Bouyon music

Bouyon (pronunciation: boo-yoh) is a genre of Dominican music that originated in Dominica in the late 1980s. Prominent bouyon groups include Windward Caribbean Kulture (WCK); Roots, Stems and Branches (RSB); and First Serenade.^[1]

Bouyon
Stylistic origins	Jing ping Cadence-lypso traditional dances (bèlè, quadrille, Chanté mas, lapo kabwit) Mazurka Zouk
Cultural origins	Late 1980s, Roseau (Dominica)
Typical instruments	Tambour bélé tambou lélé lapo kabwit chakchak (maracas) syak or gwaj (scraper-rattle) tambal or tanbou (tambourine) accordion acoustic drums rhythmic guitar keyboards
Fusion genres
Bouyon soca Bouyon-muffin Rekenteng Alternative bouyon Bouyon Hybrid
Other topics
Music of Dominica Jing ping Cadence-lypso Windward Caribbean Kulture

"Hardcore bouyon", also called "Gwada-Bouyon," is another type of bouyon, different from the Dominican genre, which began through musical collaborations between citizens of Dominica and Guadeloupe, who both speak Antillean Creole. The term bouyon means something akin to "gumbo soup" or "coubouyon poisson" (a typical Caribbean dish) in Antillean Creole. Bouyon music is a mix of traditional and modern music,^[2] and is popular across much of the Caribbean.

Origin

Bouyon blends jing ping, cadence-lypso and traditional dances, namely bèlè, quadrille, chanté mas and lapo kabwit, mazurka, zouk and other styles of Caribbean music.^[3]

Offshoots

Jump up

In 1987, Exile One recorded a Chanté mas and Lapo Kabwit song, "L'hivernage", commonly referred to as the yo. The French Antilleans referred to the beat as "jump up music" because of its carnival style sound. This jump upbeat was later modified to become bouyon or modern soca music. (As printed on Exile One's album "creole attitude").^[4] In Guadeloupe and Martinique, "Jump up" refers generally to bouyon music.

Bouyon soca

Bouyon soca is a fusion-genre that blends bouyon and soca music.

Bouyon-muffin

A modern offshoot of bouyon is bouyon-muffin. It combines elements of Jamaican raggamuffin music, hip hop, and dancehall. The most influential figure in the development of bouyon-muffin is "Skinny Banton" (now known as "Shadowflow") who from 1995 collaborated with the WCK band, using ragga influenced vocals to chant on top of bouyon rhythms. Songs like "party" ft Joanne with Bucktown sounds' DJ Cut gave the products of bouyon muffin like Bushtown clan, a further inspiration to incorporate more hip-hop and dancehall into the Bouyon-muffin genre to create "reketeng".^{[citation needed]}

Wrecketeng

Wrecketeng (also spelled wrecketeng) is a distinct subgenre of Bouyon music originating in Dominica. It is characterized by its heavy use of sampling and by blending Bouyon’s rhythmic structure with international genres such as Dancehall, R&B, and hip-hop.^[5][6]

Stylistic features

Wrecketeng is built around the creation of instrumental remixes produced by sampling and reworking existing international recordings. Typical productions combine dancehall or hip-hop vocals with Bouyon-inspired drum patterns and basslines, effectively replacing the original instrumental while maintaining identifiable elements of the source track.^[5][7] Similar to techniques used in dub music, Wrecketeng often strips the source material down to rhythm, emphasizing fast drum programming, synthesized bass, and repetition typical of Caribbean riddim culture.^[5]

The style is closely associated with Dominican DJ and producer DJ Cut, who is cited as one of the earliest figures to deliberately remix dancehall and hip-hop tracks over Bouyon instrumentals. Media writers note that this experimentation contributed to broader hybridization in Dominican music and helped lay the groundwork for what is popularly known today as “New Bouyon”.^[5][8]

Key pioneers and examples

Several Dominican DJ collectives and production crews are historically linked to early Wrecketeng, including Bushtown Clan, Klockerz Krew, and Nursery Krew Inc..^[9][10] Mixtapes from the early 2000s explicitly categorize Bushtown Clan content as “wrecketeng” or “bouyon–wrecketeng”, indicating local recognition of the style.^[9][11]

Dominican media producer Jael Joseph summarizes the usage of the term by stating that “music by Bushtown Clan or anything mixed with heavy hip hop/rap would be under Wrecketeng”.^[12]

Nursery Krew Inc., led by Krishna “Dada” Lawrence, contributed significantly to the evolution of Bouyon–rap–dancehall hybrids during the mid-2000s. The collective is widely associated with several Dominican artists and producers, including Burn Brain Jolly, Charlie Black, Watty, and Smokiller, who were linked to various studio sessions, early Bouyon–hip-hop experiments, and collaborative projects attributed to the Krew.^[10][13]

Klockerz Krew, active in the late 1990s and 2000s, collaborated with Bouyon-muffin vocalist Skinny Banton on recordings blending Bouyon rhythms with hip-hop and dancehall.^[14][15]

Contemporary development and Smokiller’s role

Dominican producer and artist Smokiller is widely credited for advancing modern Wrecketeng by integrating rap, trap, drill, and R&B into Bouyon’s foundation. His catalog labels beats as “Wrecketeng (bouyon + rap + trap + drill + hip-hop)” and “RnBouyon (R&B + bouyon)”.^[6][7][16] He publicly identifies as a “Wrecketeng specialist”.^[17]

A feature by Dominica News Online reports that Smokiller’s recent productions “seek to showcase Bouyon’s true identity”, emphasizing both preservation and modernization of Dominican Bouyon.^[18]

Influence beyond Dominica

Wrecketeng has influenced several contemporary Bouyon-derived hybrids. In the French Antilles and France, artists such as Fallon, Denden, and Theodora have popularized Bouyon–R&B and pop–Bouyon fusions.^[19]

Fallon is widely credited with creating the style known as RnBouyon, combining R&B vocal elements with Bouyon rhythms.^[20][21] Playlists group Denden alongside “new bouyon” and “rnbouyon” artists, indicating her placement within the same hybrid space.^[22][23]