It was a tall order getting any work done last Monday, as Rihanna tirelessly and selflessly chronicled her adventures at Kadooment Day in Barbados via her Instagram. Among the seemingly endless thirst-trap pics showcasing Rihanna’s thicker, rounder behind (and the occasional one of her kissing a baby) were a handful of videos capturing Ms. Badgal wukking up to some soca on the Zulu band truck. (No, she wasn’t twerking—any Bajan will tell you that’s wukking up, Barbados’ own spin of the classic Caribbean wine).
In particular, she could be seen letting loose to a pair of tunes from Bajan artist Stiffy: “Squat” (on Peter Coppin’s Wild riddim) and “Balance Pun It” (on King Bubba FM’s Primetime riddim), both prime examples of bashment soca, Barbados’ own fusion of dancehall/soca fusion.
Although the Tune of De Crop — the most played song at Crop Over — was “All Ah We” by Peter Ram, Stiffy definitely emerged as the breakout artist from last week’s festivities, thanks in large part to Rihanna’s endorsement, posting a video mouthing the lyrics to “Squat.”
“When the video came to me, I couldn’t believe it—I watched maybe five, 10 times,” Stiffy told us via Whatsapp voice note from Barbados. “To actually hear my song in the background, it was like ‘Yeah, bwoy.’ That let me know that I really doing something, because it was a short space of time and the song was released kind of late on in the season.”
Stream “Squat” and “Balance Pun It” below, and click here to see a compilation of all of the clips of Rihanna wukking up.