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Ranking Every Track in January’s Dancehall Clashes: From Stefflon Don & Jada Kingdom to Teejay & Valiant


Lyrical battles defined dancehall in the first month of 2024. Here’s a ranking of every track in the two biggest clashes.

While the hip-hop world is frenzied with haphazard rap beefs peppered with days of spiraling in lieu of actual good music, dancehall’s clash culture is still going strong and further emphasizing the global reach of this iteration of the genre — especially considering how much these battles dominated online conversations in January. He puts up a good fight, bringing up Teejay’s deceased homies, flipping several “Drift” allusions to try knocking the breakout star down a few pegs, and employs a flow reminiscent of both Vybz and Mavado. Reaching back to 2007 to spit over Black Chiney’s “Drumline Riddim,” Teejay pairs the beat’s foreboding horns and militant snares with a mixture of direct jabs at Valiant and some stray shots at former sparring partner Byron Messia.

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don & jada kingdom