Manawe Simpson, more popularly known as JD, is firstly a Kingstonian father of 2 and secondly a social media influencer using comedy sketches and dance challenges. He is all about spreading positivity through his platform while providing a deep connection to the younger generation.
His moniker, ‘JD’, is short for ‘Jus Dance’ and derives from his dancing skills. He started dancing while attending the Franklin Town Primary School where he also represented the school in several JCDC dance festival competitions. The first dance challenge JD did was on January 16, 2023, his birthday, which has gained over 10,000 videos to date. However, his first and most successful piece was a comedy skit featuring his daughter, Keelie.
Fast forward to 2024, JD has recently created a new dance challenge to the chart-topping song, “Get Inna The Groove”, by TOK’s Bay-C and the Billboard Kid, Xyclone, from their highly successful collaborative album, Flawless Victory EP, which had reached number 1 on the US iTunes Reggae Chart hours after its midnight release on March 1, 2024, knocking the legendary Bob Marley off the top spot.
JD remarked, “I actually love the song and believe in the potential it has to make an impact on the dancing scene so I’m doing my part to see this become a reality. I knew of Xyclone before through another dance challenge that was trending to his song ‘Story Time’.”
The confident star expects “Get Inna The Groove” will go far, not only due to his fun dance routine to the track but also because it has a positive effect that will impact every person who hears it.
“Honestly,” he continues, “with dance challenges it’s really a gamble. However, I know the influence I have on social media, especially among people 18 and younger, so I did expect great things from it. It’s early days yet, but I’m confident this song and challenge will go far.”
With almost 100 videos already on TikTok alone since the song’s release just 2 weeks ago, it is evident that the challenge is well on its way to becoming a global phenomenon. There are even several international persons who have been drawn to participate in the “Get Inna The Groove” challenge so far, including those from England, Spain and especially the United States. Surprisingly too, JD stated that none of them were actually following him at time, which is somewhat a good thing, proving that his reach is far and wide.
“The long term goal is to use my influence in every way possible to positively influence people especially teenagers and kids on a global scale through dance and comedy. Impacting young people is somewhat easy for me as I use experience and conversations with my own 2 kids to better understand how they think and try to relate and relay information on their level,” JD explained.
For the time being, however, JD will stay focused on the task at hand, which is this challenge and getting the song to the pinnacle of success. So what’s next for JD? He plans on transitioning to an MC, hosting parties and social events and hopefully getting more into acting. In the meantime, “Get Inna The Groove” and join in on this fun and exciting challenge.
Follow @JD_UNT on all platforms in order to learn this routine. For bookings, promotions and other business inquiries, send JD a DM and he’ll instruct accordingly.
Follow the artists and their labels:-
Bay-C: @baycmusic
Xyclone: @xycloneofficial
Bomb Rush Records: @bombrushrecords
Ejor Media Group: @ejormediagroup
Support:
Flawless Victory – EP by Bay-C & Xyclone
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