Few artists have bent dancehall into new shapes as quickly as Emwah Ryan Warmington. The kid from Lyssons in Saint Thomas came up firing, committing to music full time after a near-death encounter, then flooding the streets with an absurd 43 singles in 2020 alone.
That same year, his debut album The Prodigy landed on the US reggae albums chart. Ranking the best Skillibeng songs means tracing a path from cold, minimalist trap dancehall to global afro-fusion anthems, with a Nicki Minaj remix and a Tyla collaboration along the way.
What links all of it is the voice: low, unhurried, menacing even when the beat is built for the dancefloor. Now signed to RCA and Eastsyde, Skillibeng has become one of Jamaica’s most dependable exports. Here are the 12 records that define him.
1. MOLIY, Silent Addy, Skillibeng & Shenseea, “Shake It to the Max (FLY) [Remix]” (2025)
The original arrived in December 2024 as a bright afro-dancehall bounce. The remix, released on February 21, 2025, is where it caught fire.
Disco Neil and Silent Addy built a springy groove, MOLIY floats over it, and then Skillibeng and Shenseea bring the yard into the room. A viral dance challenge pushed it everywhere.
It topped Billboard’s US Afrobeats Songs chart dated May 17, 2025, a first No. 1 there for all four artists. It debuted on the Hot 100 at No. 91, then climbed to No. 44 across 20 weeks while also ruling Rhythmic Airplay.
It has since crossed a billion streams across platforms, spent six weeks at No. 1 on YouTube Jamaica, and earned RIAA Gold and BPI Platinum plaques. It is the biggest record of his career.
2. Tyla, Gunna & Skillibeng, “Jump” (2024)
This one started with a gut feeling. During Tyla’s October 2023 trip to Jamaica, the South African star decided her song needed a Jamaican sound, and her team reached out to Skillibeng.
The result, produced by Sammy SoSo and included on Tyla’s self-titled debut, fuses amapiano shimmer, Gunna’s Atlanta drawl and a Skillibeng verse that grounds the whole thing.
It reached No. 3 on US Afrobeats Songs, No. 42 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 38 in the UK. It also gave him his first gold single, in Canada, before the RIAA followed on July 29, 2025.
Add a 2024 BET Awards performance, a No. 4 spot on Vibe’s Songs of the Summer and a Billboard Music Awards finalist nod, and “Jump” is the record that made him a household name far beyond the dancehall faithful.
3. Skillibeng, “Crocodile Teeth” (2020)
Sparse, cold and ominous, “Crocodile Teeth” is Skillibeng at his most distilled. Johnny Wonder and Adde Instrumentals laid down a skeletal beat, and he filled it with gun talk. The title refers to high-capacity magazines whose rifle rounds look like a crocodile’s bite.
The song was already spreading when Drake shouted it out on OVO Radio, and soon Burna Boy, Jay Critch and Bobby Shmurda were embracing it too.
Then came the drama. Skillibeng posted and deleted cover art for a Nicki Minaj remix, and fans called him a liar.
In May 2021, the remix arrived on Nicki’s reissued Beam Me Up Scotty, debuted at No. 100 on the Hot 100 and trended No. 1 on YouTube for three straight days. The original also reached No. 74 on the UK Official Singles Chart.
4. Skillibeng, “Brik Pan Brik” (2019)
Every breakout has a starting gun, and this was his. “Brik Pan Brik” took the brooding bounce of trap and soaked it in Jamaican street slang.
BBC broadcaster Seani B called it the “poster child for trap dancehall”, which is about as precise a summary as you will find.
The making of it is part of the legend. “I didn’t even really write it, I freestyle that song for the first time beside my grandma,” he told Apple Music 1’s Ebro Darden.
Released through Eastsyde and Claims Records, it got an official video premiere on December 7, 2019, and the song spawned a wave of imitators. Years and bigger hits later, it remains the blueprint for the Skillibeng sound.
5. Skillibeng, “Whap Whap” (2022)
“Whap Whap” built its reputation the old-fashioned way, one replay at a time. Wizical Beatz and DeeJay Pun produced a punchy, drill-leaning beat, and the original version with F.S. racked up over 13 million YouTube views in less than three months. New York noticed fast.
Bronx drill rapper Ron Suno and NBA YoungBoy both sampled it. That set up the remix with Fivio Foreign and French Montana, whose Shomi Patwary-directed video was shot in the Bronx with dirt bikes and ATVs tearing up the streets.
The song anchored the Mr. Universe EP and stands as the clearest proof of how naturally dancehall and New York drill fit together. Skillibeng did not have to change a thing to fit in.
6. Mura Masa, Pa Salieu & Skillibeng, “blessing me” (2022)
Here is Skillibeng in an unexpected setting, and he thrives. Mura Masa’s club-trained production gives the track a glossy pulse, Pa Salieu brings his Afro-rap swing, and Skillibeng adds the dancehall weight that keeps it from floating away.
