He is the representative front-rower who has just chalked up one million streams on Spotify.
As State of Origin dominates the airwaves on sporting talkback programs, North Queensland prop Jamayne Taunoa-Brown was being shown some love for his latest hip-hop track, Pressure, on national youth network Triple J.
Taunoa-Brown, who produces music under the name Yung Maynie, was blown away when another song he released in 2020, Brothers, hit the magical million mark on the musical streaming service last week.
While a song with one million streams is worth less than $5000 to an artist, the overwhelming support reminded Taunoa-Brown music was a serious option if he failed to land a new NRL deal beyond this season.
A 115kg front-rower, who has played 67 NRL games, and represented the Indigenous All Stars four times, ruptured his achilles in the pre-season, and then again in March, which has ruled him out the season.
Taunoa-Brown followed coach Todd Payten from the Warriors to the Cowboys, and his first preference is to remain in Townsville. Payten has a lot of time for Taunoa-Brown, and made a point of attending his first live show at a nightclub last year.
Jamayne Taunoa-Brown during the Indigenous All Stars
Cowboys teammates make a point of playing Taunoa-Brown’s music in the team gym, while he also supported established Australian artists Onefour and Hooligan Hefs when they toured far north Queensland.
“It was great to get one million streams last week; it’s not great money, but it’s never been about the money,” Taunoa-Brown told this masthead.