Dancehall veteran Don Yute has teamed up with Half Pint to deliver the Afrobeats-inspired Beautiful Girls which has been lighting up the airwaves since its release recently.

“I was in the studio and Half Pint was doing some dubplates and I had the rhythm and I just asked him if he could do a hook for me and he said yes, just like that,” an ecstatic Don Yute said.

“We just started cooking it up on the spot. I already knew it was gonna be classic and different with his legendary vocal skills and experience, he excelled on an uptempo rhythm like this, that’s something we’re not used to seeing from Half Pint.”

The single, released on the Manatee Records-Golden Child Records imprints, has been racking up streams on Spotify in Europe and Boomplay in Africa, fast tracking plans to bankroll a music video for the project.

Reggae singer Half Pint

“Working with Mr Pint was easy, fun and a dream come through for me because he’s one of the greats in reggae music. Everything just flowed, no hitch,” Don Yute said.

“A video is definitely coming, it’s just to make the schedule work. Whoever so far has heard the song, especially the ladies, loves it because it’s so unique.”

The Beautiful Girls single is one of the first one released from his new album, Butterflies and Daisies, which will have a release party in Miami on Sunday, October 26.

“It’s a real house party vibes, like back in the day, Paddington Terrace-Norbrook kinda vibes. The first 50 patrons will get a free thumb drive of the album, so the fans can look out for that,” Don Yute said.

Other songs on the album include Live Life, Pop It Like a Bottle, Diamonds and Pearls and Butterflies and Daisies.

The artiste is best known for the Dave Kelly-produced Loving Excess hit with Wayne Wonder on the Pepperseed rhythm in 1993 that is still popular over 30 years later.

Don Yute’s place in history is secure as one of the early success stories of 1990s dancehall, a seminal period where the fashion, flavour, violence and authenticity of local dancehall fuelled an intense period of music creativity and experimentation that is yet to be matched by subsequent eras.

While he is best known for Loving Excess, he followed up with other hits such as You Own The Man with Dave Kelly again, then Hardcore with legendary producers Steely and Clevie. He migrated overseas in 1996 in an effort to get his music and brand in international markets.

He started out in Atlanta, where he got the ears of Lil Jon with a song called Putty Cat on the More Gal rhythm, while Lil Jon was a disc jockey on Atlanta Hot 97.

He established his own recording label called Golden Child, and produced a host of singles for artistes like Akon, Pitbull, Trina, and Trick Daddy.

He worked closely with SoSo Def Records CEO and producer Jermaine Dupri, dropping gold-selling singles Sexiest and Hardcore Wuk for So So Def Bass All Stars in 2008. He toured the United States with G Unit, Omarion, Ying Yang Twins, Rick Ross and Musiq Soulchild.

He has four collaborations with Akon, produced by Konvict Music for Golden Child. Don Yute has placements in NBA games, he has several movie and TV series placements. He has represented dancehall at the highest level for decades.

But he still has the passion to keep churning out songs.

“What’s next for me is just to keep dropping different sounds on the digital platforms and keep making music that every culture can appreciate. Check me out on all my digital platforms,” he said.