Chase and Status explain meaning behind 'Baddadan' song

Every summer there’s those songs that just seem to become the soundtrack to our lives.

Last year there was Dua Lipa’s ‘Dance The Night’ that had the Barbie and pop fans bopping, but there was also the banger ‘Baddadan’ that had many dancing away.

Chase & Status are the electronic duo behind the track with Bou, which features IRAH, Flowdan, Takura and Trigga.

And if you’re still a fan of sitting and watching music videos, you’ll probably recognise Trigga in this one from playing Speaks in Top Boy.

The 88 beats-per-minute song was released in late July 2023 and spent 10 weeks in the UK Top 10, hitting a peak position of five. And it even spent a whopping 30 weeks in the Top 100.

But while you might have spent many months repeating ‘Baddadan’ over and over, you might not have thought about what it actually means.

So, following their win for Producer of the Year at the Brit Awards on Saturday (3 March), LADbible asked the pair to explain.

Chase & Status, made up of Saul Milton and Will Kennard, told us: “It means I’m badder than you.

“It means I’m better than you at what you’re doing – anything you think you’re good at, we’re better.”

Well, fair enough – as the lyrics go ‘Nobody badder than we’.

A drum and bass track, the song is dancehall-inspired and ‘Baddadan’ is also Jamaican creole literally meaning ‘Badder Than’.

And to really drive it home, the duo’s site reads: “Chase and Status. Nobody Baddadan We.”

After winning the Brit over the weekend, I guess that is pretty true.

LADbible also asked Milton and Kennard to explain the meaning of their artist name.

But they said it’s ‘unfortunately not interesting’.

“When we were kids, we both used to do graffiti and I wrote ‘chase’ and he wrote ‘status’. And when we first, first began, it was a bit of a clash. It was ‘chase versus status’,” they said.

“Then we realised we were competing too much – it’s better if we’re working together. So we got rid of the ‘vs’ and put an ‘and’ basically.”

Chase & Status formed back in 2003 when they were studying in Manchester.

Over the years, they’ve released six studio albums and have a long list of hit tracks featuring the likes of Plan B, Kano, Tinie Tempah, Tempa T, Craig David and Emeli Sandé.

Featured Image Credit: Chase & Status/YouTube

Topics: Music, Celebrity, Brit Awards

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_