Chilly’s claim to bashment soca

IF ONLY DJ CHILLY had known, he would have registered the name bashment soca.

The disc jockey, whose real name is Omar Jordan, is claiming that he invented the moniker for that genre of music peculiar to Barbados.

DJ Chilly, who along with Alias A comprise the duo Fraud Squad, is known for the songs Tek Dat, Bring Drinks Somebody Gine Pay and Pork Mout.

He told WEEKEND BUZZ recently it all started a night after recording the song Tight Tight.

“Fraud Squad used that term first and if I had brains, I would have gone and registered it at that time. But you don’t always think far ahead and you don’t always have that vision,” he said in a telephone interview.

And he explained how the name came about.

“That night recording we [were playing around] and said soca bashment but it did not sound good, so we used the term bashment soca. Because it is not bashment that is changing but soca, so we put soca behind to say what type of soca it is,” said DJ Chilly.

“We are the first group to ever use that term. [Actually] the first ever to use that term because no one used that before us.”

“Fusing dancehall with soca brought about bashment soca. And when we fused the two from Tight Tight, it evolved to ragga soca and slower beats per minute.”

DJ Chilly made it clear he did not invent the art form but merely the name. He said bashment soca has a future and has room for growth.

“This bashment soca is really a Bajan thing. And others have come to love it, including other West Indians, but if we want to take it further, we may have to slow down how we sing. So that the outside fans can understand [what is being said],” DJ Chilly reasoned.

“I think next year Trinidad will be capitalising on it, as it is now having a large following.”

He pinpointed artistes such as Barbados’ first Bashment Soca king Stiffy, with his winning song Tek Off Something taking the bashment soca world by storm, and Marzville, with Bang Bim, who tied for third in the Tune Of The Crop.

DJ Chilly added that by observation he realised that new media was really working for the newer artists. (MR)