With the large influx of Turks and Caicos Islanders moving to the UK, we were bound to hear a new sound of music coming from our diaspora. Ugly Willo who previously resided in Manchester, UK released a new freestyle titled ‘USD’ which taps on UK genres Drill and a bit of Grime.
The question now is what genre do we call this? Is this just Drill or can this be called a new sub-genre?
The birth of TCI Drill
Willo does utilise a London accent twang along with various Black British slang in an attempt at making the song authentic to UK culture or at least palatable to that audience. Continuously, he switches to the Turks Islander dialect which was said to originate from the Gullah/Geechee language prominent in North and South Carolina.
Willo: Yo Cuz check this freestyle tell me u think
20 secs in: “Told Bro My Face Card Good Like US Money In The West Indies!”
Me: What U Say Hold On Pullllllll Uppp!!! https://t.co/FOO9KTVs89
— Pure Vibes Ent (@PureVibesEntTCI) July 24, 2023
USD by @uglywillo is potentially the hottest track from a local artist this summer. It represents the UK/Turks Island fusion, which we rarely see as a British Overseas Territory in music. The Ugly Team may be on to something🔥🔥🚀
— Bourne✌🏿Lead 🇹🇨 (@IAmLTBourne) July 24, 2023
The future of music in the TCI
This draws on a bigger conversation – what is the future of music in the Turks and Caicos diaspora?
We are known for our Rip Saw music which the Bahamians tag as ‘Rake and Scrape’ and we now use this term widely.
So far this year, only one local artiste has released a song which sparked a bit of conversation, even if it was for a short period. This song was penned by Kemuel Cox – ‘Why you Marry me?’ in Regatta season. Since ‘Man In Law’ was released, there has not been a true hit sensation by a Turks and Caicos Islander.
This may be due to the younger generation’s decrease in consumption and interest in Rake and Scrape music in contrast to the way our predecessors listened. Evolution is important for continuity – so we would need to welcome an adapted genre of Rake and Scrape or any other genre as long as our authentic culture plays a distinctive role in this modification.
For example, the birth of Amapiano which is believed to have had its break in 2019. Amapiano is said to be a sub-genre of House music which has originated in South Africa. The word Amapiano somewhat translates to ‘the pianos’ in Zulu and incorporates a number of genres including jazz, deep house, afrobeat and kwaito. It is also said that Amapiano comes from the ‘New York soulful house movement’. House music is associated with Western culture but South Africans made their own path with this genre which is now taking over the world.
Imagine what the Turks and Caicos diaspora can do with existing genres, of course without being the ‘Christopher Columbuses’ of music.
If there are other TCI songs which play on Drill/Grime with authentically TCI elements, tweet them to us @wavesmagazinetc.
