What are people's favourite dancehall rhythms of the year or so...

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I underestimated the "Fuck U Sign" riddim (I decided that's what it's called) just having heard Elephant Man's take and giving him all the credit for its being great. But I just heard Beenie Man's "My Dickie" where he recites "Work It" on top of that shit and it's hot as hell. U&K for sure.

― Adam A. (Keiko), Friday, 27 June 2003 03:16 (twenty years ago) link

thanks dude. those sites are pretty informative. there's some store called Reggae Runnins Village Store in the city, but i'm not too sure it sells records. i'll check out those clips and make my way to the 45 bin at amoeba.

― JasonD (JasonD), Friday, 27 June 2003 03:46 (twenty years ago) link

Jason, I've been keeping track by listening to 1xtra (http://www.bbc.co.uk/) where they'll play maybe five tracks with the same riddim in a row and tell you quite helpfully exactly what the riddim is several times, so you can match up the name of the specific artist's track and the riddim.

The best way to then find copies with Limewire is to type in the artist's name and try and find the track that you're looking for. Mind you I haven't had an enormous amount of success....

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 27 June 2003 04:26 (twenty years ago) link

G-String Riddim - from Elephant Man's 'Making Money'

― nick.K (nick.K), Friday, 27 June 2003 06:50 (twenty years ago) link

whichever the one under Lazah Current's "Whole Heap a Joy" is, that stuff is awesome

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 14:54 (twenty years ago) link

three weeks pass...

What's the name of the riddim Richard "Shams" Browne produces for the last track on Higher Level and on Sean Paul's "Samfy I"? It's an absolute cracker.

The 20 Cent and Jumbie riddims just out on Greensleeves are pretty excellent too. The quality control is incredibly high at the moment; I only just got Higher Level and I'm shocked at how incredibly diverse and top-notch it is. All over the place!

Hey also can anyone tell me if T.O.K.'s album from 2001 is worth picking up?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 24 July 2003 04:37 (twenty years ago) link

Cashmere!

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 24 July 2003 07:47 (twenty years ago) link

yeah
20cent
baghdad
hindu

― t, Thursday, 24 July 2003 08:38 (twenty years ago) link

At Blacker Dread in Brixton, I had to demand that records be played for me.

yr bloody lucky they even talked to you! i always have a hell of a time in there even tho i borderline know what i'm talking abt, so i use regal records in clapton as the guy in there is really nice and it's abt 10 mins from my house...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 24 July 2003 09:20 (twenty years ago) link

legal records is excellent!

i really like the socawali, sars and sopranos riddims at the moment

― sean g, Thursday, 24 July 2003 13:29 (twenty years ago) link

(simon reynolds in making snarky comment re: dancehall shockah)

(apart from greensleeves - which other labels do good riddim albums or multi-riddim mutli-artist comps? when's the next greensleeves sampler coming out, anyway?)

― etc, Saturday, 26 July 2003 04:08 (twenty years ago) link

There was some song on Bigupradio.com about Poop. I don't remember the name, but I would like to nominate it anyway. It had a fart sample.

― ben welsh (benwelsh), Saturday, 26 July 2003 04:16 (twenty years ago) link

I disagree with Reynolds for two reasons:

a) dancehall is actually better now even than it has been for the past couple of years, at least as far as I can tell (try listening to Comin 4 You! and then Higher Level and then tell me which is the more engaging, captivating listen).

b) "Get Busy" hitting no. 1 strikes me as an event that means more than "listeners are desperate".

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 26 July 2003 04:48 (twenty years ago) link

& "No Letting Go" (post-"Get Busy"!) CLIMBING the UK charts!

― etc, Saturday, 26 July 2003 04:56 (twenty years ago) link

Like, seriously, the effect that "Get Ur Freak On" had on dancehall is way above and beyond a near-monopolising obsession for Eastern motifs. What's really noticeable about dancehall riddims now that wasn't true only three-four years ago is the focus on treble/bass interplay. I'm not just saying that the treble has become more prominent or tuneful; the groove itself is increasingly reliant on the melodic detail to derive its power.

Even on something as simple as the Liquid riddim from '01, you can hear how the little Eastern string riff (and you can replace that with a synth riff, a sitar line, whatever) helps create the groove as much as the rhythm does, defining the actually-quite-conventional beats and giving them a new sense of exotic syncopation.

Conventionally dancehall has been all about sparse, spartan melodies and upfront beats but that's really changing; on new riddims like "Mudslide" so much prominence is given to the mindmashing synths that it's hard to remember afterwards whether there were beats or not (this is also the paradoxical secret to "Get Busy" - it's the best use of Diwali despite/because of all the melodic/treble bits designed to distract you from the central handclap rhythm.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 26 July 2003 07:23 (twenty years ago) link

Tim, you should check out the Anthony B version of diwali for the flipside of the trebly synth distraction you describe; it uses deep neptunes style moog riffs on the verses that really bring out the handclaps and timbale kicks to create a kind of off-beat very different from the most rhythm-centric versions of diwali.

ps.Can anyone id this riddim for me? It's really happy, with lots of compressed claps and the melody is carried by a steel drum. I've heard it voiced by Elephant Man with a chorus running something like "badman can't test the rhythm or the rock".

