“Whoopty” — in its original version — blows fire. This single by American rapper Daniel Soriano Jr., better known as CJ, released in July 2020, continues to explode the charts: more than 384,173,600 views. A luxury that few rappers could afford. The figures (a record!) make me dizzy. I breathe a good blow. The worldwide triumph of this song gave some rappers more ideas. French artist of Senegalese-Malian origin Clayton Hamilton is part of one of these rappers. Recently, he reappropriated it; he made a remix of it and I can assure you: it rips thunder.
Who is Clayton Hamilton?
If you don’t know him, you wouldn’t be able to put a face to that name. People are often asked the opposite. I know! I’m from the left. So left that I always get it backwards. I’ll give you a few hints. He’s not Caucasian, he’s not Arab. No. He’s not a half-breed either. He’s kind of dithering. We’re not going to spend the day doing a facial reconstruction. Come on! We’re not the FBI. Let us discover the true face of man. Born of a Malian father and a Senegalese mother, Clayton Hamilton is called Ibrahima Diabaté. He comes from a long line of griots. And you can guess his job! He is a singer. Precisely a rapper, if one can consider a rapper as a singer. He came to music by accident. That’s what he’s suggesting. It was at a show in Créteil, France. In the evening hubbub, between the beats of hands and sounds, a diaphanous cloud falls on him. It is the click. He had just caught the music virus. Initially, he was passionate about reggae. Over the years, he moved on to rap, pop, rock, electro. Clayton Hamilton has a long discography like the arm. Although, for the time being, his life is not the great ‘success story’.
Where does this pseudo ‘white’ come from?
Based on my research, I came across a bunch of stories to sleep on. But there was one that stood out. I explain. It’s the summer of ’85. We’re in Los Angeles. Jeff Hamilton and brothers John and Jeff Claytonfondent a jazz band. The band is called The Clayton–Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Ibrahima Diabaté was born on that date. Hence Clayton Hamilton.
“Whoopty” with mbalaax sauce: CJ versus CH (Clayton Hamilton)
Clayton Hamilton takes the outline of her life against a background of hip-hop beat, on the flow of CJ, the rising star of US rap – as we said earlier. Instead of drawing inspiration from other people’s lives, Clayton Hamilton draws inspiration from her own experiences. The drill, the musical sub-genre of hip-hop, seems to go well with the Senegalese mbalaax. Pop Smoke, the pope of the drill, would be moved in his grave. The energy conveyed in this flow is fertile ground for Hamilton; it narrates on the great adventures of his life. He talks about his early childhood and the courage it took to rise to the top. Now he can let go: ‘call me Messiah’. The Mandingo ‘griot’ is so comfortable with this beat that he says, ‘in this game/I do what I want’. Let’s hope this remix, which propelled Daniel Soriano Jr. to the top of the charts, bodes well. In the meantime, we cross our fingers.
