Dancehall recommendations...

If you're after a good run of squelch and skronk without all the "bun out the chi chi" business, try Mo Wax's "Now Thing' from 2001. It's a Face-friendly compilation of instrumental digital Dancehall tracks and all brilliant stuff. Part 2 is out soon, I think.

Dancehall is a 7" market, with scores of artists toasting over each rhythm, so it's hard to sort out the wheat from the chaff. If you hear a track you like, you could go for a Greensleeves Rhythm Album - each one has about 25 people on the same rhythm. They can be great - Goldfinga's "Hard Drive" and Lenky's "Diwali" albums are worth a go - but you can start to lose your mind around the 19th version when the artists aren't up to scratch.

Other producers to look out for (off the top of my head) are Ward 21, Philip "Fattis" Burrell and Steely & Clevie. Lloyd James Jr's "Caan Tame" rhythm is my favourite at the moment - it sounds like a hyper-tense, twitchy version of "Being Boiled".

So after an awesome community street fair Sunday I am once again interested in dancehall. Who should I be looking out for?

2008-2009 Dancehall / Reggae

awesome

http://www.ebreggae.com/

I just bought 9 Just Ragga collections for $20. I am very happy.

holy... I just now looked at the prices

wau

Yeah it's always really cheap, but a couple of times a year they have total bargain bin blowout sales. Great way to pick up older dancehall, cutouts, Blood & Fire and Soul Jazz stuff.

if you want recent stuff mavado or busy signal albums are good starters

the compilations make more sense though in general

Oh man this many Just Ragga's (all from 94-99 so this is gold) is kind of overkill. Currently loving "One God" by Merciless, Mr Vegas and uh Delicate from Volume 14 on this previously unheard by me awesome dark-to-the-core riddim by Harvel "Gadaffi" Hart (the guy who did www.com among other things.)

Just Ragga 13 features interpolations of George Michael's "Faith" and Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On", neither by Elephant Man strangely. Currently loving Harry Todler on the Cobb Web riddim with "Unu Fi Move".

Merciless is the hidden treasure from these so far. I can't believe I dismissed him as a Bounty Killer copyist. He's awesome.

ya i recently had a trawl through some old ragga ragga raggas and had a similar conversion - some of his ad libs are bloody close to ripping off bounty wholesale though yes.

anyway this is good stuff alex, carry on! i have a few just raggas (not 13 and 14 sadly), i'll listen to them again later maybe and join in. looking at the 13 tracklist i know and love vegas 'sweet pineapple' on top shatta riddim, the tanto metro & devonte is a classic 4 all time, and yeah haha the tony curtis obv. not surprised to see ghost as responsible for the celine interpolation either; i only realised quite recently whilst watching an old monster shock performance on youtube that he was actually a guy and not some scary wraith woman. he is up there with sanchez for interpolations anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdd1nV4-9hQ

also i found 'one god' and my god it is wicked. does the cd liner say what riddim it's on?

(hah that's probably one of the worst examples of ghost covers but i felt compelled to bust it anyway.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-d5rNIDR-Q

'scary wraith woman'

lol

http://www.reggaenews.co.uk/img/gallery/ghost.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0aq3Wk7GJ0

haha listen to him on this!!

"also i found 'one god' and my god it is wicked. does the cd liner say what riddim it's on?"

No it doesn't sadly! I trawled here and here with no luck and googled to no avail.

"i have a few just raggas (not 13 and 14 sadly)"

I will have a complete collection by the end of the week (minus 4, which Ernie's doesn't have for some reason.) It's like the great Ragga Boxed set ever for $25.

Currently Delta (???) is kind of ruining this sweet Steely & Clevie riddim.

Cobra killin' it on a "Certain Gal" though

Oh the Medicine Riddim is really good. Great Dave Kelly melody as usual.

I've heard this before (it's on the Lady Saw comp I have, I think) but awesome none-the-less:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YanpwY1Bh1Y

Pretty sure the Ghost track I just listened to is an Amy Grant cover ("Arms of Love").