― sean g, Sunday, 27 July 2003 19:15 (twenty years ago) link

Also, when did the Wicked Riddim come out? It's the happiest. most addictive beat ever, all thread-bare minimalism and twinkly like a ca.2000 mannie fresh beat.

― sean g, Sunday, 27 July 2003 19:19 (twenty years ago) link

when i download these tracks i feel like i'm choosing megaman levels or something!!

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Sunday, 27 July 2003 20:11 (twenty years ago) link

cashmere is great, but i've only heard "nah lick". can we do a thing where we match up the riddim with the best mc?

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Sunday, 27 July 2003 20:14 (twenty years ago) link

What I was talking about before can be heard really clearly on Ms Thing's "Regular" (using Dave Kelly's Fiesta riddim - but not the R Kelly "Fiesta" riddim used on Elephant Man's "Jamaica"): the actual beat is just a a low, thumping triplet beat, and there's a bit of diwali-style syncopated clapping, but otherwise the whole groove is pushed forward by string riffs, whistles, flutes etc (it's a fucking great riddim). A lot of the really great riddims at the moment are, beatwise, simple triplets (see also R Kelly's "Snake" - there's a reason this has been ripped wholesale to become a hot riddim right now).

Dave Kelly's pretty good at this kind of ultra-melodic stuff actually, as his gorgeous production on Mis-Teeq's "That's Just Not Me" demonstrates.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 28 July 2003 12:27 (twenty years ago) link

Essential downloads:

1) Sizzla - Love & Affection (Wanted Riddim)
2) Vybz Kartel - Gi Mi Some (Mudslide Riddim)
3) Chico - Hail Di Gals Dem (Va Va Voom Riddim)
4) Capleton - Baghdad (Snake Riddim)
5) Beenie Man & Ms Thing - Dude (Fiesta Riddim)
6) Cobra - Lazy Girl (20 Cent Riddim)
7) Elephant Man - All Out (All Out Riddim)
8) Vybz Kartel - Sweet To The Belly (Egyptian Riddim)
9) Predator & Bounty Killer - Mad (Knockout Riddim)
10) TOK - Wap Dem (Famine Riddim)

The Wanted riddim is a must - a great "Get Busy"-style throb but a real skank feel to the drums (a bit like Wayne Wonder's "Bounce Along"). Sizzla's version is the killer for his whined chorus - "LUUUUUV AND AFFECTSHAAAAWN IS WHAT GIRLS WAAAAAANT!" The Elephant Man version is pretty great as well but I don't know what it's called. Something about fassies being enemies, but that doesn't really narrow it down.

The Va Va Voom riddim meanwhile is just insane - big horns, shimmering Arabic string flares, clattering breakdowns at the end of each measure and about three moments when the groove seems to devolve into a more primal Eastern groove before snapping back into extroverted action. I like Chico's R&B-ish version because she really has to belt it to match the background.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:11 (twenty years ago) link

sweet to the belly is prob my fave dancehall record of the past few months! the liquid rhythm was a beaut too - gimme anything 21st-century w/ a harpsichord motif in it and i'm a happy bunny - plus it's got cecile and sean paul's "can u do di wuk" on it, so is an all-round belter...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:19 (twenty years ago) link

There's something about the combination of the female murmur "hmm mmm mmmmmm" and then Vybz's chorus in "Sweet To The Belly" that lifts it above all other versions of Egyptian that I've heard (none of which have the female sample).

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:41 (twenty years ago) link

nah, that's what makes it - it's quite a sexy record, but it's funny, too.... partic the bit abt women not wanting men like r kelly - this reminds me a bit of an old track called mavis by merciless, which is pretty funny, too...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:44 (twenty years ago) link

Oh my GOD Dave have you heard the REBIRTH RIDDIM??!?!?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 28 July 2003 14:06 (twenty years ago) link

The Rebirth Riddim is poptastic!

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:02 (twenty years ago) link

all i know is that i am now downloading something called the...wait for it...R2D2 RIDDIM

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:06 (twenty years ago) link

There should be a separate thread for Most Mouthwatering Things You Get When You Type 'Riddim' Into Soulseek Search. My encounter with the "Eye of Tiger Riddim" was a truly blissful file-sharing moment.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:09 (twenty years ago) link

for a second i thought the rebirth riddim was like jammer or target or someone. the wayne marshall version is ridiculously sugary and pink and plastic. the SOPRANOS RIDDIM is my favourite right now. i love the names, it's like collecting pokemon cards

― sean g, Monday, 28 July 2003 15:12 (twenty years ago) link

can there be a single more pleasurable internet related act (non-sexual division) than typing in "[blank year] riddim" into a search engine?

ha i am also now getting the JEDI RIDDIM

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:14 (twenty years ago) link

BUSH AND SADDAM RIDDIM

(d/l speed 0.8 alas)

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:14 (twenty years ago) link

SADDAM BIRTHDAY PARTY RIDDIM !!!

