LAST week, American DJ and producer Skrillex released two albums in two days. Both feature collaborations with Jamaican rapper and producer BEAM, son of Papa San.

On February 17 Skrillex released Quest For Fire, with BEAM on the song Hydrate. Flowdan and Peekabo also appear on the track.

The following day another Skrillex album, Don’t Get Too Close, came out and hears BEAM on the track Selecta. Both albums are issued by Atlantic Records.

This is not the first time BEAM has worked with Skrillex. In 2020 they collaborated on songs for Justin Bieber’s album, Justice.

In a 2021 interview with the Jamaica Observer, BEAM shared how he connected with Skrillex.

“We [BEAM and Bieber] linked up through Skrillex [American DJ and producer]. Skrillex wanted me to help out on a song with Bieber on it so I ended up writing a verse, and Justin loved it. Justin ended up saying that he really wanted to continue this journey with me and that he wanted to keep writing and collaborating,” BEAM shared.

BEAM — whose given name is Tyshane Thompson — was born in Kingston and grew up in middle-class Smokey Vale, St Andrew. He moved to Florida 19 years ago.

Now 28 years old, he credits his father for introducing him to music. He produced tracks for two of Papa San’s gospel albums — 2012’s My Story and 2014’s Billboard chart-topping One Blood.

His debut EP, 95 was released by Epic Records in 2017. Five years later that company issued Alien, his album which had collaborations with Bieber, Papa San and Jorja Smith, among others.

BEAM has also produced songs for rappers 2 Chainz and Yo Gotti as well as American Christian hip hop artiste Lecrae. He has a Grammy for his work on Lecrae’s 2013 album, Gravity which won Best Gospel Album at the 55th Grammy Awards.

Last year BEAM was featured on Beyonce’s album Renaissance. He collaborated with her on the track Energy, which peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 12 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Skrillex, whose real name is Sonny John Moore, grew up in Los Angeles and Northern California. A Grammy-winning producer, he previously worked with Damian “Jr Gong” Marley on the hit song, Make it Bun Dem.