Elements of gwo ka, tambour bélé, ti bwa and biguine vide, including the full use of the MIDI technology, are prominent in zouk. Its originator French Antilles Kassav' is the only band that includes it in its repertoire to a lesser extent. Too fast, the style lost ground in the 80's due to the strong presence of kadans or compas music, the main music of the French Antilles. Today, zouk is the French Antilles compas music, also called zouk love.
Music authors Charles De Ledesma and Gene Scaramuzzo trace zouk's development to the Guadeloupean gwo ka and Martinican bèlè (tambour and ti bwa) folk traditions. Ethnomusicologist Jocelyn Guilbault, however, describes zouk as a synthesis of Caribbean popular styles, especially Dominica cadence-lypso, Haitian compas, Guadeloupean biguine. Zouk arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s, using elements of previous styles of Antillean music, as well as imported genres.
Zouk béton was a brief experiment; an attempt to develop a proper local music that would lessen or even eradicate the méringue-kadans or compas influence from the French Antilles. When the MIDI technology came out, Kassav' used it fully creating new sound in both their fast zouk béton and konpa. The Antilleans were all over with zouk, but as other bands from the Caribbean and Africa added the MIDI technology to their music people got use to it. Because it was a jump up beat the fast zouk béton faded away; and, confounding sound and style, Antilleans would continue to play and dance méringue-cadence or konpa. After all French Antilleans and Dominicans are important players of the méringue-compas or cadence style. However, the problem is the fact that musicians from Martinique and Guadeloupe have wrongly labeled compas music as zouk; creating a big confusion in Africa, Cabo Verde, Angola, Brazil, Portugal and other places. French Antilles Kassav', the originator of the zouk béton is a superb compas music band that has taken konpa to many places.
In 1978, Pierre Edouard Decimus relocated in Paris after a successful career in the French Antilles. Pierre Edouard Decimus was on the verge of retirement from the music business until he and his brother Georges Decimus met fellow Guadeloupean Jacob Desvarieux, a popular guitarist/songwriter known in Paris as a studio wizard. The idea was to make an internationalized Tabou Combo. The surroundings of the Paris music recording technology gave him the idea of making "just one more record". Subsequently, Pierre Edouard Decimus, his brother, and Jacob Desvarieux pulled together a team of Paris-based Antilles musicians and created a compas music group named Kassav.
Kassav' was formed in 1979 by Pierre-Edouard Décimus (former musicians from the Les Vikings de Guadeloupe) and Paris studio musician Jacob F. Desvarieux. Together and under the influence of well-known Dominican, Haitian and Guadeloupean kadans or compas bands like Experience 7, Grammacks, Exile One, Tabou combo, Les Freres Dejean, Zekle, etc. the band continued to grow as a solid compas band. kassav' created a style "zouk" by experimenting an eleven-piece gwo ka unit and two lead singers, tambour bélé, ti bwa, a steady monotonous bass with full use of the MIDI technology.
The original Kassav' was all Guadeloupean but was later joined by Martiniquans Jean-Claude Naimro, Claude Vamur, Jean-Phillipe Marthely, Jocelyne Béroard and Guadeloupean Patrick St-Eloi. In the 1980s they took Caribbean music to another level by recording in the new digital format. Kassav wich created the fast carnival jump up music "zouk" style remains mostly a great compas music band.
They continued to grow more popular, both as a group and with several members' solo careers, finally peaking in 1984 with Yélélé, which featured the international hit "Zouk-la-sé Sel Médikaman Nou Ni". With this hit, zouk rapidly became the most widespread dance craze to hit Latin American in some time, and was wildly popular even as far afield as Europe and Asia. Zouk became known for wildly theatrical concerts featuring special effects spectacles, colorful costumes and outrageous antics.
The Guadeloupean gwo ka and Martinican bélé folk tradition is at the rhythmic heart of zouk rhythms; the bélé itself is a huge tambour drum that players ride as though it was a horse. In bélé, the cinquillo is beat out by the tibwa, but it translates very well to the chacha (a maracas) when the rhythms are applied for playing biguine music.
In zouk, the tibwa rhythm is often simplified to an almost-constant 3+3+2 motive and played with rim shots on the snare while the chacha or hi-hats play a tresillo-cinquillo style rhythm. Zouk as popularized by Kassav' is based on a consistent pulsating beat (tambour bélé and gwo ka), the "tibwa" rhythmic pattern played on the rim of the snare drum with the "chacha" or hi-hat, rhythmic guitar's, a full-horn section and Keyboard synthesizers.
The word zouk means "party" or "festival" in the local Antillean Creole of French, although the word originally referred to, and is still used to refer to, a popular dance, based on the Polish dance, the mazurka (mazouk), that was introduced to the French Caribbean in the 19th century.
Actually the Creole word zouke, sekwe, zouke, etc. from the French verb "secouer" meaning "shake intensely and repeatedly" was used by Haitian artists who toured the French Antilles during the late 1970s and 1980s. The dictionary Le Petit Robert gives the following definition of zouk: "Very rhythmic music and dance originating in the Lesser Antilles (Guadeloupe and Martinique) in 1980.
Zouk-love is the French Antilles cadence or compas music characterized by a slow, soft and sexual rhythm. The lyrics of the songs often speak of love and sentimental problems.
