Gully
Also spelled: gulley, gyally
Meaning
A drainage gully or ditch, and by extension the poor inner-city neighbourhoods that grow up alongside them. 'Gully' also became a cultural badge in dancehall, standing for the grassroots street side of life.
Examples
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“Di rain full up di gully.”
The rain filled up the drainage ditch.
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“Him come from di gully an mek it big.”
He came from the ghetto and made it big.
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“Gully to di worl.”
From the gully to the world.
Echoes the 'Gully' identity made famous in dancehall culture.
Origin
From English 'gully', a water channel. In Kingston the concrete gullies run through poor districts, so the word came to name those communities and, in the late 2000s, a dancehall movement.
How it's used
Both a literal ditch and a symbol of grassroots, inner-city identity. Once central to a famous dancehall rivalry between 'Gully' and 'Gaza'.