Last year, Ayetian solidified himself as one of Jamaica’s most promising rising dancehall stars with a trio of smashes, including “Tip,” “Balance” and “Wah Yo Deh Pan,” helping him earn 22.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams in 2025, according to Luminate.
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Now, the Montego Bay-hailing artist, 21, is doubling down with a whopping seven nominations at the 2026 Caribbean Music Awards, as well as his recently released, star-studded mixtape: JamPack. “It’s all about keeping consistency,” he tells Billboard.
Born Malik Legend Tercien, Ayetian grew up in a Haitian household soundtracked by konpa and reggae, eventually finding his primary influence in Tommy Lee Sparta, a 2010s-defining dancehall star who also hails from Montego Bay. He even names “Captain Sparta” as the first song to get stuck in his head. A true child of the social media era, Ayetian earned his first viral moment at just 14 years old.
While in grade nine at Jamaica’s Cornwall College, Ayetian would frequently write poetry inspired by his daily life and freestyle his own songs under the early alias, Lyrical. A friend shared a video of one of those freestyles on TikTok, and within two weeks, Ayetian started gaining serious traction across Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. “Even by the next day, we saw it getting a lot of views,” he says. “People were coming up to me like, ‘Yo, this bad!’” From that moment, he began to officially pursue a music career.
Nvtzz (born Nathaneal Brown) — the producer behind early 2020s bangers like Koffee’s “Lockdown,” and an artist in his own right — reached out to Ayetian after coming across the viral freestyle, which quickly became the pair’s first commercially released collaboration: 2022’s “Easy.” “10 inna night, she a call me/ Gyal wan gimme di tsunami/ If me tek yo gyal, I’m sorry, not sorry/ We nuh touch kids, left dat to R. Kelly,” he spits at the top of the song, immediately setting the tone with slick flows and punchlines. Soon after, he previews his penchant for intonation shifts, painting the bridge with a whispery cadence as Nvtzz’s guitar-inflected trap production steadily builds.
“[Nvtzz] kept me under his wings. He’s been tutoring me about music and teaching me stuff [about production],” says Ayetian. “I’ve been learning a lot about how to control my voice, [how to improve] my writing skills, and how to deliver my songs. If you want [falsetto], you have to elevate your chest to allow the airflow. If you want the hardcore, dark voice, you have to sing [from a deeper place].”
Ayetian smartly maintained the momentum from “Easy” with 2022’s “Lawge” — which he calls both his first local hit and the song that unlocked his “aggressive” tone — and subsequent heaters like 2023’s “Raftsman” and 2024’s “Anyweh.” At the tail end of 2024, Ayetian teamed with producer DJ MAC for “Balance,” a slinky, sensual trap-dancehall song that eventually earned a remix that incorporated elements of “The Truth,” King of Soca Machel Montano’s contribution to Full Blown’s wildly popular Big Links riddim.
As that soca-meets-dancehall moment swept across the Caribbean, Ayetian fired off another hit just a few months later at the top of 2025 with “Tip,” which soon earned a pair of remixes (one with Skillibeng and the other with Shenseea and DJ MAC). By the summertime, Ayetian dropped what’s arguably the biggest song of the three: “Wah Yo Deh Pan,” a Govana-assisted club anthem.
“[That one] took a long time because I wanted to find the right person and the right vibe to go with,” he reflects. “Govana is the streets guy and the females love him, so he made the most sense… If I did it, then I expected it, you know? But I didn’t expect it to be so viral back-to-back, back-to-back, back-to-back.”
Since breaking through with his freestyles, Ayetian has shifted to writing his songs because he prefers the opportunity to edit and truly fit his flows with riddims that boast “perfect bass lines.” Nonetheless, he’s still intent on delivering the “raw Ayetian,” even when he’s teaming up with international hitmakers like MOLIY and Tyga on Rvssian’s “What I Like,” which has earned nearly four million official on-demand U.S. streams in just six months.
Ahead of this year’s Caribbean Music Awards — where he’s tied with Montano and V’ghn as the most-nominated male artist (seven) — Ayetian has unveiled his debut mixtape. Released on July 10 via TrapMilli Entertainment, LifeStyle Musik Group and Spaj Phoenix Records, JamPack includes collaborations with Kodak Black, Stefflon Don, Ky-Mani Marley, Nvtzz and Skillibeng. On the production side, the project also features contributions from Silent Addy, Disco Neil, DJ MAC, Crawba Genius, Countree Hype and more.
Led by “Riddle Mi Dis,” the project finds Ayetian continuing his expansion of Mobay’s signature trap-dancehall sound by nodding to his all-time favorite lyricists (Vybz Kartel, Rytikal, Aidonia, etc.) and delivering odes to his hometown that prioritize reality over fantasy.
“Mobay City,” the first song crafted for the project and the last to be added to the tracklist, explores Ayetian’s conscious side, examining “what’s been happening in the city from my school days to now,” he says. “I wanted to end [the project] on a calm note, because the middle has a lot of vibing and jumping up and down… after a long day, you haffi cool down.”
Some of those livelier tracks include the Kodak Black-assisted “Zzz Out,” which “took a while to get,” according to Ayetian. When Kodak, a Billboard 200-topping Haitian-American MC whose wicks inspired Ayetian’s, opens the song with “Ayo, Ayetian!/ Tell these people you Haitian, bro/ Tell these people you Jamaican and Haitian fam,” it’s a direct nod to the Montego Bay star’s mission to promote Caribbean unity through his own multicultural background. There’s also “Gih Yuh Some,” which finds Ayetian linking with one of his all-time favorite artists, Skillibeng. “When you’re working with Skilli, you haffi perform on a high level because either you match him or go even further,” he says. “I can’t outdo what’s perfect already.”
As fans spin JamPack, they’re also enjoying “Donkey Call,” Ayetian’s excellent addition to Di Genius’ viral “Hill & Gully” riddim, which recentered the Jamaican folk music tradition of mento. “Some people didn’t want it, but it’s our culture,” Ayetian says of the cleaner, traditional sound. “Nowadays, Jamaicans tend to love slack music more because it’s what they’ve grown up with. But riddims [like “Hill & Gully”] are cultural, so you can expect some more from me in the future.”
With hopes to tour JamPack around the world, Ayetian is all about elevation. One day after the mixtape arrived (July 11), he performed at Atlanta’s Rum Island Festival, joining Aidonia and Denise Belfon.
“I don’t have a set limit, but the primary goal is Grammys and Billboard charts,” he says. “Anywhere the music takes me, I’ll go with it. Even though I’m Haitian and building my foundation in Jamaica, it’s all about the Caribbean.”
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