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 in the genre's map: 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. Three names come up as identified co-creators: producer Dada and ASA on the Dominican side, Ricky T from Saint Lucia. Soca stars then took it up — Machel Montano, Skinny Fabulous, Bunji Garlin, Iwer George — with two emblems: "Famalay" (2019, produced by Dada), the first documented Bouyon → Soca crossover to reach the whole region, 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. And as with the other sub-forms on the map: the category exists to help understand circulation between genres, not to inflate tags.
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.
