Stalk Ashley & Jada Kingdom

How it happened

Before the co-signs, the labels and the festival stages, there was a freestyle over someone else’s riddim. In September 2018, Jada Kingdom’s “Banana” had spawned a viral challenge — her manager Julian dropped the instrumental on SoundCloud, a fan started the challenge on Instagram, and as Jada told the Weekend Star, “it just took off from there. People are posting verses every minute.”

The freestyle that changed everything

One entry cut through. Stalk Ashley’s challenge video — built, as TRENCH later reported, on lyrics from her own song “Time Waster” — was reposted by Jada Kingdom herself and racked up more than 100,000 views and 1,000-plus comments. “I participated in the challenge in full support towards Jada, and I also saw it as a platform for promoting and displaying my talent,” she told the Weekend Star at the time. “I didn’t exactly expect the video to go viral but I’m glad it did.”

The same interview captured an artist who already knew who she was: church-raised, singing since she could talk, influences running from gospel to Anita Baker, Whitney Houston and Sade. “Genre wise, I am a free agent,” she said. “I’m just a true ambassador of great music.”

“Wasteman” (2018): the payoff

The viral moment became a record almost immediately: “Wasteman”, released October 4, 2018 via Zojak (℗ Jaxx & Staxx), with the track premiering on the SoundCloud of Pop Style Music — the management home the two artists shared in that era. For Jada Kingdom — the East Kingston singer who’d gone from modelling and a Sean Kingston video appearance to one of dancehall’s boldest new voices — it was another platform moment; she’d told the Star the best part of the challenge was “being able to help young talent get a platform”. For Stalk Ashley, it was a debut.

The timeline

Sept 2018 — her Banana-challenge freestyle goes viral off Jada Kingdom’s repost · Oct 4, 2018 — “Wasteman” arrives via Zojak · 2019 — “Sin Sex” and “Young” launch her solo run · By 2020 — Mahalia, Jorja Smith, Stefflon Don and Stormzy are on record as supporters.