Warm Up

Act III — Article VIII · 2019-2026

Article written by TIITII NBA, artist of the New Bouyon Wave collective.

Sources: public interviews of the artists themselves, platform catalogue records (Shazam, Apple Music, SoundCloud) and specialized press, all cited at the end of the article.

My apologies for any names or places misspelled — many of the actors are anglophones, translation and transcription can introduce slight discrepancies.

You can contribute to the blog's evolution: leave your corrections and additional info in the comments at the bottom.

Position 0 — Warm Up is a Bouyon zone that emerged between 2019 and 2026: more breathable tempos (roughly 120 to 134 BPM), a DJ set function, and a label searchable on platforms. Guadeloupean turning point in 2024 with KPT by TIITII NBA feat DJ Softee, after earlier Dominican traces (Triple Kay 2019, KEKS MAFIA 2022).

You discovered Bouyon on TikTok or in a DJ set and you are wondering why some singles run slower without leaving the genre. You are not wrong to feel it: there is a distinct zone, and it has a name — Warm Up. This chapter gives you the exact markers: who laid down the word first, which singles serve as catalogue references on Apple Music and Shazam, and why Warm Up does not replace fast Bouyon — it adds another room.

I — Slowing Down Without Cooling Off

After the New Bouyon Wave, the question is no longer only: who carries the name? The question becomes: how far can Bouyon move without losing its nerve? For a long time, the most visible image of the genre rested on acceleration: tight drums, repetition, carnival, road energy, immediate impact. Warm Up arrives as a different answer. It does not say Bouyon should become soft. It says the fire can change speed.

The word matters. In DJ logic, warm up is not the top of the night. It is the rise. It is the moment when the body enters the tempo, when the room prepares, when the selecter installs tension before the peak. Applied to Bouyon, the term creates a zone: slower, more breathable, but still Caribbean, still rhythmic, still built for movement.

That slowing down does not cut Warm Up away from Bouyon. On the contrary, it reveals something scenes have always known: a night cannot hold with only one intensity. It needs entries, relaunches, breath, bridges between dancehall, soca, shatta, trap, New Bouyon and harder Bouyon. Warm Up becomes that bridge.

Warm Up does not remove energy from Bouyon. It moves the energy toward waiting, tension and the rise.

[S-48]

II — 2019-2021: The Word Circulates Before KPT

Before it becomes a line of officially named singles, Warm Up first circulates as practice. An older trace appears on 14 September 2019 with Triple Kay - Warm Up (Live 2019), published by Bouyon Music 767 on Audiomack [S-38]. That trace is not enough to define the modern subgenre, but it places Warm Up inside a wider timeline than recent Guadeloupean releases alone.

In 2021, the term becomes more visible across DJ and riddim uses. On 21 July, StratVincyBwoy posts a Dennery Segment mix announced with Soca, Kuduro and Bouyon under a Warm Up angle [S-39]. On 27 September, NYZER posts Intensive Warm-Up Bouyon Riddim [S-40]. Then on 15 November, 1T1-bouyon warm up akiyo appears on SoundCloud under 1T1beats [S-41]. These traces show circulation, not a single birth point.

A few weeks later, on 30 December 2021, Kay'J x Ckay - Emiliana (Warm Up Bouyon) appears on SoundCloud [S-42]. That trace matters because it comes from DJ/edit culture: take an already known single, re-place it inside a set logic, prepare the room for something else. Warm Up also develops inside that act of transformation.

This stage should not be confused with an official proclamation. Between 2019 and 2021, what we mostly see is field vocabulary: live recordings, DJs, producers and artists using a slower, more progressive, more adaptable function. It is not yet a fully stabilized chapter. It is a test zone.

That test zone still says a lot about the period. After the transition years and the platform years, Bouyon no longer lives only through big carnival markers. It also lives through SoundCloud files, versions, edits, stories, private sets and the attempts that come before official catalogue.

III — 2022: KEKS MAFIA Gives a Catalogue Marker

The first strong catalogue marker arrives on 15 December 2022 with Bouyon Warm Up by KEKS MAFIA. Shazam lists the single, VGM PRODUCT as label, a 125 BPM tempo and credits around DJ Taffy, Kevin Lennard, Tafari Maffei and Mickael Monrose, with DJ Taffy in production and Dj-Micky on the mix [S-43]. Apple Music confirms the single release on the same date [S-44].