― sean g, Monday, 28 July 2003 15:15 (twenty years ago) link

wonderful

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:20 (twenty years ago) link

Oh for a mac version of Soulseek. Using Limewire is like pulling teeth I swear.

It's sort of exhausting trying to compress a month's worth of dancehall education into a single night at my parents' computer, but oh so worth it.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:22 (twenty years ago) link

i have heard the rebirth rhythm - it's spesh and then some! oh i love dancehall and it's nice to see other people feeling same this is really making me smile and it's a monday, i have no girlfriend and i am broke so that's really saying something! you've genuinely all brightened up my day - just wish i had a faster internet connection for my mac...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:28 (twenty years ago) link

wow i just got a version of the jedi riddim by TOK where they emulate em's flow from 'business'!

this makes me very happy http://www3.audiomaxxx.com/AudioFiles5/RiddimCD19.ram

― sean g, Monday, 28 July 2003 15:43 (twenty years ago) link

three words for you all: panty. raid. riddim.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:50 (twenty years ago) link

Oh for a mac version of Soulseek. Using Limewire is like pulling teeth I swear.

Tim, are you on OS X? I'm using the cantankerous but totally usable pyslsk. If you've got a couple of hours and don't mind getting your hands dirty you can most certainly get this working. Drop me a line for a "how I got the bloody thing installed" or search on ILE for the Boring Computer Questions thread, there is a good step-by-step written by (I think) Ed.

― fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Monday, 28 July 2003 16:08 (twenty years ago) link

jess: jamaica really has taken the indian thing to strange new levels
mitch: i want to see bollywood star wars
mitch: starring bounty killah
jess: haha
jess: elephant man as han solo
jess: lady saw as princess leia
jess: beenie man as luke
jess: madd anju as r2d2
mitch: hahaha
mitch: elephant man would SO be han solo
mitch: shit, that is good casting
mitch: this needs to go on a thread

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Monday, 28 July 2003 17:28 (twenty years ago) link

iswipe works purty good except for the crashes.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 28 July 2003 18:55 (twenty years ago) link

My last d/l was the Water Lilly riddim which I hoped would be a slick slice of lovers' dancehall to finish a comp CD - and it was! Those aren't just funny names y'know.

Now I'm listening to Finnish fiddle music though, which would be 1000 times greater if it was called the Snork Maiden Riddim or something. But it's not.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 28 July 2003 20:45 (twenty years ago) link

harry toddler's "doom" (which is coming up in slsk as both hard drive and famine riddim) is u & fucking k: ultra-trebbly "guitar" runs and awesome staggering stereopanned drums.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 28 July 2003 21:00 (twenty years ago) link

That sounds like the famine riddim - it's a pearler. I've been looking for more Harry Toddler ever since hearing "Donkey Kick".

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 28 July 2003 22:21 (twenty years ago) link

Famine is marvelous. For further proof, check out "Element of Surprise" by Alozade so we can all talk about how great he is.

― JS Williams (js williams), Monday, 28 July 2003 22:39 (twenty years ago) link

alozade has a great voice - kinda adenoidal and weird, plus funny - but he takes slackness to altogether new levels so i find it difficult to play his stuff... i mean, fuck vibes, that's not a great track!

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Monday, 28 July 2003 22:45 (twenty years ago) link

anyone heard the Saian Supa Crew track on the R2D2 riddim (it's called "S.A.I.A.N")? french dancehall toasting!

― etc, Monday, 28 July 2003 23:49 (twenty years ago) link

Tim, check Harry Toddler's version of 'Pass The Courvoisier' on the QUAKE RDDIM. It starts with what i'm sure is the Ghostbusters theme. Should be on slsk.

― sean g, Tuesday, 29 July 2003 13:52 (twenty years ago) link

Some more riddims worth checking:
PUPPY WATER RIDDIM. Bollywood strings and a squelchy processed snare that sounds a little like the noise on 'Ice Rink'.
HUM HUM RIDDIM. This is crazy. No bass, just syncopated humming noises used similarly to the stuttering voice samples Mannie Fresh used to record. There's lots of weird glitchy snare hits and scratching!
SARS RIDDIM. Lush lovers rock, particularly Wayne Wonder's version 'You Make My Life Complete'. Typical stylized bhangra beat with a chunky timbale hit that clicks and clacks beneath a beautiful, twinkly synth line.
SOPRANOS RIDDIM. I mentioned this upthread, but it deserves some more attention. It's like a pseudo-bhangra riddim, it has a similar beat pattern to the indian riddims but doesn't use any of the drum sounds or claps, just a huge distorted kick drum that goes BOOOOOOM-boom! The melody is carried by a really nice soft flute. Don't know what it's got to do with the Sopranos, are the names supposed to be descriptive of the riddim?

