Nigerian reggae/dancehall musician Patoranking ascertained that he wished to feature two of Jamaica’s top Dancehall artists Beenie Man and Popcaan—on his most recent album, World Best. “The Girls Dem Sugar” singer made his contribution to the song “Amazing Grace” from World Best, which debuted on September 6, 2023. Popcaan collaborates on the song “Tonight.”
Patoranking discussed the work that went into the album and his collaboration with both Jamaican superstars known internationally for their vibrant and energetic songs in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.
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Patoranking remarked in his interview, “Collaborating with Beenie Man was like a dream come true for me because I grew up listening to him. For me, particularly, he’s my idol, so being on a song with him is an awesome moment for me and for my career. About Popcaan, he’s my friend. We have a good relationship so working together on the song Tonight was smooth. Another thing about me I love making music with my friends.”
When asked if it was a calculated decision to have both dancehall acts on the album, Patoranking responded, “To me, the connection is first and foremost my priority. I want to make music with people I so much connect with, who can also give me the best sonically. The album is called World Best, so it’s only right to put two of Jamaica’s best. And trust me, you can’t deny the fact that they’re both undisputed.”
This was not Patoranking’s first collaboration with a Jamaican artist. In addition to working with Skip Marley on the Bob Marley album that was remixed, he has also done collaborations with Busy Signal, Elephant Man, Buju Banton, Chi Ching Ching, Konshens, and Chi Ching Ching.
The popular song “Daniella Whine” by Patoranking, which peaked at number one on the MTV Africa Base Top Ten chart, features both Konshens and Elephant Man.
Additionally, Ludacris, Victony, Gyake, Zion Foster, and Diamond Platinumz collaborated on World Best. The Nigerian Dancehall artist stated, “A lot of thought process went into this album. From the production to who was going to be featured on it, you know; I typically work with artists that I’m a fan of their work, whether established or rising. For production, we worked with different producers as well as my current in-house and yeah, we recorded in different countries. It wasn’t intentional but yeah, I guess this is also what makes the album World Best.”
Patoranking shared,”We recorded in Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, UK, US, France and so on. For my albums I normally begin recording and the title comes to me after. The sound, the creative direction of World Best became clearer and clearer as we recorded in these different environments and yeah everything came out together to give us a perfect body of work.”
My Woman, My Everything is the most popular song by Patoranking in the area. The song won MTV Africa Song of the Year and reached at number two on the MTV Base Top Ten list. Among his other well-known songs is Particular, which reached its highest position in 2017 at #11 on the Billboard Reggae Digital Song Sales chart and #42 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs list.
His debut album, God Over Everything, reached its highest position on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart in 2016 at number 4. After three years, Wilmer climbed to the fifth spot.
In 2022, his album Three from 2020 took home the Best Reggae Album title at the Headies. Best Recording of the Year went to the song “Celebrate Me.”
Two performances by Patoranking have taken place in Jamaica. During the Reggae Sumfest in 2017 and Rebel Salute in 2019.
