Skillibeng Says He Created ‘Brik Pan Brik’ Beside His Grandmother

Skillibeng says he first conceived the lyrics for his punchy, breakout hit Brik Pan Brik, while he was with his grandmother. Speaking with Apple Music 1’s Ebro Darden about his career and breakout success, the Jamaican artist said he was inspired by the beat and instead of putting pen to paper, he freestyled the lyrics while he was beside his grandmother.

“I didn’t even really write it, I freestyle that song for the first time beside my grandma,” Skilli told Darden.

“I heard a beat and I was like, ‘yo, this beat is hot.’ I’m saying to my grandma, ‘you know this is going to be…’ And she’s like, ‘boy, I don’t even know what you’re talking about.’ I’m like, ‘you going to see this is a hit right here.’”

Brik Pan Brik, which BBC broadcaster Seani B had dubbed the “poster child for trap dancehall”, was released in 2019 under Eastsyde and Claims Records.

The hypnotic riddim was created by beatmaker Wizical Beatz.

Currently, at more than 11 million views on YouTube, the official music video features a news report about lottery scamming in Jamaica.  However, Skillibeng was adamant that he was not promoting the practice.

“Basically we just a try express how much money we want to accumulate just doing what we a do naturally. And we wah have fun while making we money,” he told Onstage host Winford Williams at the time.

“It’s just artistry, if the fans dem wah say a scamming dem can call it wah dem wah ‘cause a dem me do it fa.”

The St. Thomas native later extended Brik Pan Brik with a three-track EP of the same name, which included the songs Mr. Universe and Million A Dalla.

During the Apple Music 1 interview, Skillibeng, whose real name is name is Emwah Warmington, also spoke about his recent Whap Whap remix with rappers Fivio Foreign and French Montana.

He told Darden that the three-way collab was initially two separate remixes.

“Fivio hit us up, French hit me up and it was two separate remixes at first,” he said. “But we got the remixes ready, so we just shot a whole video for everything and put all the tracks together, the Fivio and the French, make one remix. And that’s how we doing it right now.”