Koffee has explained the title more than once. In an interview with Reggaeville ahead of the EP’s release, she called the song “like my heartbeat of the EP” and said the message of the title track stood for the purpose of the whole project.
She added that the boast in the hook needed backing up: “Saying that I come in like a rapture, it’s not enough by the song itself.” In her view, the other tracks on the EP were the proof.
In the 2020 statement to DJBooth, she said “Rapture was my way of establishing my name as someone who came on the scene to make a positive impact.”
She also linked the project to her place as a woman in the genre. Speaking to Billboard in early 2019, she said “[this song] is just introducing myself to the world as a positive person in reggae music as a female.”
Lyrics are copyrighted, so we will not reprint them here. They are short enough to follow on a licensed lyrics service.
The chorus compares Koffee’s arrival to a rapture that takes the whole crowd with it. Across the verses she talks about success, people who envy her, false friends, her faith in Jah and her skill with words.
Producer Lasanna “Ace” Harris summed up the song’s spiritual message in a 2020 roundtable: “Koffee is conveying her confidence in her God-given gifts and encouraging us to fight back against negativity, jealousy, or anything that is trying to block our blessings.” He also described it as “substantive music, conscious lyrics over danceable rhythms.”
The religious language fits Koffee’s background. According to her Wikipedia biography, her mother was a Seventh-day Adventist, and Koffee’s first musical inspirations came from her mother’s religious background.
How the Song Was Made
The beat came to Koffee through her manager rather than a producer she already knew. She told Reggaeville: “I didn’t know the producer Lasanna “Ace” Harris, it came from my manager Pierre.”
Harris has said he is a preacher’s kid who grew up in the church, and that his faith and Liberian heritage shape his production style.
WhoSampled credits the production to Lasanna “Ace” Harris and Supe. Shazam’s credit list for the track names Lasanna “Ace” Harris, Andre ‘Dre Day’ Ennis, SUPe. AllMusic lists the songwriters as Romeo Nelson / Mikayla Victoria Simpson, and Simpson is Koffee’s legal name.
Sources give different dates for the song. Shazam’s data dates the official music video to February 15, 2019, and AllMusic also uses February 15, 2019.
Audiomack lists March 14, 2019, which is when the EP came out. The best reading is that the song and video came first and the EP followed in March. Koffee also introduced the song on BBC Radio 1Xtra before the EP’s release.
The “Rapture” EP
“Rapture” is the opening track and title track of Koffee’s debut EP. The EP was released on 14 March 2019 through Promised Land Recordings and Columbia Records.
Reggaeville lists five tracks: Rapture, Toast, Blazin feat. Jane Macgizmo, Throne and Raggamuffin. A Billboard report from May 2019 said the EP peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart.
At the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in January 2020, the project won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album, making Koffee both the first female and youngest artist (at 19 years old) to win the award. NPR reported the same milestone in January 2020.
The Govana Remix
On May 31, 2019, Koffee released a remix featuring Govana, a dancehall artist also from Spanish Town. NPR described Govana as a fellow Spanish Town native.
According to Billboard, the video was directed by Jamaica’s own 300K and Ruption, the video takes place in Spanish Town of the St. Catherine parish.
The same report noted a religious undertone in the visuals, including a helicopter shining a light on residents.
That image matches the helicopter line in the original chorus. Discogs and Deezer both list the remix’s release date as May 28, 2019, a few days before the video premiered.
Legacy
“Rapture” stayed central to Koffee’s live shows. A UD Music review of a London concert reported that Rapture is chosen as Koffee’s opening song, and the crowd sang the chorus along with her.
The artist now performs under a new name. A Pitchfork story from April 2025, republished by Yahoo, reported that Koffee, who now goes by Original Koffee, is back with her first single since her debut album, Gifted. Sources disagree on exactly when the name change happened.
One 2026 commentary dates it to April 2025 and links it to streaming catalog confusion, but social media posts mentioned the new name as early as December 2024.
