Dancehall artiste Don Lyrikal has big hopes for his latest single, Big Dreams, which reflects his ‘never give up on your dreams’ philosophy.
“Your dreams are possible,” the artiste whose real name is Kenneil Dwyane Robinson, said.
“So far, this Big Dreams song has touched a lot of people emotionally and the feedback has been tremendous.The inspiration behind this track came at a time when I almost gave up on my career because of tough times, But when the label Mellow Don Records link up and start push me, it gave me encouragement to start working again, and to hold the faith and keep going,” he said.
The Big Dreams single was released last year and a video for the project has racked up over 64,000 views so far. The song features a sample of a speech by the Reverend Les Brown in his famous ‘Your Dream is Possible’ speech.
“We have greatness is us, we are greater than our circumstances, we don’t have to go through life being a victim, we have to run towards our dreams,” Don Lyrikal said.
“Someone’s opinion of you doesn’t have to become your reality. We have to continue to dream.”
Big Dreams is the lead song of a 8 song EP which was released by Mellow Don Records in June 2023. Other songs on the EP include ‘Emotion’, ‘Rich and Bad’ featuring Nykka and Xsomo and ‘Never Give Up’.
Don Lyrikal recently got a major endorsement from fellow artiste Teejay who was impressed by his freestyle on the Teejay and Tommy Lee ‘Dip’ challenge on Instagram.
“I have to say a special big up to Teejay for taking time out to do a video to endorse me, and give me feedback on the freestyle, it was a big encouragement,” he said.
He grew up in a small community called Bermaddy before moving to Linstead. He attended Charlemont High where he was first introduced to music through a friend called Nardo. He joined up with Infantry, a group of other talented teenagers but the group soon disbanded.
He soon earned the name Don Lyrikal for his lyrical prowess which he exhibited during a community stage show called 12 to 12 held in Linstead. He was 17 at the time.
After leaving high school, he recorded and released his first song, Nuh Normal on the Prince I Rae Entertainment label in June 2018. He scored his first major success with a single called Stay Focus which attracted the attention of his older high school friend, a producer called Melz, who had started a label called Mellow Don Records.
“Melz is like a big brother to me, so we just hit off and we’ve been making great strides together,” he said.
Mellow Don Records released a single called Talented, then a followup single called ‘Changes’. The chemistry was great so they began working on an EP.
Don Lyrikal has been building his reputation one stage show at a time and he earned major props for a show alongside Sizzla in Charlemont. He has also done stage shows in Linstead and surrounding areas of St. Catherine.
Don Lyrikal is gearing up to step up promotions on the follow up single, ‘Rich and Bad’ which got a stamp of endorsement from Billboard selector Boom Boom who gave it spins at Boom Sundays.
“My career is on the upswing, in the future I would love to tour in the United States ,United Kingdom and the world,” he said.