This stage matters because it ties Warm Up to Dominica as much as to Guadeloupe. KEKS MAFIA is a Dominican artist already tied to a Bouyon/Nasty line, and DJ Taffy belongs to the generation of producers who make the modern scene more readable through riddims, credits, releases and platforms. Warm Up is not the isolated invention of one territory.

At 125 BPM, Bouyon Warm Up sits far from the fastest image of Gwada Bouyon. That number alone does not define the subgenre, but it makes the break visible: we remain in Bouyon logic, yet the pulse leaves more space for groove, voice, lower-body movement and party flow.

The most interesting point is this: Warm Up is not born against fast Bouyon. It is born because fast Bouyon needs another room around it. In a set, one speed eventually tires the room. With Warm Up, the DJ gets an entry, a passage, a transition.

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IV — 2024: KPT Makes the Guadeloupean Shift Visible

On 16 February 2024, KPT feat DJ Softee [BOUYON WARM UP 2025] by TiiTii NBA comes out on platforms [S-46]. Shazam documents the title and writing credits: Terry Capitolin, Daryl Clarisse and Julian White [S-45]. From that point on, Warm Up becomes readable inside the Guadeloupe/New Bouyon axis. The single does not claim to open the whole Warm Up story; it gives that story a clearer Guadeloupean address.

The single arrives after the New Bouyon Wave chapter, but it does not simply repeat the same story. The New Bouyon Wave named a network and a way to release music. KPT shows something else: the wave can also modify tempo structure. Bouyon is no longer only a race toward faster, louder, drier. It can become more flexible without leaving its identity.

For TIITII NBA, that terrain is not conquered in advance. The door opens with BAD MOOD in 2023 [S-51], almost against instinct. His artistic reflex is delivery: occupying the bar, multiplying attacks, holding the rhythm through pressure. On a Warm Up, the space gets wider. The tempo leaves gaps. It forces a choice: where to strike, where to breathe, where to let the voice hold instead of running.

The turn happens there. After BAD MOOD, slowing down stops feeling like a brake; it becomes a frame to master. KPT fixes that moment. The delivery does not disappear; it shifts position. It waits more, lands cleaner, lets the riddim carry part of the tension. Then come Pli o and the Warm Up tracks on Chodong Route Empire C.R.E. In the current base, at least seven TIITII NBA titles belong to that zone, between explicit tags and artist validation [S-51].

In 2026, Booska-P describes bouyon warm up as a slower variant, citing Castries by Meryl and MiiMii KDS as an example [S-48]. That mainstream reading confirms that the term is no longer only a producer detail: it becomes understandable for a wider audience.

V — 2025-2026: DJ Softee, TIITII NBA and Formalization

The formalization becomes clearest when Warm Up stops being an exception and becomes a series. On Chodong Route Empire C.R.E, DJ Softee places several tracks inside that zone. Ambiance Latino, More Wata feat TiiTii NBA, released on 1 September 2025, is documented at 120 BPM [S-47]. Supalova feat TiiTii NBA & DJ Dirtee, released the same day, is documented at 130 BPM [S-49].

That range gives the sound a color. Warm Up is not only slowed down; it is calibrated for another place in the set. Where faster Bouyon hits head-on, these tracks leave the space breathing. The voice can enter differently. The riddim can make the room roll instead of only pushing it. The audience can sing, walk, dance, wait for the next peak.

The recent line is not limited to that axis. 1T1 is no longer only a 2021 trace: Feel Da (rvf) in 2024 and In Di Corner feat Miimii KDS in 2026 keep the lane moving [S-52][S-53]. The DJ edit of In Di Corner, tagged BOUYON WARM UP on SoundCloud, shows how DJs receive that tempo: as material for the rise, not only as an isolated single [S-54]. Theomaa then pushes the imaginary toward the after-party with After Party, released on 11 February 2026 [S-55]. Warm Up becomes less a closed box than a shared climate: slowness, waiting, late-night energy, bodies still moving.

On 6 February 2026, Lésé Nou Pasé feat Ma6mo & Diixly [WARM UP 2026] extends the line. Shazam lists 134 BPM, HEAVEN STUDIO, Terry Capitolin, Nicolas Macbeth and Sofiann Farah, with Diixly on production and DJ Dirtee on engineering [S-50]. The single links several threads: TIITII NBA, T-BTS through Ma6mo/Nicolas Macbeth, and a recent production line made more readable by credits.

