Riddla

Laughter first, the music with it

Riddla is a voice from Lauricisque, in Pointe-à-Pitre, who makes people laugh. He is not a comedian: he makes music, and the way he makes it is by being funny. His videos are called "récréation", playtime, his series carry episode numbers, and he says it himself under his best-known video: a little break between two studio sessions.

The neighbourhood is nicknamed Zooside. He starts out in 1999 within NO'CLAN, alongside Fuckly, then releases the album "C.Pagna la" in 2003. After that he moves through every Caribbean register without settling on one: rap, reggae, gwo ka, R'n'B, soca, zouk, bouyon, with features signed Admiral T, Phylissia Ross or Booba. A radio host and master of ceremonies, he plays current affairs tongue-in-cheek.

2011: "Leggo", "Ya sa la", and two words that stay

In 2011 he lays a funny lyric over a bouyon instrumental. "Leggo" takes hold over the summer in Guadeloupe, and a Creole blog analysing hardcore bouyon spells it out the following year: a quality humorous lyric, over a bouyon instrumental. The video lands on his RIDDLA TV channel as "Leggo Récréation (VERY BAD TRIP 4)" and passes half a million views.

The same year, he uploads the freestyle "YA SA LA !". And something overflows: the phrase leaves the song. It enters the speech of under-25s, to the point that in 2017 a Guadeloupean blog notes that back in 2012, YSL no longer meant Yves Saint Laurent. Riddla turned it into a signature: his X account is still called riddla_yasala.

A stone in the building, not a membership card

Riddla is not a bouyon artist in the strict sense. Platforms file him under dancehall, rap, shatta, soca and zouk, bouyon does not even appear in his list of genres. He never built a career inside the genre, and never claimed otherwise.

But he comes back when it counts. "Rèspèkté-w" in 2011, alongside Admiral T, E.sy Kennenga and Misié Sadik. "An Diw Wi" with DJ Guyguy in 2021. "MI BOSS LA" with DJ Luchshiy in 2023. And on 28 August 2026, "How We Do It (In Notting Hill)", which PepseeActus files as bouyon. In between, he filled two Paris venues in 2018 and 2019 and played La Cigale on 19 January 2020.

That is his place in the story: a stage neighbour who shows up at the right moment, with the humour it takes, and who leaves behind two words Guadeloupe still uses.