― sean g, Tuesday, 29 July 2003 14:07 (twenty years ago) link

(just to cover the only other thread about dancehall today...)
sean--you're OTM about the sopranos riddim. niceness.

― cybele (cybele), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 20:10 (twenty years ago) link

The Forensic riddim is pretty simple but devastating - see Sean Paul's "Check It Deeply".

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 31 July 2003 05:31 (twenty years ago) link

Skipping 476 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Chronic is great, yes.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 21:34 (nineteen years ago) link

btw dave, big up for not glossing over the "chi-chi man" stuff in the t.o.k. article

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 21:41 (nineteen years ago) link

i rarely read the "edited" versions of my US work, jess coz it often hurts my heart and head, jess, so am most concerned about whether the pictures were any good - were they?

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 22:10 (nineteen years ago) link

also cheers for the shout (had to really talk abt it coz there's a big feature in the mag abt franki knuckles - wld have been a bit off to gloss over it even i i wanted to, which i didn't - just hope i don't get killed now).

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 22:13 (nineteen years ago) link

the pics were okay as i remember, nice big shot of the four of them across the first two pages. like a dancehall tiger beat haha

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Where was this article?

― djdee2005, Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:13 (nineteen years ago) link

the new xlr8r

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:14 (nineteen years ago) link

another magazine i stopped buying

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:15 (nineteen years ago) link

I'll buy this one in support of D-stelz and his dancehall knowledge which he has so generously shared.

― djdee2005, Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:31 (nineteen years ago) link

this should arrive in australia in, oh, 4 months

― mullygrubber (gaz), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:37 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah I was just pondering that myself.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:52 (nineteen years ago) link

this should arrive in australia in, oh, 4 months

melb peeps, readings gets $11 air freight issues of xlr8r.

― OCP (OCP), Thursday, 6 May 2004 02:19 (nineteen years ago) link

Chronic riddim is spacy and awesome.

― djdee2005, Thursday, 6 May 2004 05:25 (nineteen years ago) link

a dancehall tigerbeat aint so far-fetched! see here!

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 6 May 2004 09:48 (nineteen years ago) link

the bug....

― OCP (OCP), Sunday, 9 May 2004 04:51 (nineteen years ago) link

finally got my hands on the lime key rhythm album - some great stuff on here. cheers for bringing it to my attention fassy.

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 13 May 2004 09:57 (nineteen years ago) link

Maybach riddim is pretty great: a skank-like groove a la Barbershop or Wanted, *plus* the door-slam sound from "Grindin". Vybz's "Remedy" is pretty funny to boot.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 13 May 2004 12:23 (nineteen years ago) link

i'm going 45 shopping tomorrow - there was a shitload of stuff in the shop i got the lime key album from but i had to go out so couldn't hang about.

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 13 May 2004 14:56 (nineteen years ago) link

Picked up some nice stuff today

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 14 May 2004 22:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Passa Passa rhythm! sort of ragga-metal

Not sure if this is an old one or new. Also there seems to be some controversy about the right to use this particular name.

― Jeff W (zebedee), Monday, 17 May 2004 11:47 (nineteen years ago) link

i can't stop listening to "send on".

― m. (mitchlnw), Monday, 17 May 2004 12:06 (nineteen years ago) link

People should take me up on that Maybach tip - it's great! - but instead of downloading Vybz's "Remedy" first grab TOK's "Sex on my Mind", which deserves to be a huge R&B crossover hit. Sparse riddims like this are *so much better* for pop tunes than eg. the latest slice of Vendetta kraziness.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 22 May 2004 02:36 (nineteen years ago) link

you're right - it's a bloody CHARLESTON! makes me think of flappers!

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Saturday, 22 May 2004 12:06 (nineteen years ago) link

anyone reckon we should start a new one of these threads as this one's getting stupid big now and even taking a while to load up on broadband?

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Saturday, 22 May 2004 16:34 (nineteen years ago) link

Go for it. I'll lock this one and redirect it once you've started a new one.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 22 May 2004 16:38 (nineteen years ago) link

Job done, can you put a link back to this one from the new one, too, Ned? Coz there's some good info on here, still.

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Saturday, 22 May 2004 16:46 (nineteen years ago) link

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Saturday, 22 May 2004 21:24 (nineteen years ago) link

I shall, hold on...

*new thread here*

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 22 May 2004 21:26 (nineteen years ago) link

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