Soulja Boy gifted the Jamaican Zip Jockey his Spotify plaque for the song “Rick and Morty” as a token of appreciation for playing his track.
According to ZJ Sparks, she is the first DJ to have received the plaque and says that she was not only surprised by the gesture, but she is also humbled at the recognition. ZJ Sparks is a DJ on the popular Jamaican radio station Zip Fm, and she is also a Grammy-nominated record producer who has been featured on Tidal, Spotify, and Audiomack, where she heavily promotes Jamaican music.
However, the gesture by Soulja Boy is out of appreciation for the Jamaican’s playing of his song, which saw it receiving 23 million streams on Spotify.
Sparks confirmed with Urban Islandz that she did not work on the track, but it was played quite a lot by her in her hip hop segments.
“So I didn’t work on the track but I played the track quite a bit because I liked it and his team sought to show appreciation for my contribution to its growth and recognition,” she said.
Meanwhile, ZJ Sparks, who has her own Twelve 9 Records label, revealed that shortly after receiving the track, she had sent a beat over for Soulja Boy to hop on a collaboration.
Among her hits are “Indicator” by Spice, “Shake” by RDX, and “Yuh Body” by Busy Signal. Sparks also played a part in the soca hit song “Run Up and Down” remix that featured Ding Dong, Mr. Killa, and Dan Evens.
“I sent a beat over. Hopefully, he likes it. I like working with artistes that I feel a vibe thru their presentation, not specifically to any genre. I have worked with artistes from the Eastern Caribbean, Kenya and even young artistes here in Jamaica,” Sparks said.
She has not received back word as yet from the rapper “Watch Me” rapper but expressed gratitude to Soulja Boy and his manager Theo Brown who heads SODMG, Soulja Boy’s label.
ZJ Sparks is best known for her promotion of Jamaican music to fans abroad. She was recently featured on Tidal’s Jamaican Independence tributes, where she compiled a list of some of the biggest songs the genre has gifted to the world.
Meanwhile, Brown shared the rationale behind Sparks being honored as he explained in a Jamaica Star article that the artist was making a special effort to build a relationship with DJs based on mutual respect. He added that he also loved Jamaica and the island’s culture.
