Karol G’s “BbY WOW” is sitting at number one on Spotify’s Global Top 50, Apple Music’s Global 100, and the Billboard Hot Latin chart, racking up over 78 million streams.
But the detail that’s got music heads talking isn’t the chart position, it’s the drum pattern that kicks in around 30 seconds into the song.
That pattern belongs to “Coolie Dance Riddim,” a dancehall instrumental built by Jamaican producer Cordel Skatta Burrell back in 2003.
Burrell originally created it for a wave of dancehall artists, including Sean Paul, Elephant Man, Bounty Killer, and Ce’Cile, who each put their own style over the beat across two compilation albums released that year.
The riddim didn’t stay in dancehall for long. By 2004, it was everywhere, powering Nina Sky and Jabba’s “Move Ya Body” and Pitbull and Lil Jon’s “Culo,” which later got a remix with reggaeton veteran Ivy Queen. If you were near a radio or a dancefloor that year, you heard it constantly.
The beat kept moving through the decade. Lumidee and Fatman Scoop flipped it in 2006 for “Dance!,” which also pulled in Whitney Houston’s vocals from “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”
Latin artists like Angel y Khriz rode it on their massive hit “Na De Na,” and Jr Ranks added his own take with “Dale Candela.” The riddim had a way of fitting whatever energy an artist brought to it.
After going relatively quiet post-2009, “Coolie Dance Riddim” has had a serious revival over the last six years, and this time it’s artists far outside the Caribbean leading the charge.
Argentine artist Ms Nina slowed it down for her 2019 album intro, Spanish rapper Cruzzi gave it a lo-fi texture in 2023, and Kehlani used it as the foundation for “After Hours,” the lead single from her 2024 album CRASH.
The riddim has also taken off in Turkey in a big way. Sefo and Demet Akalın’s “Yerinde Dur” has cleared 329 million YouTube views, and Lvbel C5’s “DOGUSSTAN BERI HAKLIYIM” has over 140 million Spotify streams.
French DJs HUGEL and SOLTO pulled it into their 2025 house track “Jamaican (Bam Bam)” alongside Sister Nancy’s classic song of the same name.
The Arab pop scene has picked it up four times in under a year alone. Moroccan artist DYSTINCT used it on “YAMA,” which has over 212 million YouTube views and 73 million Spotify streams.
Egyptian legend Amr Diab, Palestinian Jordanian singer Dana Salah, and Palestinian Chilean artist Elyanna have all followed with their own versions. DYSTINCT says he first heard the riddim as a kid in Belgium on “Move Ya Body” and always knew he wanted to use it. “
The riddim is usable in so many different styles,” he said. “Even if you heard the riddim sampled in so many songs, it still sounds cool and fresh every time.”
Dana Salah, who worked with producers Michael Brun and Rami Afuni on her version “Wedding Riddim,” says she heard echoes of Arab dabke music the first time she listened to the beat. “It has such a strong identity: joyful, playful, and sensual, but it also leaves enough space for every artist to find their own melody and culture inside it,” she explained. “More than 20 years later, your body still understands that rhythm before your brain does.”
Latin music historian Katelina “La Gata” Eccleston ties the resurgence directly to nostalgia, especially for millennials who were around when the riddim first blew up.
“Riddim culture thrives in artists displaying individuality and creativity over a common beat,” she said, “so if an artist is able to invoke a sense of nostalgia by showing homage to another song with a bar or adding to the beat with lyrics that complement its soundscape, then I think the task is completed.”
Burrell himself says the global reach of his creation is something he never takes for granted. “From its birth, I’ve always felt its commercial viability,” he said. “
However, witnessing its growth on an international scale is an experience I relish every time there’s another global release.”
He’s been publicly supporting artists who sample the riddim on his Instagram, and called “BbY WOW” a “child of the 2000s,” saying Karol G “did a great job.”
Burrell also spoke to how his Jamaican roots shape everything he makes, even when he’s aiming for something with wider reach.
“I’ve always tried not to get stuck in a dancehall-only approach, instead drawing inspiration from global music that I’ve connected with,” he said. “The next step was making it palatable for the world to appreciate.”
With Karol G’s version now sitting at the top of global charts and new artists in Turkey, France, and across the Arab world still finding fresh ways into the beat, the list of songs built on “Coolie Dance Riddim” keeps growing.
