Popcaan

Popcaan, born 19 July 1988 in Saint Thomas Parish, Jamaica, is a dancehall singer and songwriter. He grew up in Portmore, in a rough housing scheme known as Gangsta City, and had to stop attending school because of violence in his area. His stage name came from a close friend who later died in street violence. In 2007 he approached Vybz Kartel at a local event, and Kartel recruited him into his Portmore Empire crew, becoming both his producer and mentor.

His international breakthrough came in 2010 with “Clarks,” a collaboration with Kartel that sparked a nationwide spike in sales of the shoe brand. “Only Man She Want” (2012) gave him his first Billboard entry. He signed to Mixpak Records and released his debut album Where We Come From in 2014, followed by Forever (2018). After Drake announced in 2018 that he was signing Popcaan to OVO Sound and Warner Records, he released Vanquish (2019), Fixtape (2020), Great Is He (2023), and Nothing Without God (2025). He has collaborated with Drake, Jamie xx, Pusha T, Gorillaz, Davido, and others, and his voice was sampled by Kanye West on Yeezus. He made his acting debut in The Intent 2: The Come Up (2018).