When someone is put on trial for a crime they didn't commit, there is always one person who stands up to defend them. You might have seen this happen in movies. So what if some of the lyrics aren't our usual scream-at-the top-of-our-lungs dance hall anthems? "Work" isn't my favorite song but its awesome, Jamaican-inspired beat and lyrics are things we should high five Ri Ri for- not bash her. I think we also, as a culture, tend to be afraid of what we don't know. But instead of basking in ignorance and making uneducated comments and 'jokes', we should do our research first. Ignorance in itself is not inherently a bad thing- it just means the absence of knowledge. Yet, we should probably refrain from brushing off a song as incomprehensible gibberish without doing our proper research.
After all, the dialect is littered between normal English, so listeners could be lost when Ri Ri goes from singing what they're used to hearing to a seemingly foreign tongue. I have to admit, I could see why people view Rihanna's song this way, because that was my initial reaction too: confusion. Yet, memes like this one have become widespread across the web: It only makes sense that a Caribbean singer would use her Caribbean roots in a song. Thus, it should not come as a shock to listeners that Rihanna uses dialect in 'Work'. 'Man Down' and 'Pon De Replay' alike both have Caribbean influences. It's no secret that Rihanna is from Barbados and this is not the first time she's shown her Caribbean heritage in her songs. Yet people are ignorantly calling this song “gibberish” because it is not written in the glossy English listeners are used to. In the Caribbean dialect, “me haffi” means “I have to,” “ah guh” means “going to,” and “Meh nuh cyar” means “I don’t care.” When you take the time to look at the lyrics/listen more closely, the lyrics are actually pretty self explanatory, considering it is written in an English dialect. Rihanna's use of Patois is most notable in the song's hook, which records as going like this: It's common all throughout the Caribbean. The dialect is known as Jamaican Patois, which is English-based but with influences from West Africa. But what I and tons of other listeners did not realize is Ri Ri is not simply muttering incomprehensible lyrics she is speaking dialect in her song. I thought it sounded lazy and couldn't understand half of what Rihanna was saying. Some have called it "gibberish," "jabber," even "nonsensical." I have to admit, when I first heard the song I had a similar reaction. When Rihanna's single, "Work," came out at the end of January, it was met with some confused listeners.
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