Yaksta letting his ‘money talk’ for 2022

It appears that fast-rising artiste Yaksta got under some people's skin with his latest single and the accompanying visuals, but he said the feedback does not fall far from his expectations.

The music video for the song titled Money Talk, which was released a week ago, features the artiste flashing large amounts of foreign currency, underscoring the wealth and success he has experienced.

Yaksta told THE STAR that though he was intentional in his lyrics, he was just having a good time.

"Many [artistes] are singing bout money and maybe in the wrong way but it doesn't say we can't do it in a fun way," he said. "Nonetheless I see that as an artiste you will get the backlash no matter what. In my opinion, if I was singing in the vein of [his first hit] Ambition, the same people would also criticise me and describe me as 'one-track-minded'."

The St Mary artiste became known for the line in Ambition that says ' farming over flossing' and is viewed as an entertainer who preaches against the shallow standards of persons who focus on material things rather than building generational wealth. He maintains that stance.

"Honestly, I have come to realise say you can't please everybody when it comes on to music; you have to do what you feel speaks to you the most. I'm not changing my style. Change or showing something different is relative and also troublesome to many because people used to you in one lane. But dem same one still don't go back to listen the lyrics of the past catalogue," he said. "Nuff people nuh know say Money Talk was a raw song talking about badness, written when I was doing raunchy dancehall and me give it a 360-degree when Squash and Hemton Music reached out about the riddim, and saying they could use someone with clean vibrations."

Yaksta revealed that after being tied to a lengthy contract with a label, he is readying himself to unleash new music without feeling restricted.

"It's been a long 10 years. Through that label I was introduced to publishing and I have hard drives of songs nobody knows about. I was young and me never know what me know now. So, 2022 it ended officially and now I'm seeing everything manifest," Yaksta shared. He said that his upcoming EP titled 2022 (pronounced 'two o two two') is inspired by all he has experienced and achieved.

"I may have debuted on the scene in 2021, but from now on, until my career ends, is in 2022 people will see a new start and some of the diversity. The EP will feature all new work, no songs would have been heard or released before and it will be a mixture of dancehall and reggae," Yaksta said.