Billboard Names Skippa Its 2026 Caribbean Rising Star
Billboard has named Skippa — the 25-year-old trap-dancehall artist from Kingston, Jamaica, born Tahjay Clarke — its 2026 Caribbean Rising Star, publishing an interview on 21 August in which he spoke about building a lasting legacy in music.
The honour arrives on the back of a breakout year driven by a single song. Skippa's track "WYFL," recorded over a riddim (the instrumental backing track common in Jamaican dancehall) by producers DJ MAC and CrashDummy, became his international breakthrough by the end of 2025. The song has accumulated over 5.8 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate, the data firm that powers Billboard's charts. That total, while substantial for a rising Caribbean act, has not yet translated into a Billboard chart placement.
"WYFL" drew attention from across the Caribbean and its diaspora. Vybz Kartel, Remy Ma and Patrice Roberts all recorded remixes of the track. Bounty Killer, one of dancehall's most established figures, shared a clip of Skippa performing at Jamaica's Ochi Teen Fete with the caption "This kid a gwaan enuh" — Jamaican patois for roughly "this kid is really doing his thing."
Skippa's catalog earned 29.3 million official on-demand U.S. streams across 2026 through 2 August, according to Luminate data cited by Billboard. His seven-track EP, "#Skippaholic," has garnered over 6.1 million official streams. He received three nominations at the September Caribbean Music Awards, including dancehall song of the year for "WYFL."
The path to those numbers began early. At age 10, Skippa placed third in a primary-school competition modelled on Jamaica's Digicel Rising Stars television show. He grew up in the St. James and St. Catherine parishes, and cites 50 Cent and Rick Ross among his mainstream hip-hop influences. His family runs his TikTok account, which has close to 200,000 followers. An Instagram reel in which Skippa discussed his motivation cited the loss of his grandmother as the push that made him take music seriously.
The turn toward a full-time career had a concrete catalyst in December 2023. Latin Grammy-nominated producer Rvssian restricted access to his "Dutty Money" riddim, a beat multiple artists had been voicing. Skippa recorded and released "Self Belief" ten days before Christmas — his response to being locked out of the riddim was to build his own.
Billboard had already flagged Skippa as one of its 15 Hip-Hop, Caribbean & R&B Artists to Watch in 2026, a list published on 23 February. He is now scheduled to perform at Billboard's R&B Hip-Hop Live event on 10 September at Brooklyn Steel in New York City, a showcase headlined by Lucky Daye and Yung Miami that also features rising acts Samara Cyn and Destin Conrad.
Skippa told Billboard he is focused on being full-time in music and wants to leave a legacy. The streaming figures and the industry recognition are starting to line up behind that ambition, even if the charts have not caught up yet.
