Dancehall star Byron Messia shed some light on his new hit “Talibans,” revealing that it’s not a pure dancehall song but more Afrobeats.
Byron Messia currently has one of the most popular songs in dancehall this year, and now he is shedding some light on the catchy single, which has over 21 million views on YouTube. In his new interview with Ras Kwame of Capital Xtra, the deejay shared that the song is actually Afrobeats and not so much dancehall. The artist is currently in the UK on his first visit for a couple of shows and interview rounds.
The Kittitian artist says he is currently in album mode, and he has been getting a lot of requests for dubplates as a result of the success of the song. He also shared that Burna Boy, Davido, and Rema are some of his favorite Afrobeats stars currently.
“It was me telling me self say yow, yo know say when yuh a listen to Afro[beats], a gyal song I was about to build on it yuh know,” Messia said, referencing the type of song he initially wanted to create on the riddim. “And den mi seh ‘Nah, yuh know seh when yuh listen to Afro[beats], is bare rebellious and love songs yuh only a hear? Yuh nah hear no war or no griminess pon dem beat deh… If you really think bout it.”
Messia added, “A just dat yuh a hear, rebellious songs and loving songs, no griminess. Suh mi jus seh, ‘Yuh know wa? Mi ago apply dat and see wa gwaan… and see it deh… Mi jus’ yow, mi ago do somethin’ different, mi ago switch it up and mek dem talk ’bout it’.”
While it’s no secret that the song “Talibans” boasts an unmistakable Afrobeats beat, some fans still classify it as a dancehall song, and some DSPs like Spotify listed it under the dancehall genre.
The Kelly Beatz-produced single is also doing well on the US iTunes Reggae Songs chart, where it now sits a No. 4. The song was released in January of this year under Ztekk Records and Ej Fya, with MVP Records handling the mixing.
The gritty “Talibans” music video saw cameos from Prince Swanny and Jada Kingdom.
