KINGSTON, Jamaica—Declaring himself a prophet, recording artiste Shalam says today’s overwhelming turnout at KFC locations islandwide is proof that the fast-food eatery has a cult-like hold on Jamaicans.

In 2019, Shalam went viral as he sought to question Jamaica’s loyalty to KFC through his track, Weh Di Bwoy Put Inna Di Chicken. Shalam’s song gained new legs on Wednesday as customers flooded KFC restaurants across the island to cash in on a one-day-only offer of free chicken.

In celebration of their five-decade-long local operations, KFC Jamaica offered customers the chance to score two pieces of free chicken with the purchase of a three-piece meal. With a five-meal limit per customer, that meant each person would access 10 free pieces of chicken and five additional drinks with each purchase. That was enough to get customers out from as early as 3:00 am, hours before restaurants were scheduled to open at 10:00 am.

Screen grab of official music of Weh Di Bwoy Put Inna Di Chicken by recording artiste Shalam(YouTube: icekooliomusic)

In an interview with the Observer Online, Shalam said the turnout came as no surprise. What was even less surprising was the number of edited videos using his track as the choice of audio. Dubbing the song as a ‘classic’, Shalam said the song’s popularity will never go out of season.

“When you think bout dem long lines deh and wah really take place, a only one song come to mind and dat a Weh Di Bwoy Put Inna Di Chicken,” he said. “The amount a video me get wid people a share di craziness wid my song, me should deh pan dem lineup fi perform all bout but dem (KFC) still a go round me. But as long as KFC a reign, this song affi reign too. It’s a classic at this stage.”

He went further to express that as the only entertainer in history brave enough to question KFC’s chokehold on the Jamaican populace, he has sealed an irreversible piece of history.

“Memba a me ask long time ‘a weh di bwoy put inna di chicken innu.’ Memba me tell unu long time say anuh nothing normal inna di chicken and Jamaica get tie long time. It worst now yuh go give dem little freeness, it extra,” he said. “Di loyalty still deh deh, it’s still in full effect and people still love the song. It buss again.”

Shalam said although he wasn’t officially added to the lineup in celebration of the restaurant’s milestone anniversary, he may just pop up at a location just to perform the track. He expressed that with the song gaining even more traction today, it would only be right for people to catch a live performance.