Definition
Bouyon soca is a fusion genre: on one side bouyon, born in Dominica; on the other, soca from Trinidad and the English-speaking Caribbean. Wikipedia devotes a dedicated article to it, a sign of official recognition, and also lists it under the alias "jump up soca". Its origins are documented in the early 2000s in Dominica, with a landmark date in 2007: Ricky T's single "Pressure boom" (Saint Lucia). The tempo runs between 130 and 150 BPM, halfway between soca (110-130) and bouyon (152-160).
A bridge, not an internal mutation
The nuance matters: bouyon soca is a cross-genre fusion, a bridge between two neighboring genres, not an internal current of bouyon the way Nasty Business is. In Dominica, bouyon has in fact kept a clearly identifiable style, distinct from soca. According to Wikipedia, the style was made popular across the region by producer Dada and artist ASA on the Dominican side, and Saint Lucian Ricky T blended the two genres with "Pressure boom" (2007). Soca artists then collaborate on it: Skinny Fabulous, Bunji Garlin, Iwer George and Machel Montano, with "Famalay" (2019, produced by Dada) and "Conch Shell" as notable hits named by Wikipedia, and Machel Montano's "Issa Vibe" (2019). A recent Dominican generation carries the label today: Trilla-G, Little Boy, Quan, DJ Taffy.
Boundaries
Two confusions to avoid. First, the "Bouyon Soca Monarch": that is a Dominican carnival competition title : Carlyn XP won it two years running through 2017, not a sub-genre label. Then the "shatta bouyon" label: unlike bouyon soca, that supposed genre does not exist, it was coined outside the local scenes. Shatta (Martinique, derived from dancehall) and bouyon are two distinct genres with nothing connecting them.
Sources: the dedicated English Wikipedia article "Bouyon soca", the blog's Dada, Machel Montano, Little Boy, Trilla-G, Quan and Carlyn XP artist profiles, the Bouyon hub FAQ, internal editorial synthesis.