Okay apparently it's not (just glanced at the Amy Grant lyrics.)

12 starts really strong. "Oysters & Conch", "Hice It Up" and then Beenie over the Odour Riddim (?) with "Pure War". Dancehall songs with War are always good. Like the next track Elephant Man's "War Start" which is quite good except for the couple of moments where he strains to hit uh high notes. It's funny listened to Ele before all his vocal tics took over. Uh oh a Tony Curtis track.

lol that ghost track is a michael bolton cover dude

It's funny even the tracks w/ weaker MCs/singers tend to have a lot to recommend them. Like on this Tony Curtis track, he's pretty sub-par, but this riddim (Stampeed apparently by Stone Love Movement) is just awesome and packed with like six-million ideas ("Come Clean" percussion, a conga-break, three or four different overlapping synth melodies.) Nice Scare Dem over the same riddim.

LOL that's awesome.

Harry Todler has to be one of the best names ever.

and the previous ghost song on that, 'round robin', appears to be a bizarro concept jam where he cycles thru 4 different covers every chorus!

agree that cobra destroys that tune (beenie's comes reliably close) although why you would neglect to take the precious opportunity to type "damsel pandemonium riddim" is beyond me

Ohmigod I didn't realize that was the name of the riddim. I couldn't find it on either riddim db. That's awesome.

Oh I see it's under Mad Cobra on ReggaeID.

This Buccaneer riddim Mad Lion w/ Spragga Benz "Naa Go Dun" would sound better if I hadn't just listened to the Stampeed riddim, I think. Of course Spragga on Dave Kelly's Rae Rae Riddim is great (although the Cham version is probably better.)

It's funny even the tracks w/ weaker MCs/singers tend to have a lot to recommend them. Like on this Tony Curtis track, he's pretty sub-par, but this riddim (Stampeed apparently by Stone Love Movement) is just awesome and packed with like six-million ideas ("Come Clean" percussion, a conga-break, three or four different overlapping synth melodies.) Nice Scare Dem over the same riddim.

yeah this is spot on - the 03-05 boom justifably takes the plaudits for its explosion of colour but from certain angles mid-90s riddims have an equally insane and intoxicating sense of zany black humour, even whilst still being maniacally stark and pounding. when i was digging the ragga ragga raggas this was especially obvious round volumes 8 or 9 which are dominated by the mecca, columbian necktie and virgin riddims - all of these are kinda mad and have loads of wacky iterations but also the particularly repetitive way the rrr's were structured then (3/4 riddims max per edition) for once makes it seem really giddy ad relentless rather than monotonous.

http://www.mediafire.com/?w2jnmyinj4n

here's just ragga 4 if you wanna complete the set btw!

Back then the RRR's were just that quarters' Greensleeves riddims then? That sounds like it could be incredible (esp. since that was before the riddim album boom which kind of diluted their releases.) My RRR collection doesn't go back that far, I think I have back to 12 or so.

Glamma Kid is another Bounty Killer knock-off isn't he? Not quite up to Merciless quality, but given that Bounty is pretty sparse on these. . .

actually i checked and it was a bit of a mirage - there's more riddims than i thought on the rrrs, (still two a year). the first three years of strictly the bests 91-93 were four a year though yeah!

Shabba's "Swarm Mi" is awesome.

Okay Vol 12 closes with another slightly modified (keyboard is much higher in the mix, I think--Lenky gets a credit) cut of the Odour riddim. Onto Vol 11.

. . . which starts with Little Kirk (?) doing a crazy schmaltzy C&W style ballad "Delilah" bleeding into Beenie & Frisco Kid doing their decidely non-C&W thing. This is maybe the most left-field sounding thing yet.

