Dancehall Reggae artist Munga in a recent interview stated that he was the first artist to lead out with Trap in the Dancehall music space, woth reference to one of his songs titled ‘Flippin Rhymes.’
“A me bring Trap bout yah. Mi never name it, but me did just a trap,” he said on the Imara Nation podcast. “A rap music mi listen to inno. A rap music a one of mi biggest influences and R&B which influenced the harmonic, melodious part a mi writing.”
“When me a write Fliping Rhymes mi did deh near the fan inna mi likkle room so when I asked Don Corleon fi the sound that was what… him opened protools and open autotune,” he said.
Flipin Rhymes was voiced on the High Altitude riddim, which also featured Sean Paul and Rihanna‘s Break It Off and Voice Mail’s Let’s Dance.
“Don was recording the Sweat riddim… so he was scouting to record Capleton,” Munga revealed. “In a that mi just did a vibe pon the riddim, being that Capleton a write him song and mi a vibe round the corner and Kool Face heard my song and say ‘mi like tha song deh, mi wah Don voice dah song deh.’”he added.
“Kool Face made the introduction and Don say ‘yeah a certified song.’ When I went to audition, he played two riddims. Him play [Sweat] riddim and he played High Altitude. So mi audition two songs and him pick which song go pon which riddim and we recorded both songs. So we recorded Bad Like I and we recorded Flipin Rhymes,” Munga told Imara.
Munga elaborated on the creative process behind Fliping Rhymes, sharing that a fan’s breeze inspiring the song’s ‘chipmunk sound’ (autotune).
“When me a write Fliping Rhymes mi did deh near the fan inna mi likkle room so when I asked Don Corleon fi the sound that was what… him opened protools and open autotune,” he said.
Listed Flipin Rhymes song below.
After having a run with the law on gun related alegations, the deejays career took a hasty decline, following the end to the auto-tune era.
Although the term “Trap Dancehall” was not coined until around 2017 when Montego Bay artist Rygin King, also referred to as Trap Lord, released his hit single Tuff, as far back as 2011, Aidonia was spitting lyrics with similar beats and flows as what is now regarded as Trap. “People who know music know seh I created this sound,” he had told the Entertainment Report in 2022. “A we seh Trap. A we rap pon Dancehall beats from di get-go. Dat a our sound. Di Biggy Small, di flow pon di beat. Suh if yuh guh suh and check di ratio, a we kinda create dah sound yah.”
Watch Munga’s interview with Negus below.
