Skillibeng Talks ‘Dada’ And New ‘International’ EP

Dancehall star Skillibeng is ecstatic that his latest single, ‘Dada’ has already been picking up traction since its video release over one week ago.

“The inspiration behind Dada was the beat. It had a sound I was looking for. Dada is the first track released from my highly anticipated EP called Skillibeng International which is basically [me] using different types of beats from different cultures, mixing them with the Jamaican dialect (Patois) as an experiment to show diversity as a creator,” said Skillibeng.

Dada is the lead single of ‘International’, an EP loaded with heavy hitters. Standout collabs include Too Hot featuring Moliy, Anywhere featuring Ty Dolla Sign and Major Lazer, Big Strap featuring Young Nudy and Boom featuring Tokiesha.

The Crocodile Teeth artiste is having an incredible run as he just picked up his fourth gold certification.

Jump, the hit song by South African singer Tyla and featuring American rapper Gunna and Skillibeng, was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after surpassing more than 500,000 units in sales/streams.

This came on the heels of earning gold certifications for ‘Jump’ in Canada (40,000 units), Brazil (20,000 units) and in New Zealand (15,000 units).

“As I represent for my country continuously, this just shows what our culture can do,” he told DancehallMag.

The Sammy Soso-produced single, which became viral on TikTok following a stream of dance challenge videos, quickly amassed more than 43 million views on YouTube after the track’s official video release. Jump also peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Afrobeats Songs Chart and No. 42 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart. In the UK, it also sat at No. 38 on the UK Singles Chart, where it spent several weeks in the top 40 spot.

Skillibeng believes that the certification will “definitely open up the market for the dancehall diaspora”.

” … the artistes just need to realise that they need to capitalise on this opportunity. Not everyone has the Skillibeng impact but our culture has its own impact and we need to embrace that,” he said.

Skillibeng’s new EP ‘International’ follows his 2022 EP Mr. Universe which included his hit single “Whap Whap” featuring F.S.

It’s been a great year for Skilli who performed at various festivals and arenas such as Something In The Water, Afropunk and his first London show at the O2 Forum, which sold out within minutes and had the crowd singing along to every word.

In 2023, Skillibeng joined Drake and 21 Savage’s It’s All a Blur Tour as a guest opener and has been steadily dropping singles or hopping on songs as a feature leading up to his new EP release.

Some of the artistes he’s collaborated with include Tyla, Kali Uchis, Nao, DJ Khaled, Vybz Kartel and more.