And now Buju over the awesome Blackout riddim. I think there was a re-cut of this that I heard. Original is awesome.

that shabba nicks the chorus off this scare dem one on columbian necktie i think; course they couldve nicked it off someone else i suppose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z6ad0FE3Io

(about a quarter of the way into that you can literally hear a moment of indecision when the riddim dude doesnt know whether to press "cowboy twang" "air raid siren" or "dramatic string swoop" so kinda mashes them all instead)

Next two tracks are Digital B on the All Purpose riddims. First is Determine over a minimal percussion workout w/ a high pitch whoop, sleng teng-ish bass and catchy keyboard melody. Second is Shabba over a slight mod of the same riddim w/ a different more abrasive keyboard melody. Very nice.

If not for the high pitched whoop (and the fact that they are side by side on the comp) I don't know that I would have guessed these are the same riddim actually.

haha omg that delilah thing.

Oh I have the Scare Dem album that's on, I think ("The Album", heh). Columbian Necktie is a great riddim name.

A couple of cuts of the Punaany riddim now including "Girls Dem Sugar" which is the second best thing on the disc so far (after the Buju cut.)

Yeah that weird mid-90s C&W thing was. . . well weird. Didn't Beenie do a totally straight country song? I know Lady Saw did one. It's really unnerving listening to her sing completely patois free.

Another General Degree gem "Give You What You Want" over another Digital B riddim. His little thing where he extends out the notes in the chorus is great.

Hah Shelly answer track. Oh Red Rat you have much to answer for.

the one on the scare dem album is on a rubbish new beat, like most of the other songs sadly. (the original version of 'bad man nuh dress like girl' is an official rtc classic.)

richie stephens did a cover 'it's not unusual' once but scandalously it is not on youtubes :(

if the-dream ever gets round to hiring me as his manager i will also suggest he does 'it's not unusual'. IMAGINE.

sorry alex i'm trying to keep up but turns out i'm just playing the darkside psuedo-hiphouse shabba one over and over

"the one on the scare dem album is on a rubbish new beat, like most of the other songs sadly."

That is sad. :(

What is the song that Cobra's "Hardcore" is swiping the melody from? It's driving me crazy, it's so obvious.

"sorry alex i'm trying to keep up but turns out i'm just playing the darkside psuedo-hiphouse shabba one over and over"

I think I'm going to listen to that and the awesome Buju track a couple of times after I finish.

Oh it's "Tainted Love". Sigh I hate it when I blank completely like that.

Will also listen to "One God" again.

1996 Egyptian riddim is great. Better than the 2003 Egyptian riddim, I think.

Another case where it's nice to listen to the anonymous dude (Black Collie? uh yeah) rather than Beenie Man, since it allows you to hear more the awesome riddim.

"sorry alex i'm trying to keep up but turns out i'm just playing the darkside psuedo-hiphouse shabba one over and over"

Yeah this track is awesome.

Starting on Volume 6 which starts with a Bounty Killer/Frankie Paul track and then goes into an interpolation of SWV's "Right Here" with *sigh* Tony Curtis and then another Tony Curtis decidedly not-Just Ragga track. After that it looks like it gets better though. Lots of Terror Fabulous and Spragga Benz w/ a sprinkling of Bounty and Mad Cobra. Also a Pinchers track called "Bloodstain". That's gotta be great.

And here's Terror over a very restrained Digital riddim. Underrated deejay (the Dave Kelly album I have is quite good.) I think he did an album with Digital too? I should probably try to find that.

this is my new favorite riddim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgzPPD-Iizs

new favorite OLD riddim that is. trying to find the name of it

soap riddim.. lol

Eck now Juki Ranks and Sugar Sweet (doing SWV vibes hah) over a quite nice riddim by GT Haynes and Mr Glarke (publisher is listed as Greensleeves so I assume this is a Music Works thing.) This is a case where a really good riddim is actually hurt by actively bad mcing/singing.

its digital b too

Pinchers being his usual great self on another Digital B riddim "Bloodstain" and now Tenor Saw w/ Pyceral on "Johncrow". Pyceral not really adding much, but a solid Penthouse riddim w/ Tenor doesn't need much really.

