album release, she did an interview with the platform to boost her streams and bring awareness to the project. Shenseea told Nadeska of Apple Music “It feels like this is the moment I have been waiting for all my life”.
The Trick Or Treat singer’s debut album has sold more than other dancehall releases during the year by Spice, Sean Paul, Alkaline, Vybz Kartel and others.
Her Afrobeats collab Diania with Fireboy DML & Chris Brown debuted at No. 157 on Spotify’s R&B Global chart. Shenseea’s other song Obsessed with Calvin Harris featuring Charlie Puth released by Atlantic and Columbia Records debuts at No. 71 on the U.K. Official Singles Chart. The Jiggle Boss also picked up her nomination at this year’s MTV VMAs for her single R U That featuring 21 Savage.
3. Skeng
After being arrested at the airport and banned in Guyana after a gun salute followed his fiery set in the country, the young DJ closed the year with the #1 and #2 most streamed songs in Jamaica’s YouTube history for a second year: “Protocol” with Tommy Lee and “Gvnman Shift”. He snatched two remixes and a music video with Nicki Minaj: “Likkle Miss Remix” and “Likke Miss Fine Nine Remix.”
He had four of the top streamed dancehall songs in Jamaica on Spotify.
The “Gang Bang” artist secured a publishing deal with Geejam Songs, and executive produced his debut EP. “Beast Of The Era” on his RG Music (Ratty Gang Music) label. He says about working with the producers on the project, “Working with the mandem (at) my age is important for the sound and vibe I want. We ago grow and set tings differently in dancehall.”
Within a day “Beast Of The Era” entered at No. 1 on the Reggae iTunes Chart. It did not make the Billboard reggae albums chart but landed at no. 2 on iTunes Trinidad and Tobago and No. 25 in the middle eastern country Cyprus.
Producer Rvssian gifted the deejay a Rolex watch to congratulate Skeng on the independent release and give him kudos for the work he has been putting into the industry.
Popcaan
The Unruly boss had his ups and downs throughout the year including, being detained a few times in the U.K. followed by a discovery that he is on Interpol’s green list. Then a series of logistical mishaps happened in Canada, for the Kingston Fest event, which he headlined. The promoter for the event revealed that Popcaan collected USD$150,000 per show plus a private Jet. Popcaan quickly refuted the claim that the promoter provided a jet but stayed clear of saying how much he got for the show.
In July Burna Boy’s album Love, Damini was released and featured the track T.A.S. (Toni-Ann Singh), which sent tongues wagging about the Miss Jamaica World Toni-Ann Singh’s relationship with dancehall DJ Popcaan. The two were seen in flight several times early subsequently cozied up together. They have since collaborated on the single “Next To Me” for which they shot a love struck music video. The song peaked at No. 1 on the U.S. Reggae iTunes Chart. The paid shared the stage and sealed their relationship with a kiss at the Burna Boy Live Jamaica show at the national stadium in front of thousands of fans as they performed the song for the first time on December 18.
Sean Paul
The global music superstar made RIAA history as his Grammy winning sophomore album “Dutty Rock” was certified triple Platinum by the US music certification body. The album released 20 years ago becomes the first full dancehall project to reach that milestone.
He toured the U.S. and U.K. and performed for 20,000 FIFA volunteers at the Qatar World Cup games.
Sean closed out the year with a Grammy nomination for his Island Records debut solo album Scorcha as well as becoming the most streamed dancehall act on both YouTube and Spotify globally for the year ending 2022. He also has the most streamed dancehall song on the platform, No Lie Ft. Dua Lipa.
The dancehall-Pop collab has also surpassed the one billion views on YouTube during the year , five years after its release. It’s the Jamaican superstar’s first song as a lead artist to enter the billion views club on the Google owned platform.
The 49-year-old Grammy Award winner told WMV in an interview in April that he was happy about the global impact his music continue to have with audiences.
“Feels good to know that you can do songs and they just grow and grow and grow,” he said. “Cause when No Lie first came out that was a dope song. Nuff people loved it. It went on a lot of likkle streaming vibes and it just kept going. So awesome!” he stated.
