Trinidadian soca heavyweight and 25-year industry veteran Bunji Garlin recently took to social media to peel back the secret behind his lyrical prowess when making music.

The artiste sought to clarify common misconceptions about him due to his background.

“I was asked last week in a small gathering how am I able to just let music flow like that,” shared Garlin. His response? Reading. “I read a lot – of random things,” he revealed, dispelling the notion that his lyrical genius stems solely from street life experiences.

He asserted that he is not a “goon with low intelligence,” and that his affinity for words and wordplay predates his musical career.

He expressed that during his time in school, he first started practising incorporating creative wordplay into musical rhythms, a skill he refined over decades. “Over the years I developed to a point where I can hear a crumpled paper just move and once I hear a rhythm in that movement my mind just goes,” he explained.

“Many people came to me with offers of songs they want to write for me. No one can write for me my mind would not allow it,” he asserted.

Bunji Garlin is the 2023 Road March winner and 2024 Road March runner-up with his tracks Hard Fete and Carnival Contract, respectively.

The Early Childhood Commission (ECC) in Jamaica says reading to children during the early years has been linked to increased interest in reading and learning throughout their development. It says this also leads to greater levels of phonological awareness, reading comprehension, and school performance, regardless of socio-economic status.