J’ca’s first mega Soca star
Melissa Murphy
With a hit song already under his belt, Linky First wants you to know that he’s a Soca artist, first and foremost.
Hailing from Jamaica, this newcomer to the Soca scene grabbed the attention of worldwide fans with the release of his first Soca track, “Rock and Come In.”
Though he delved in several genres before the success of his breakout hit, he found himself always immersed in Soca culture through the many parties he attended. But with influences like Machel Montano, Bunji Garlin and Lyrikal from Trinidad, and even Lil Rick from Barbados, the young star felt inclined to try his hand at something new.
He admits that he was surprised by the immediate response to his very first big tune; crediting his fans for making it popular, especially on social media. Joking that Soca audiences knew his song before the Soca industry even knew who he was, once they did, however, the embrace was warm and welcoming.
“Soca changed my life,” he claims.
As his number of fans around the globe continue to increase, his success has allowed him to chip away at stereotypes that assume Jamaicans can’t be “strictly Soca.”
He hopes that he will continue to influence young, up-and-coming Jamaican artists to take risks and realize that there is more in common between Soca and Dancehall, than there are differences.
He talked about returning to Jamaica and the support he received from his fellow Jamaicans who took pride seeing one of their own making a mark on the Soca scene.
He said it provided even more motivation for him to continue to fuse his background and his passion to create more original Soca hits.
His newest release, “Don’t Vex” is just another in a long line of tunes audiences can expect from Linky First.
As he makes his way to Montreal for the first time, to hit the Soca Rama stage on July 8, he expresses excitement to come celebrate with the Montreal ladies. As he puts it, “Soca is beautiful, …so let’s go!”.
