'Set It': Kenyan rising star Dyana Cods speaks on surprising popularity of her viral dancehall hit

Cods, a thoroughbred rapper born and brought up in Kisumu, Kenya, had been tinkering with foreign R&B sounds before her current management, Zoza Nation, advised her to 'Kenyanise' her sound in order to appeal to the wider Kenyan audience.

"I used to do those western R&B music types. The likes done by Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift. But then I met my current management who advised me on how to package my sound, give it a Kenyan touch and brand it for the Kenyan audience. That's when I moved towards drill rap," Cods told Citizen Digital.

But even after extensively dominating in the world of Kenyan drill, Cods still couldn't crack the market, and she slowly started going back to her 'international' sounds, in order to spice up her material.

That move was perhaps the masterstroke that birthed the now-hugely popular dancehall hit 'Set It', a collaboration with Ajay, one-half of popular drill group Buruklyn Boyz.

"I was sitting at the studio one time and the producer was playing beats. Then I heard that beat. I was immediately hooked," she says.

"I listened to the entire beat while standing up. I immediately then got down to business and wrote a track right at the spot."

Cods says that, despite being initially blown away by the song's beat, she never quickly released the song as she 'sat on it' for over two months, just contemplating.

At some juncture, she called Ajay, asking him to collaborate on the project - but even then, she never followed up on it.

"Then one day, I played a snippet of the song for my followers online, just to get their reactions," she says.

"Ajay heard the track and he immediately got back to me. Within a day, he had already sent back his verse and the rest is history."

Despite the song's obvious potential, Cods says that it didn't initially resonate with listeners.

"It was just there. For weeks. No plays, no excitement, nothing. It was just online with no one paying attention to it until some Tiktokers came along, used it on a challenge and then it immediately blew up!" she said.

Cods says that all of a sudden, she woke up to her song becoming the number one song in the country with thousands of plays online and hundreds of thousands of challenges on TikTok.

'Set It' is currently the most listened-to song in Kenya on Spotify and Apple Music. It's also the most 'Shazamd' song, has the highest number of Tiktok hits, is trending at Number 3 on YouTube and has garnered over 1 million plays on YouTube as well - her first such achievement.

"I would say that, since I joined the music industry, this is my biggest moment, my biggest break. This is the best that has ever happened to me and I can only imagine what is in store..." Cods says, with a shy smile.

The rapper, whose latest album 'Rong Manners' was dropped back in April and features some major names including Sewersyda and Trio Mio, says that the 'Set It' music video is set to premiere in the next few days while also adding that she is looking to collaborate with some big names in the industry, both in Kenya and abroad.

"I would like to work with Khaligraph Jones and most of the Kenyan female artists. Also, I admire the likes of Tyla, Ayra Starr and Burna Boy and would love to one day work with them."

As for the one person she would like to meet in the whole world? Dead or alive? Pablo Escobar.

"There's no single person who has had so many documentaries done about them in the history of the world," she says, coyly.