Aidonia says “It’s a great feeling” to have rapper Lil Tjay sampling one of his classic dancehall singles.
The decade-old practice of sampling has seen many top international acts reworking numerous tracks from Jamaica’s two main genres, dancehall and reggae. It is no shocker that Aidonia, one of Jamaica’s top acts, has been tapped for a brand new hip hop track from New York rapper Lil Tjay.
The “Jim Schreechie” deejay is expressing his pleasure at not only having one of his tracks sampled but also receiving credit for it. It all came about when Lil Tjay decided to sample the deejay’s track “Better” for his release titled “What You Wanna Do.” Lil Tjay’s track was produced by JabariOnTheBeat and AriaTheProducer.
Lil Tjay, who is of Jamaican parentage, hails from the South Bronx and is best known for his hit song, “Calling My Phone,” which was atop the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop chart in February. He visited the island back in February, where he was working on his album at the Geejam Studio in Portland. He was also spotted in the studio with Shenseea.
The paperwork for the sampling of the track was taken care of by Aidonia’s management team. In expressing his pleasure at his track being used, Aidonia told the Jamaica Observer, “It’s a great feeling to see that my music is crossing over into other markets and making an impact with the youth. [It] just shows you that even though we live in Jamaica the music doesn’t stop here so. That’s why I always try to put out quality over quantity. This is a good look and big up Lil Tjay for that.”
In giving credit to Aidonia on the track, the song’s co-producers Onton Maxwell and Dekembe Perry also received writer’s credit. “Better” now joins a long list of Jamaican tracks that have been sampled by overseas artists. Others are “Bam Bam” by Sister Nancy, which has been sampled over one hundred times, “Ting a Ling” by Shabba Ranks, among others.
