Reggie! Aka Sabi Boy is a Nigerian Alternative Rapper who started the Ant-Wey Trend.
His original idea was simple; juxtapose English words ending in the suffix ‘ant’ with creatively funny Pidgin interpretations, using an ant (the insect) as the subject. Indeed, the “Ant Wey” bant is inherently brilliant wordplay. For example, “Ant wey rude: Arrogant” roughly translates in English to “An ant that is rude: Arrogant”.
As there are at least 500 words that end with -ant in the English language, the opportunities for wordplay are technically limitless. Having schooled in Ghana (even though he’s from Edo state in Nigeria), Reggie! has a lot of Ghanaian friends and followers, who picked up on the thread. Barely 24 hours after, “Ant Wey” was already trending on Ghanaian Twitter.
Soon enough, “Ant Wey” and later, #AntWey were among the top 10 trending topics on both Ghanaian and Nigerian Twitter. This went on for at least another 24 hours, garnering over 100,000 impressions on Reggie’s original tweet alone. He’s decided not to rest on his oars though; he capitalised. He decided to drop an Ant Wey Inspired Song called “Ant-Man” Produced by Sosa , Mixed and Mastered by Mix’D.
