Meaning
An exclamation of high praise and excitement in dancehall — 'that's a hit!', 'big tune!'. A selector or the crowd shouts 'boomshot!' to salute a song that lands hard, like firing off a celebratory shot in the air at the thrill of a great track. It marks the peak moments of a session, the tunes that set the place alight, and it belongs to the whole noisy, joyful vocabulary of approval — the wheel-ups, pull-ups, and forwards — with which a dancehall crowd hails the music it loves.
Examples
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Boomshot! Wheel dat one, selecta!
Massive tune! Rewind that one, DJ!
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Di crowd bawl boomshot when di riddim drop.
The crowd shouted their approval when the beat dropped.
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Dat tune deh a pure boomshot.
That song is an absolute hit.
Origin
From 'boom' plus 'shot', evoking a celebratory gun salute — a common way of showing approval in sound-system culture.
How it’s used
Belongs to the dancehall and sound-system world, shouted to celebrate a great tune. Related to the gun-salute exclamations 'booyaka' and 'brap'.