Absolutely fire showcase of St. Lucia’s Kuduro Soca or “Dennery Segment” sound, a local style notorious for slack lyrics and its hi-NRG pace, here served up spicy as fuck by one of the Caribbean island’s premiere DJs for Uganda’s Nyege Nyege Tapes.
Packing pure heat from the town of Dennery in St. Lucia’s Mabouya Valley, DJ Chengz’ mixtape extends an unmissable introduction to Dennery Segment, a fast and grimy offshoot of the Angola “Hard ass” style of Kuduro that’s been banned in the region for its blend of salacious lyrics and rave-inciting rhythms. Also incorporating strong influence from Zouk and Lucian drums, Dennery Segment is a super strong example of punkishly road level party music from the Afro-Caribbean diaspora that highlights the pronounced, technoid Portuguese accent dominating global dancefloor dialogues right now.
Catching 67’ of rudely stripped down drum loops and hooks locked with MCs chatting sexually charged filth in Kwéyòl (Saint Lucian Creole), the mix arguably recalls the energy of Carnival as much as the grime and Soca that went into UKF, and bristles with the electric rawness of early Marfox and classic Príncipe. But the defining feature is really the raunchy lyrical content, working in a long tradition of XXX-rated Soca styles but with a bang up-to-the-second sense of economy and directness touching on everything from alcohol problems to “Sex like spaghetti”, and galvanised by the jabbing, gruffly rhythmelodic urgency of the productions.
Little known beyond the region, perhaps aside from diaspora carnivals in US and EU, the infectious percolations of Dennery Segment are bound to incite fervent reactions with all discerning dancers and listeners who love it as rugged and rawly stylish as it comes. DJ Chengz’ expertly selected and blended mixtape is the ideal entry point to Kuduro’s latest mutation for anyone with hips and ears attuned to thrilling new music from the tropics.