Deejay Macka Diamond prayed for a hit song for 2024 and before the year closed out, the dancehall diva scored big with What Can Go So, a single featuring TikToker, Derrick Morgan. Macka is especially delighted about the timing of the success of the single because, as she told The Gleaner, “Kartel cyaan come outta prison and hot and Macka nuh hot”
“What can really go so?” Macka asked, admitting that she was really not expecting the song to blow up like this.
“I expected it to create a buzz… but this is more than my expectations. I am still shocked, but I’m also pleased. Mi excited. A lot of people were saying that ‘Kartel is here now so everybody go sit down.’ So we have to show them that we [are] still in the game. Mi happy how mi get up inna di people dem head. Dem cuss mi but at least me get cussing fi something that turn out good. This was one of my dreams. Mi keep praying ‘God, mek mi hit one more time nuh, please.’ And it come through.”
Thrilled to bits, Macka Diamond had kind words for the ageing TikToker whose struggles with homelessness and being attacked on the streets, along with his notoriously waspish tongue, have made him something of a sensation.
“Di people dem love Uncle Derrick. Everybody ah sing, ‘ Mi say guys, mi say guys. One heap a passa passa. Mi say guys, mi say guys.’ I am happy that I could do this for him. And he is so quiet. People still a warn mi and say, ‘Wait till Derrick come fi yuh.’ But, if I used his slang then I have to give him credit for it. The first time I used his slang he reached out to me and said, ‘Look Macka yuh need to come and look for me and give me a gift.’ He said that he wanted a lion, which is valued at about US$300 on Tik Tok. But we found Derrick and gave him the cash. And when I invited him to the studio he was so happy and excited,” Macka Diamond, whose real name is Charmaine Munro, shared.
What Can Go So, which is really a song about all the mix-up and passa passa on TikTok, has amassed more than 600,000 views on video-sharing platform, YouTube, in the two weeks since its release, and it initially trended in the top 10. There are more than 1,600 comments, many of them quite rib-tickling and even brilliant.
While some fans took the time to break down the positives of the songs, most simply stuck to one-liners.
“Queenie, Amari, Macka. The Bible never prepare us for dis,” was a top comments. Other comments stated: “Mi seh guys, wait Derrick ready fi rub Macka an talk seh she don’t give him any money. We will soon know what can go so.” “Look wat music come tuh!! Jah.” “Wa this me just watch?”
“Dis song is officially TikTok anthem!” “Mi like it. A who say madness no sell?” “Which part else inna di world yaah find them type a entertainment yah ... big up every yardie!” “If Gully Bop can rise to stardom then Derrick can do it too, Bless up yourself Macka, what can go so.”
“For one, the riddim have the vibes, Derrick make it very interesting; Macka used current social media affairs to present a hilarious drama the production clean an catching there’s envy against Macka Diamond on the path of those who badmind her, but can’t perish the fact that it’s a buzzing song.
Macka Diamond is aiming for the one million mark with her viral hit which she says “is mashing up even over England”.
“I get calls from a promoter who tell mi ‘Macka yuh buss again.’ In the country parts, when What Can Go So play it mash up the dance. I witness this myself,” the Bun Him deejay said.
In the song, Macka calls out names such as Ivany, Destiny, Dolly Ashanti, Utah, Snow, Tuffy and Bus Head, all of whom TikTokkers are very familiar with. And she humorously details the “passa passa” in which each one is supposedly involved.
But just how did Macka get so much in the know about TikTok “passa”?
“I found a lot of comfort over TikTok. It became my getaway when I was going through my struggles. Yuh know over there dem nuh have nuh filter … but I made a lot of friends and find back people I haven’t seen in a long time,” Macka explained.
With the curtains closing on 2024, Macka is preparing for several shows, one of which is Sting, because she is “giving Laing [promoter] a strength because Sting haffi gwaan”.