DancehallMag
×
Features

Why Skillibeng Shouldn’t Be Dragged Too Hard For The Nonsense In His Latest Song “Yo!”

By
skillibeng-2
Skillibeng

It appears that Dancehall star Skillibeng has decided to take mastering the art of literary Nonsense Rhymes very seriously, even at the risk of national ridicule. But his fans have not taken kindly to his new Nonsense Song titled Yo!, and are instead dragging him on YouTube and Twitter, appearing hell-bent, it seems, on making him the laughing stock of the Dancehall world.

A Nonsense Song is a track written and recorded mainly for the purpose of entertainment, injecting nonsense syllables and unintelligible phrases and sounds at least in the chorus.  Such a song generally has a simple melody and a fairly quick tempo, as in the case of Yo!, which is now trending No. 5 in Jamaica since its release two days ago.

The snarky comments and remarks on Skili’s YouTube channel, however, have been nothing short of hilarious, as critics and fans of the Dancehall artist declared that he has apparently ‘lost his mind’.

The most popular lines which have had people doubling over with laughter happens to be found in verse one, where Skilli intonates, in a rather toddler-like manner, of how he engages in a shootout with the Jamaica Constabulary Force, escapes from them and then out of nowhere, starts smoking his ganja, getting high in the process:

“Your girl a stalk down me page
Police say, “Freeze, freeze”
But me no bothеr freeze…”

For an amused Andrew Silvera, he was certain that there was not much thought put into Yo!, as the lines relating to not “freezing” for the police were ridiculous.

“I swear! Yo dah song! Yo it jus! Yo mi just cah believe! It jus..yowwww!!!💀🥴🤣..police seh freeze..but mi nuh badda freeze 💀..is like the producer seh Skilli, mi bored, build somin quick weh wi can throw out deh..n skilli seh really yo? N the producer seh yo! That sound good, build somin round that inna 5 mins! Now yo! 💀💀”

Some fans claimed that Yo! was proof that the Coke artist was talentless and surrounded by ‘yes men’, while others equated his lyrical acumen to that of basic school, or primary school children.

“This remind me when i was goin to basic school and a try sing😂😂😂,” Imani Anderson wrote, while Fully Fully piped in: “Mi ago start sing to if a suh it easy.   From mi seh yow a pow lol 😂 mi use to sing like diss inna basic school”

“This sound like when d man dem a freestyle a lunch time in a primary skl,” Alex wrote.

Others said Skilli’s new song had the depth of, and could be placed in the category with A’Mari’s songs including Neko. “This giving me Amari vibes😭😂😂😂,” Liaa bia said, while Ke Foxxie added: “Inspired by Amari i’d say, this would have been a hit, like Neko if this was hers.”

A highly amused Kimone Jarrett said that Skilli appeared to be very self-assured of his abilities to even contemplate releasing such a silly song. “Bwoy🥲mi ago gwaan listen to him long time song dem….him confident bad fi even record dis😂😂,” she noted.

Other critics did not find it funny and declared that Skilli was making a fool of himself. “A wha the boombo bloodclalt Skillibeng a duh tpc.  Yow tek dis dug bredda,” Quewayne Green demanded. “Yaaah yow me a one a yo most loyal fan if you Nuh start put in back the work and stop madness me and all a me dawgs them go stop stream yo dyam songs 😤” Jay Jay complained.

Others like Sonia Burgess, said that Yo in all it ridiculousness would bring some laughter to those, like herself, who hear it. “Jamaicans are just so bored so anything that makes us laugh pure madness I laugh till I cry 😂😂,” she said.

But fun and jokes aside, Skilli’s Yo, is no different from Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance which starts off with gibberish in the intro which also comprises the hook, as well as her Pokerface and Alejandro, which, from a literary standpoint are Nonsense Songs or have Nonsense Lyrics embedded in them, as is Rihanna’s Dancehall song Rude Boy.

Some of the most successful Nonsense Rhymes out of Jamaica came from Dancehall legend King Yellowman among these Zungguzungguguzungguzeng, Mr Chin, Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt, and This Old Man, an interpolation of a nursery rhyme written in 1906.

Beenie Man has also had his share of nonsense rhymes and verses including Who Am I (Sim Simma) and Romie. 

According to Tunedly.com, an Interactive Online Music Production and Publishing company, nonsense in songwriting “does have a place in society”.

“When it comes on to the pop genre, there is quite a bit of literature about pop artists turning to nonsense lyrics to make hits by injecting lyrics considered wacky or going against the laws of grammar, into their  songwriting,” Tunedly said.

It said many of the world’s most well-known artists, chief among them Elvis Presley have from long ago, turned to nonsensical lyrics in attempts to entertain their fans, the Hound Dog singer hooking fans with not only his voice, but also “through using lyrics that defied comprehension at times”.

Tunedly noted that Presley heavily relied on “catchiness and gimmickry to deliver many of his hits” and used nonsensical lyrics to such a tremendous effect, that  they played a big part in elevating him to a pop icon. “Well, you ain’t never caught a rabbit and you ain’t no friend of mine,” a line from Presley’s Hound Dog is among the nonsense lyrics referenced as, catching a rabbit is not a requirement to be someone’s friend.

Among the reasons it gave for artists to write nonsense are: to generate interest in the song as people tend to spend a lot of time trying to figure out lyrics that seem meaningless, and to create a “cool” hook that gets stuck in listeners’ heads. Another reason is in order to disguise the true meaning of what the artist is trying to convey, in the case of a sensitive topic, or to mask words that might not be fit for airplay, as in the case of the song Shaving Cream, to make them more palatable, albeit nonsensical.

Another aim is to create filler lyrics when the songwriter wants to place emphasis on existing lyrics, or is trying to create a dramatic bridge or ending to prevent the song from sounding monotonous, it said.

As the lampooning of Skilli continued, Chrisannyah Dstud attempted an interpretation of the song, noting that Skilli’s intention was to show that ‘anything goes’. “Sing anything n yuh buss I believe that was what he was trying to bring across… Skilli: yow Him fans: Pow Me😆😆😆” she wrote.

Then, there were those who teasingly took to imitating Skillibeng’s heavy reliance on the use of the onomatopoeia “pow”. “Teacher: ‘what’s rhymes with yow?’ Skilli: ‘now pow wow’ 😂” LyviN TRU Voices wrote, while Lalalala Lalalalalalala mocked: “Me: Mhi artist; Skilllibeng: yow 😂😂”

Bruckbhade _turf sought to delve into Skilli’s thought process, critiquing lines in the second verse where Skilli appears to be talking to himself, like a man of unsound mind would do.

A handful of Skilli’s fans though, said they thought the song was good and had a deeper meaning.

“Nuh get why so much delinquents inna the comment section a type way dem Nuh understand……..Song tuff to me….can’t go round that….the delivery different from the regular and a that me rate ..these days everyman sound a like …just gwan STANDout skilli make the rest a dem gwan SIT down……so we operate one young talent to a next,” one fan said.