Weh Dem Up To: DyDy mixing music and philanthropy

In the advent of video apps like Instagram and Vine, Dyrana ‘DyDy’ McIntosh became an intensely expressive maven who took the Jamaican subset of the social media space by storm – but all of that was a means to an end.

While many hopped on DyDy’s train to keep up with her antics and funny stories, the intention was not to launch a career in comedy. She was mainly focused on building a fan base for her eventual music career.

But in the midst of her move from social media personality to recording artiste, DyDy has also carved out some of her time for philanthropy.

DyDy is currently on the island, but not for a performance or video shoot. The emerging recording artiste donated clothing and a stove to the family who recently lost their newborn to a kidnapper.

The baby has been found and returned home; however, the family remains in a precarious position.

Given the state of their home, the government had threatened to take the child into state care.

“I don’t think the public knows that they’re still in need. All the money they had, they used it to find the baby,” DyDy told The WEEKEND STAR.

DyDy’s mother is an avid YouTube user and she came across the family’s plight and brought it to the young singer’s attention.

“It made me cry to see a man crying like that,” she said.

So, moved by the situation, DyDy reached out to her following.

“I’ve always been helping people, but I never brought it to the public. But in a case like this, I couldn’t do it by myself. More people needed to be involved,” she said.

After collecting donations from generous fans via CashApp, she put the money together to purchase clothes and a stove. During the handover, the family was again emotional – this time with gratitude rather than sadness.

As she quietly works to improve lives where she can, DyDy continues the pursuit of a successful music career.

“The transition has been rough, from people calling me a comedian. It’s tricky, but I’m still going at it, still recording,” DyDy told The WEEKEND STAR.

Since 2017, she has released a number of singles, including 2 Can, Stress Free and Call My Name.

In March, she released the latest track called Doe Lie, produced by Jaxx & Staxx.

“It’s not easy. Music is something I’ve always wanted to do – ever since I was six years old, but then I moved to America,” she said.

Living in the US afforded access to producers and studios, but DyDy was faced with the discomfort of sexual advances in exchange for records.

“It was turning out, like, you had to sleep with people before you get your songs,” she said. So she tried social media to build the following before producing the music.

“I got help from Gyallis in Paris, Majah Hype, Yaadboys, Quite Perry – everybody was looking out for everybody. Everybody played a part,” she said.

Though she has an impressive following of 440,000 on Instagram, the music hasn’t rocketed as much as she hoped.

“It’s tricky, especially when everyone calls me a comedian ... but I see progress. I reach, but I want to reach more. People know who DyDy is. But I want people to be like, ‘DyDy is a good artiste, DyDy is dope!”