The single premiered on May 25, 2022 as Radio 1’s Hottest Record in the World, released through Polydor, before landing on Mura Masa’s demon time that September.
It became a quick TikTok favorite, came with an Emmanuel Cossu-directed video, and later got a version featuring Kali Uchis.
For UK listeners who had never stepped into a Kingston dance, this was often the first time they heard Skillibeng’s voice.
7. Skillibeng, “Mr. Universe” (2020)
Some songs turn into names. Coming off the heat of “Brik Pan Brik”, this follow-up became his second major hit, and “Mr. Universe” stuck to him as a nickname.
The swagger is in the title. It is the sound of a young deejay who has just realized the wider world is listening and has decided to act accordingly.
Delivered in his trademark baritone over a moody, trap-tinged beat, it kept his momentum going during the frenzied run that defined his early career.
The phrase lived on as the title of his 2022 EP, the project that carried “Whap Whap” and introduced him to a new wave of listeners.
8. Skillibeng, “Badman” (2020)
In a year when he released singles almost weekly, “Badman” is the one fans kept coming back to. It stands as his most-streamed solo track on Spotify after “Crocodile Teeth”, with more than 21 million plays.
It is classic early Skillibeng: no wasted bars, plenty of menace, and a hook built for the corner and the car stereo.
Its staying power showed in 2026, when his North American run with MOLIY, from late May to late June, was named the Badman She Love Tour.
A street single from his most prolific year ended up giving its name to an arena-era tour, which says plenty about how loyal his core audience is.
9. Vybz Kartel ft. Skillibeng, Jucee Froot & Tommy Lee Sparta, “Bad Gyal [Divas]” (2020)
In dancehall, a co-sign from the Worl’ Boss means something. Kartel brought Skillibeng onto Of Dons & Divas, his 2020 album, and put him on “Bad Gyal” alongside Jucee Froot and Tommy Lee Sparta. It is a heavyweight lineup, and the young deejay held his own.
For a rising artist still building his name, landing a verse on a Kartel album was a passing of the torch, and the track has since gathered over 15 million Spotify streams.
The relationship did not end there. The two linked up again on “New Gears”, and Kartel remains the first name people mention when listing Skillibeng’s most important collaborators.
10. Original Koffee ft. Skillibeng, “Rapid Fyah” (2026)
The freshest entry on the list, and one of the most exciting. Released on June 19, 2026, “Rapid Fyah” marked a return for Koffee, now billed as Original Koffee, and pairs her nimble roots-reggae spirit with Skillibeng’s gritty, clipped delivery.
The Gleaner praised the heaviness of their combined flow and Skillibeng’s rugged structures. Koffee was clearly proud of the chemistry.
“This is one of the more organic features that I have done,” she told the paper, adding that a 15-track album is due in November.
Two Jamaican artists from very different lanes meeting in the middle makes this a strong sign of where both careers are heading.
11. Wizkid ft. Skillibeng & Shenseea, “Slip N Slide” (2022)
Before “Shake It to the Max” made Skillibeng and Shenseea a chart-topping pairing, they shared space on Wizkid’s More Love, Less Ego.
“Slip N Slide” puts both Jamaicans over Wizkid’s smooth afrobeats foundation, a meeting of Lagos and Kingston.
The song has passed 20 million Spotify streams and belongs to the run of major collaborations that turned Skillibeng into a go-to feature for global stars. Looking back, it was a quiet trial run.
The chemistry between Skillibeng and Shenseea on an afro-leaning groove would pay off on a much larger scale three years later.
12. Skillibeng, “Coke” (2021)
No song in his catalog started more arguments. “Coke” is a lean, hard-edged record, but the conversation centered on the video, which was shot inside the wreckage of a plane that had crashed on the island. Some viewers saw bold, striking imagery. Others saw something closer to disrespect.
Either way, everybody was talking. It became one of his recognized hits and captured the provocative side of his early persona, the willingness to push a visual or a lyric past where others would stop. In a genre that has always thrived on controversy, “Coke” fits right in.
Why Skillibeng Still Matters
Put these songs side by side and you can hear one artist working across several scenes at once. There is the grandmother’s-yard freestyle that became the template for trap dancehall, the Drake and Nicki moment, the Bronx drill crossover, the London club record, and the afro-dancehall smash with a billion streams. Through all of it, the core never changed. That flat, cold baritone still sounds like Saint Thomas.
His 2025 project International, with guests including Ty Dolla $ign, Young Nudy and Major Lazer, made his ambitions clear, and 2026 has kept the pressure on with “General”, “Big Glock”, “Zapper” and the Koffee link-up.
A decade from now, the history of how dancehall went global in the 2020s will have a long chapter on Skillibeng.