This point matters because the story should not be told badly. Warm Up should not become a basket where every new-generation name gets thrown. The tracks, tempos, uses and release contexts have to carry the argument. Here, the line holds because it repeats: BAD MOOD, KPT, Pli o, Ambiance Latino, More Wata, Supalova, Lésé Nou Pasé, Feel Da, In Di Corner and After Party all ask the same question: how do you keep Bouyon attack when the tempo asks you to breathe?

VI — What Warm Up Changes

Warm Up changes the way a Bouyon night can be understood. Before, the simple opposition said: either it is Bouyon, or it slows down and exits Bouyon. The 2019-2026 period complicates that idea. It shows that a subgenre can keep the Bouyon signature while changing its function.

That shift is strategic too. For DJs, Warm Up gives a transition tool. For artists, it opens space for other flows and other hooks. For platforms, it gives a searchable label. For the audience, it offers a way into Bouyon without receiving maximum speed immediately.

Warm Up therefore does not erase fast Bouyon, Nasty, New Bouyon or Gwada Bouyon. It adds another room to the house. In that room, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, DJ edits and platform releases cross each other. That may be why the term works: it does not only describe a tempo, it describes a moment.

After naming the wave and slowing the tempo, the story now has to look at the exit from the local frame. Once Bouyon becomes findable, remixable and playable everywhere, it enters another battle: crossover.

FAQ — common questions about Warm Up

What exactly is Bouyon Warm Up? A Bouyon zone with a more breathable tempo (roughly 120 to 134 BPM in recent releases), designed as a DJ set function — to prepare the rise, install tension and let the crowd breathe between faster peaks. It is neither a separate genre nor a simple slower Bouyon.

Who released the first official "Bouyon Warm Up" single? The first strong catalogue marker is Bouyon Warm Up by KEKS MAFIA, released on 15 December 2022 (Shazam and Apple Music, VGM PRODUCT label, 125 BPM, DJ Taffy production). But the term already circulates from 2019 in live contexts (Triple Kay) and DJ uses (StratVincyBwoy, NYZER, 1T1, Kay'J in 2021).

Why is KPT by TIITII NBA cited as the turning point? KPT feat DJ Softee [BOUYON WARM UP 2025] comes out on 16 February 2024 and gives Warm Up a clear Guadeloupean address on platforms. After BAD MOOD (2023), TIITII NBA adapts his usual delivery to a slower tempo instead of abandoning it — the zone then becomes a frame to master.

What is the difference between Warm Up and hardcore Gwada Bouyon? Hardcore Gwada Bouyon sits around 160 BPM (chapter V). Warm Up settles distinctly lower, between 120 and 134 BPM in documented releases. Where one hits head-on, the other lets the space breathe and lets the riddim carry part of the tension.

Who are the central Warm Up producers and DJs? DJ Taffy and Dj-Micky on the Dominica side (KEKS MAFIA), DJ Softee, DJ Dirtee and Diixly on the Guadeloupe side (Chodong Route Empire C.R.E, Lésé Nou Pasé). DJs like Kay'J or DJ MIXYS also play a role in circulation through SoundCloud edits.

Is Warm Up a passing trend or a real Bouyon zone? 2024-2026 releases (KPT, Pli o, Ambiance Latino, More Wata, Supalova, Lésé Nou Pasé, Feel Da, In Di Corner, After Party) show a series, not an isolated shot. A set function holding for several years across several producers: this is a stable zone.

Where to start listening in 2026? For the TIITII NBA line: KPT, Pli o, then the Warm Up singles on Chodong Route Empire C.R.E (Ambiance Latino, More Wata, Supalova) and Lésé Nou Pasé. For the Dominican reference: Bouyon Warm Up by KEKS MAFIA. For the 1T1 line: Feel Da (rvf) and In Di Corner feat Miimii KDS.

Further reading

- Chapter VII — The New Bouyon Wave — The contemporary wave preceding Warm Up: TIITII NBA, 1T1, DJ Softee, Aknose, Nils, Theomaa, Lejuh, Luky Lukee. - Chapter IX — The Global Crossover — When Bouyon leaves local scenes for playlists, diasporas and pop crossovers (2024-2026). - Chapter X — Women of Bouyon — From Gaza Girls to MiiMii KDS, the female line that also runs through Warm Up. - Back to the Bouyon hub — The interactive 3D map of the 12 chapters + documented artists.