Tenor Saw is one of those singers that really leaps off tracks, isn't he? Hearing him on this combo tunes, you really appreciate what a special talent he was.

Now a totally hip-hop riddim with Black Don's "Clipper". Pace feels positively sluggish next to the rest of the tracks, but still very nice *(Black Don, whoever he is, is pretty respectable.) Mafia & Fluxy did this, it looks like.

Now the first of at least two tracks off Spragga's first album, "Dem Flap" over Dem Bow riddim, I think. No producer listed, but pretty sure this is also Digital B like most of that record is.

And now Bounty over a Death In The Arena re-cut (Digital B again). Riddim is almost non-existent here (mixed so far back you can mostly just here a couple of snare hits and a faint melody) basically just a blank slat for Bounty to do his Bounty thing over.

slate, ahem

~83 riddim, which is what ReggaeID sez this Mad Cobra tune "Body Ready" is on is great. Almost sounds like it could be Black Dog at points.

And more Spragga from the first album and now Jigsy King on the same Digital B Death In The Arena recut only this time it's mixed much higher. It's quite nice actually.

Track ID amusingly sez Tony Curtis is on that Jigsy track. Thankfully this was a lie.

Favorite Spragga track so far is this shouty combo track w/ Don Yute on the Frog riddim.

And now we come to a close w/ Red Dragon and Deborah Glasgow "Respect Fi Yu Body".

Okay Vol 6 was little weaker than the ones I listened to yesterday. Too many weak combo tracks and fewer startling riddims. Starting on Vol 9 which is beginning well Cobra's "Slam Good".

Sore Riddim is very nice bubbly riddim chock w/ sound effects. Three versions on this one, Beenie Man's "Bank Robber", Buccaneer's "Turn Around" and Alley Cat's "BMW".

A lot of Vol 7 got sampled/used for jungle anthems (hello Top Cat and Tenor Fly) so I've heard quite a lot of the best stuff already in some form (quite a few of these things seem like they've been anthologized elsewhere). No revelations so far (just the reminder that Terry Ganzie's "Ragga Ragga" is awesome and the Grunt riddim is great) but this is still a good one.

Okay listening w/ Vol 3 which starts out w/ two Ninjas (neither Man sadly, Kid and Ford) and Powerman (??!?) and Galaxy (??!?) and Daddy Mite (??!?). Red Dragon is sandwiched in there on what appears to be a Steely & Clevie re-cut of the Big It Up.

After the mild disappointment of Vol 3 & 6, Vol 5 has started out much better (both the deejays and the riddims are better so I'm guessing the overall quality totally depends on what they could license for that volume rather than anything going on in Jamaica.)

No one seems to care, but I completed the Just Ragga collection (even with #4)--I haven't listened to them but the first one is all Cobra/Capleton/Buju and Cutty Ranks! so I'm very excited--and also picked the first Merciless album (Len Out Mi Mercy) and it's great!

Alex, I read this awesome/hilarious thread a few weeks ago and then all 14 of the Just Raggas went down to 99cents on Ernie B's so I just ordered all of them a couple of days ago. So, thanks.

lol this thread starts out promising and then it ends with me doing my best impression of homeless ragga fan *mutter* this Dave Kelly riddim is awesome *whispers* heh Cobra's always good

I actually got 4 of the 5 Total Ragga's for 99cents a couple of weeks ago, but they are not quite as consistently good.

"romoantic call" by patra is such a jam

Ah the '90s. I liked a few things/tings by her

any recommendations for house-tempo dancehall? doesn't have to be current..

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/arts/music/amplifier-newsletter-dancehall-songs.html?unlocked_article_code=1.fU8.D09g.FWp3JFo3Y1p2&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

NY Times playlist re dancehall history— well some of it , plus the editor’s faves and not much recent stuff

Ricky General is pretty good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKMKLIYlNMs