What does ‘Wah Gwan’ mean? Drake teams up with local artist Snowd4y for the Toronto version of ‘Hey There Delilah’

Canadian rapper, singer, and actor Drake recently collaborated on rising Toronto rapper Snowd4y’s new song, the remix of Wah Gwan Delilah, which is a play on Plain White T’s iconic number Hey There Delilah.

The song, which is the original track’s cover, was first released on SoundCloud by Snowd4y. Later, Drake took to Instagram to share a screenshot of the song’s cover featuring the Toronto skyline and wrote, “@snowd4y wake up the city.” Since then, the song has garnered enough traction online, especially for its unusual title.

According to the travel website Sandals, the phrase ‘Wah Gwan’ is Jamaican in origin and is a popular greeting in the culture. It is a conversation starter, which means, “What’s up?” or simply, “How are you?”

This song comes amid Drake’s ongoing feud with Kendrick Lamar over the past couple of months.

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Everything you need to know about Drake’s Wah Gwan Delilah feat

Toronto’s up-and-coming artist Snowd4y, best known for making comic and musical content on social media, released his latest song, Wah Gwan Delilah, on Monday. It features Drake, who raps in the second verse:

"Wah gwan, Delilah? Know I'm late 'cause there's bare traffic/ I just show my dog your ‘Gram/ He said he knows a man that slapped it, I’m so cheesed/ Your ‘mademoiselle’ nights are geeked, I’m bent lowkey/ Wah gwan, Delilah?”

He further continues by singing:

“Double date me if you like me/ Brought my cro’nem for your bestie/ Sorry, he’s wearin’ a shiesty, he’s not beat/ It’s just too smokey in these streets/ You’re looking sweet.”

The song is a parody of Plain White T’s 2005 emo-folk-pop track Hey There Delilah. It is filled with colloquial terms from Multicultural Toronto English (MTE), which often incorporate Jamaican (Creole and Patois) phrases, such as ‘Wah Gwan’ here, used by the ethnically diverse young population living in the Greater Toronto Area.

As per Urban Dictionary, ‘Wah Gwan’ can be literally and phonetically broken down into ‘Wah’ meaning ‘What’s’ and ‘Gw-aan’ meaning ‘going on.’ However, among today's generation, asking a peer, "What's up?" is more common.

Former American President Barack Obama reportedly used the phrase when he visited Jamaica during his presidency to greet the audience and was welcomed with loud applause.

Besides feuding with Kendrick Lamar, Drake has also been collaborating with other musicians, such as Sexyy Red, on her track U My Everything. He also appeared twice on Camila Cabella’s new album C,XOXO.

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‘Wah Gwan’ in popular culture

This is not the first time ‘Wah Gwan’ has been used by a popular musical artist such as Drake. In 1978, the Jamaican roots reggae group Culture (also called African Disciples) released a single called Wah Gwan as part of their Baldhead Bridge album.

Likewise, Jamaican dancehall artist Shaggy also unveiled a studio album titled Wah Gwaan?! in May 2019, which featured other musicians including Gene Noble, Alexander Stewart, and Noah Powa.

Jamaican artist Christopher Martin also released a song titled Wah Gwaan as part of his 2020 album TDA Riddim.