Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter

Once again, dancehall artiste Assassin has made his mark on the international scene with a collaboration with one of the hottest rappers, Kendrick Lamar.

In 2013, Assassin was featured in Kanye West's I'm In It that was part of his album Yeezus. Again, Assassin has collaborated with a major act for another song, The Blacker The Berry, that will be part of Kendrick Lamar's upcoming album.

The song was released on Monday, a day after Kendrick received two Grammy awards in the 'Best Rap Song' and 'Best Rap Performance' categories.

Speaking with Assassin yesterday, he explained that he recorded the chorus specifically for the song, and it is not a sample as some people have been suggesting. He noted that rapper Kardinal Offishall was also very instrumental in the process.

"Kardinal Offishall was instrumental. The producer Boi-1Da wanted some Jamaican flavour and he asked Kardinal and my name came up. They sent me a sample of the vibe they were going for and I wrote something for the demo I got," Assassin told THE STAR yesterday.

While it is the second such collaboration for Assassin in recent times, he is still very excited to be able to represent his country.

"It is great and I am always happy to represent the music and the culture. It is on a greater platform and a different audience. Hopefully, people will get some exposure to dancehall and hopefully we can win them over," he said.

"We stay working and it is good to put in the work and have projects like this come up and you are rewarded like this."

While he did not say if there will be additional work with Kendrick Lamar in the future, Assassin remains optimistic.

"It is early days and we have a lot on the table. I welcome the opportunity to work with anybody who is willing to collaborate once we are on the same page. I am just really grateful," Assassin said.

He added that he has a number of other releases and fans can keep track of him on his Instagram page, @agentsasco.