Shawn Storm, Lisa Hyper drop first official collab

Despite years of sharing a good friendship and being loyal members of the Gaza Empire, Shawn Storm and Lisa Hyper have recorded their first official collaboration, a single titled New Money.

"The whole return of me in dancehall ago give New Money dah immediate attention deh and a di first time mi and Lisa ago do a collaboration, suh it ago give di song dah immediate curiosity deh inna people fi waah hear dis. According to our message weh mi and Lisa a push, a just di same flames weh wi been a push from dem time deh - di youth dem fi have things, mek sure unu a work and anuh nutten illegal, don't pop nuh pills," Shawn Storm told THE STAR. He said that in conceptualising the song, he reasoned that money he made 30 years ago, "dat a old money".

"Suh mi a pree new money, new life, new perspective. Mi work fi mi money and mi proud. Nuff people a do other things fi fi dem money but mi work fi mine and mi proud," he added.

The Loyalty artiste revealed that the partnership with Lisa Hyper came about from pure chemistry.

"Mi jump out and guh roun Eastern Entertainment studio guh gi di [producer] a link and him did a play some riddim and mi hear a riddim and like it. A me and Lisa did round a di studio. Mi do a chorus and a verse pon di riddim and mi deh deh a listen to it, and den mi look pon Lisa and see her a vibe. Mi seh 'Lisa gwaan in deh guh duh a verse' and a suh she jus dweet and everything just come together. It neva plan or nutten, everything just build pon spot - natural," he said.

"Shawn came up with this sick flow that had the whole studio going crazy and I just added to it [and] it was definitely fun," Lisa Hyper added. Shawn Storm said reintegrating into the music scene and being among his fans and colleagues since his prison release is a great feeling and gave him a new perspective on life.

"It is good because I even went to Uptown Mondays for the first time last Monday and the reception was overwhelming. It was surprising to see how di people dem a receive me, so it's great so far. Yuh can't tek life fi granted, enuh, and yuh affi duh di things dem weh yuh waah duh inna life because yuh nuh know weh ago happen tomorrow. Dat a di medz right now fi me," said Shawn Storm.

Overjoyed and eager to share her new single with her fans, Lisa Hyper said scoring this collaboration means a lot to her personally

"I definitely think this collab will impact my career in a good way because our fans have been waiting for us to reunite and make music together once more, not to mention the style of flow used is fresh, fun and fierce," she told THE STAR.

She added that, though the collaboration wasn't planned, she thinks that she had an edge to score the first collaboration with Shawn Storm, because she is "someone who he knows genuinely loves him and who he can trust to be around him while he just got out".

Both artistes have been confirmed for Vybz Kartel's 'Freedom Street' concert and promised fans a first-hand experience of their new single at the event. Storm said that one of his latest releases, Draco, was inspired from one of his many experiences in prison. He is also working on several other projects with dancehall artistes such as Chronic Law and Ding Dong.