All the ‘Better’ for Aidonia
Last Friday, the album Destined 2 Win by rapper Lil Tjay was released by Columbia Records. One of its tracks, What You Wanna Do , samples Aidonia’s 2016 song, Better .
In an interview with the Jamaica Observer, Aidonia expressed pleasure at the recognition.
“It’s a great feeling to see that my music is crossing over into other markets and making an impact with the youth. [It] just shows you that even though we live in Jamaica the music doesn’t stop here so. That’s why I always try to put out quality over quantity. This is a good look and big up Lil Tjay for that,” he said.
The requisite paperwork for use of the sample was negotiated by his management.
“They never linked me directly, it came through my management team and they work out the business. But when they told me it really felt good to know that people internationally are recognising the talent more,” Aidonia added.
Better is produced by Ancient Records and featured on the Moonlight rhythm. The song’s co-producers Onton Mitchell and Dekembe Perry as well as Aidonia, whose real name is Sheldon Lawrence, received writers credit for the sample.
Aidonia emerged on the music scene in the early 2000s. He is known for a string of hit songs including Yeah Yeah; Fi Di Jockey; Tip Pon Yuh Toe; and Run Road.
His latest hit is Dat Eazy.
What You Wanna Do is produced by JabariOnTheBeat and AriaTheProducer.
Lil Tjay, who is best known for the hit Calling My Phone (which topped the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart in February), was in Jamaica in February working on his album at Geejam Studio in Portland.
Born Tione Jayden Merritt to Jamaican parents, the 19-year-old rapper is from South Bronx in New York. Interestingly, his brother and fellow rapper Melvoni also sampled Better in his 2020 song One Man Army, which was released by Epic Records.