Signs
Drake Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Yeah
Champagne with breakfast while I'm yawning
You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning
Lord, forgive me, I can't take things slowly (slow)
I'm gone on them once I get going (gone on them, oh)
She tryna take it all off for me
Tryna stay real close to me (close)
I gotta catch myself
I can't play myself
I need to take it
Easy, easy, easy, easy
Easy, easy, easy, easy
Railiza, you need a
Money and visa
And you get what you want, always from me
I can't say "No" when you say, "Please"
I can't say "No"
Howisha, you need a
Baby with me, uh
And I'm takin' my time, just wait, don't leave
I can't say "No" when you say, "Please"
I can't say "No"
You wanna drink like Bajan and dance like Trini
Yeah
You wanna supermodel pose like mi real friend Winnie (ah mi real friend)
Yeah
Vacation is done but I'm not finished, no
Champagne with breakfast while I'm yawning
You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning
Lord, forgive me, I can't take things slowly (slow)
I'm gone on them once I get going (gone on them, gone on them, gone on them)
She tryna take it all off for me (close)
Tryna stay real close to me
I gotta catch myself
I can't play myself
I need to take it
Easy, easy, easy, easy
Easy, easy, easy, easy
I stay to myself
I'll explain myself
I can't play myself
Our first night, holy night
Five in the morning, yeah-yeah (yeah)
And it feels like you're mine
Signs of the times
Oh, what a time
Playin' it right, playin' it perfect
Laughin' it off but I know you're hurtin'
Signs of the times
I say all the time
Taking my time just gets harder to find it
But you're playin' it right, you're playin' me perfect
She tryna take it all off for me
Tryna stay real close to me
I gotta catch myself
I can't play myself
I need to take it
Easy, easy, easy, easy
Easy, easy, easy, easy
I bet I never disrespect you, darlin'
I bet you pardon me, darlin'
The song "Signs" by Drake is about a lover who can't help but fall for a woman who always gets what she wants. The song opens with Drake waking up with a champagne breakfast while he's yawning. He believes that one should start drinking early in the morning if they wish to drink all day. Drake admits that he can't take things slowly, and as soon as he gets going, he's gone on them. The woman he's interested in is trying to take her clothes off for him, and he's trying to resist her charm, but he can't play himself. Drake says he needs to "take it easy," but it's hard to resist her.
In the second verse, Drake refers to two women; Railiza needs money and a visa to get what she wants, and Howisha needs a baby with him. He admits that he can't say no when they say please. Drake then sings about wanting to drink like a person from Barbados and dance like a Trinidian. He mentions his close friend Winnie Harlow, who's also a supermodel like the woman he's singing about. Drake reveals that vacation is over, but he's not done yet.
In the chorus, Drake repeats the idea of wanting to take it easy but finding it difficult. He sings about playing himself and needing to catch himself. The outro verse repeats the idea of laughing things off while knowing that the other person is hurting. Drake admits the time he's taking is getting harder to find, but he's playing things right, and his lover is playing him perfectly.
Line by Line Meaning
Champagne with breakfast while I'm yawning
Starting the day with alcohol to avoid pitfalls later on
You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning
If you're going to drink all day, you need to start early
Lord, forgive me, I can't take things slowly (slow)
Forgive me for not being able to slow down
She tryna take it all off for me
She's trying to get naked for me
Tryna stay real close to me (close)
Trying to be as close to me as possible
I gotta catch myself
I need to keep myself in check
I can't play myself
I can't fool myself
Money and visa
You need money and a visa
And you get what you want, always from me
You always get what you want from me
I can't say "No" when you say, "Please"
I can't refuse when you ask me nicely
Baby with me, uh
You need to be with me
And I'm takin' my time, just wait, don't leave
I'm taking my time, don't go yet
You wanna drink like Bajan and dance like Trini
You want to drink and dance like people from Barbados and Trinidad
You wanna supermodel pose like mi real friend Winnie (ah mi real friend)
You want to pose like my real friend Winnie Harlow
Vacation is done but I'm not finished, no
The vacation is over but I'm not done yet
Our first night, holy night
Our first night together was special
Five in the morning, yeah-yeah (yeah)
It was very early in the morning
And it feels like you're mine
It feels like you belong to me
Signs of the times
The current situation or circumstances
Oh, what a time
What a great time it is
Playin' it right, playin' it perfect
Doing everything right, doing everything perfectly
Laughin' it off but I know you're hurtin'
You're trying to act like everything is okay, but I know you're hurting
I bet I never disrespect you, darlin'
I bet I never disrespect you, my love
I bet you pardon me, darlin'
I bet you forgive me, my love
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Reservoir Media Management, Inc., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Aubrey Drake Graham, Noah Shebib, Dwayne Chin-Quee, Ashante Reid, Jeffery Williams
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@albertoacosta6788
God I had this song on repeat all summer and winter of 2017 so much memories it takes me back to that time
@Admiralty86
Ur the worst.
@akshrajain5118
so many times repeat
@TheDoubla44
This song brings me waaay back
@beksultantolegenov5016
Most underrated music of drake
@Admiralty86
And exactly how high do you think this should rate?
@ridahforpresident
i still listen to thissss
@Rastafoureyes
Been a fan since early 2000’s
@stoneyhighhigh3677
Im glad this is back up
@Glam_GlittzNails
A gem 💎 😊