Few cultural artifacts capture the Apple phone-Tik-Tok era virality than the ‘drip’.
That’s why eight year-old dancehall rapper Micah’s debut single, ‘Dripp Like My Dad’ about the modern-day equivalent of bling-bling has caught the popular imagination.
“In my father’s time, it was all about swag, but now it’s all about drip, and I think I am really drippy so this was a great fun song for me to do,” Micah, who owns a flashy chain with a Catholic cross, said.
In contemporary slang, “drip” refers to someone’s cool, stylish, and fashionable appearance, especially their clothing and accessories. Essentially, “drip” is a modern-day version of “swag”.
The song itself delivers as it roars out of the gate with a hard-knock beat that goads the listener into instant movement. Young Micah deejay-raps: ‘I got dripp like my dad/Dripp/Dripp/Like my dad’.
The St Andrew Preparatory school student recorded the single recently at the popular Truck Back studios with the assistance of well-known studio engineer Adrian Locke and ‘Pops’. The song is already popping up on radio playlists in Jamaica.
“It was great to hear my song on the radio for the first time,” Micah said enthusiastically.
The ‘Dripp’ beat was provided by Portmore-based beatmaker Vushboss.Micah is a big fan of US rappers such as Silento, Super Diah, Kendrick Lamar and Lil Bow Wow. He has been honing his songwriting skills, but he got an assist from his dad, Mark Foster, and well-known songwriting maestro UG Dias on his debut single.
“My dad and UG write for me but soon I will drop something that I wrote all by myself,” he said, laughing.
The song, which was released this week on the Swat Productions Limited, name drops national hero Marcus Garvey.
“We just threw that in for fun, plus I am a leader like Marcus Garvey, he was nothing related to drip really, but Garvey is one of my favourite heroes,” Micah said.
Micah performed the song for the first time in front of his classmates earlier this week
“I was nervous, but I overcame it when I saw that everyone liked it,” he said.
So what’s next for Micah?
“I already have another song I want to do, so I want to get more songs out so I can get rich so I can buy any amount of Roblox I want. My fans can follow my IG page at micah_dripp for the latest updates,” he said.