Chakka Demus hails tune as 'Greatest dancehall song'

Iconic dancehall artiste Chakka Demus believes his collaborative single, 'Murder She Wrote', is the greatest dancehall single of all time, after the double platinum-selling single was again sampled by another international artiste.

The single was produced by the legendary Sly and Robbie of Taxi Gang, and according to Chakka Demus, the stone refused will be the head corner stone.

"When Sly of Sly and Robbie gave us the rhythm, a lot of persons never wanted the rhythm. Some of them even did a laugh a sey the Taxi puncture. I said no, no, no, the rhythm bad, man, and it a guh run di place. Pliers built his part based on his girlfriend at the time, and I built my verse based on a girl in my community," he said.

As for the success of the single, Chakka Demus says it is unrivalled.

"There is no doubt that this is the biggest dancehall song of all time. I mean, which other dancehall song has been sampled more than seven times by major artistes? I have lost track of the amount of persons who have copied the song already," he said.

This time around, the song has been sampled by American-Spanish rapper Pitbull, who collaborated with Cuban reggaeton singer Osmani Garcia for an effort called El Taxi. El Taxi currently has over nine million views on YouTube.com.

Chakka Demus told The STAR that he has no issues with sampling, provided the artistes go through the right channels to get clearance.

"They contacted us, and we gave them the go-ahead. I went on my computer and told my daughter to do the rest because I know in the long run, I will benefit," he said.

Some of the artistes who have sampled Murder She Wrote include French Montana and Nicki Minaj with an effort called Freaks; Omarion, Chris Brown and Jhene Aiko with an effort called Post to Be; Trey Songz, DJ Dopy ft RMX Crew and Cymphonique.

Reggaeton duo Nany and Valashine also made an entire Spanish version of Murder She Wrote. While Grammy Award-winning R&B artiste Alecia Keys performed the song during her World On Fire tour in 2013, and so has Beyonce.

- C.C.