Akino Dirtfree feels good
ON-THE-RISE deejay Akino Dirtfree is generating a huge buzz with his latest single Feel Good.
The song was released on the Program Ova Everything Music (POEM) imprint.
“Mi put in the least amount of effort in this song yet still it is the song the people dem a tek on to cause it’s so different,” he said.
“I had gone to record another song,
Head and Shoulder, and afterwards, mi say to the engineer, ‘play the riddim’ so mi start drop some pre-written line. Then mi just lock mi eyes and start flow and just a freestyle, and that’s why it come out with this free flow sound. Mi record it in one go and mi just keep it,” said Akino Dirtfree, whose real name is Norman Akino Clarke.
He will be releasing a video for the song this week.
Akino Dirtfree has carved out an impressive underground following in the Runaway Bay area of St Ann. He put out an EP in 2018. He has performed at shows in Jamaica such as Sharkey’s in St Ann, and over the past year, he has several shows in Atlanta nightclubs alongside artistes such as Mavado, Masicka and Alkaline.
“I actually got some great words of encouragement from Alkaline after I opened up for him on a show, so that was great,” he said.
He grew up in the rough neighbourhood of Pink Lane in Denham Town, where he attended St Anne’s Primary school and Tivoli Gardens High school. He migrated to the US in 2013.
“It was always in me to be an artiste, but I just never had the guts to pursue my dream. but the older I got, I started to take it serious, it just felt like my calling, and when I saw Chronixx and Alkaline ah push out, it inspired me to do the same,” he said.
Akino Dirtfree lists his primary musical inspirations as I Wayne, Agent Sasco, Junior Gong, Chronixx. He recorded and released his first official single, Sidestep, in 2016 on his own Dirtfree Music label.
Since that time, he has been fine-tuning his sound while listening to a wide range of genres, and now, he is ready to unleash that sound on an unsuspecting public.
“Mi plan to be the biggest artiste who ever live, that is my aim and goal,” the brash youngster said.
His other songs include Telescope and Mama Mi Queen.