[su_dropcap style=”flat” size=”6″ class=”dropcap”]W[/su_dropcap]hat better way to christen the site than with a mix? This one’s a ragga/dancehall outing from myself, based on a 45 minute demo I put together in 2000 in a grimey basement (hence the name) on Dublin’s charming Parnell St that housed Bassbin’s studio at the time. Inspired by the wonderful work of Paul Meme, and John Eden (and particularly their recent Lyricmaker mix), plus the fact that I’m occupying a fully working studio for the first time in years, I dusted off an old CDR, ripped the mix, added a few effects and sirens, and tacked on an extra half an hour worth of mixes to make it CD length. It’s a bit rough around the edges, but it does the job… For the record, all of the mixes here were done live on the decks, but where there is a break in the mix (ie between 2 selections), then that transition was done using a computer and an effects box. For example – the first 12 tunes, up until Ring off me cellie were all done in one go, but the transition between that tune and Someone’s calling my name was done on computer.

Unlike some of myself and Slug’s other mixes, there was no real concept or theme behind this set. It was simply a collection of tunes I was playing out at the time and riddims I was into. Despite the fact that I didn’t consciously do an old skool set here, as most of it was recorded 5 years ago – its all fairly old skool stuff. Spanning a range from 1992 (Capleton – Mankind/Garnett Silk – Lionheart) to 1999 (Riott riddim). I do often wonder if I’m trapped by nostalgia when it comes to dance music. My favourite periods of Jungle, Electronica and Hip-Hop are roughly 1990-96, and it’s the same with Dancehall. Even though it gave us the Sleng Teng, digital roots and the birth of ragga, and a slew of legendary (and some of my favourite) DeeJay’s and singers, the 80’s still sometimes feels tame in comparison to sheer exuberance of the early 90s. The fusion of rawer early dancehall styles with the minimalist sensibility of new producers like Dave Kelly and Steely & Cleevie, the influence of soundsystem culture and new technology on production, the emergence of a new generation of DeeJays following in Shabba’s wake, the re-emergence of rasta and conscious lyrics and sensibilities – the sheer pace of innovation, mutation, and recombination invites comparison with the UK rave scene (which was going on at roughly the same time), the difference being that in Jamaica the gene pool of dancehall was enriched, revitalized and mutated by local influences, and by the juices of its own culture, whereas rave, hardcore and jungle were driven mainly by the importation and mutation of external sounds…

And of course I was almost totally oblivious to it at the time.

Anyway, here’s the mix for play or download below. If you want to check out our other mixes, just head over to the mixes page and sort by genre, or grab them all in one go at the mixes download page.

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1. Mu-ziq – Brace Yourself (Remix) – Brace Yourself LP – Astralwerks/Caroline (1998)

You’re probably looking at this and wondering what the hell this tune is doing here, and if you’re not, then you will be once you listen to it, so I suppose I have a bit of explaining to do. As far as I remember (and it was 5 years ago), I had a vague plan to do a series of mix tapes, each one concentrating on a different genre of music, but each linked by their first and last tracks. In my feverishly optimistic mind, this one was planned to slot into a series of myself and Slug’s electronica mixes – I even did an out section (which isn’t featured here) for the B side of the original version of this mix that went from dancehall back into electronica… oddly enough – these plans never saw fruition, and I lost most of the B side in a hard drive crash in the basement.

Anyway, though this is bound to have some of you reaching for the fast forward button, you might get a laugh out of the mix between this and the next tune even if you’re a dancehall purist. The saccharine melodies and hyperactive snares of Brace yourself mix surprisingly well with the opera singing, guitars and er… bagpipes of the bagpipe riddim – and I still get a kick out of hearing Beenie voice over a Mu-ziq tune…

2. Beenie Man – Year 4 – Bagpipe Riddim – Steely and Cleevie (1998)
3.General Degree – Signal – Bagpipe Riddim – Steely and Cleevie (1998)
4. Zebra – You See Me – Bagpipe Riddim – Steely and Cleevie (1998)
5. Steely & Cleevie – Bagpipe Riddim – Steely and Cleevie (1998)
6. Mad Anju – Rudeness – Bagpipe Riddim – Steely and Cleevie (1998)
7.Mr Vegas – Latest News – Bagpipe Riddim – Steely and Cleevie (1998)

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This is where we really get started, with the first of three Steely and Cleevie riddims from the late-90’s. Beenie Man gets things rolling with Year 4 affirming his supremacy as The king of JA and listing his many accomplishments in his career ‘long time me inna the business/yuh act like you blind/I man a chat the mic from 1979/from all Lees Unlimited and all volcano time/from General Starky/I run Borderline’. It’s a classic (if less than minimal) Steely and Cleevie cut, with a palette of disparate sounds: guitars, opera samples, double bass, vocal ‘hoo’/’hey’ and ‘yo’ samples all intermingling with the wailing bagpipe that gives the tune its name.

Zebra’s offering over a stripped down version of the riddim, is an early example of his unique, almost Scottish sounding patois, which brings to mind novelty DJs like Tiger, Major Mackerel and Snagglepuss. You see mi segues into a version of the bagpipe, and if you notice something odd about it, its probably because there’s a bit of fairly inept juggling going on with another copy of the riddim (though there is a nice spinback in there as well..) Another young DeeJay – Mad Anju comes out of the instrumental with Rudeness, which apart from some relatively mild homophobia: ‘A mi love girls, mi want dem fi employ/a million girls mi want fi enjoy/I really can’t be like that boy Roy/who left the girls for a boy’, is a pretty harmless account of his girl-chasing antics. Mr Vegas gives us a bit of contrast through his hugely popular singing style as he finishes off ten minutes of the Bagpipe selection with Latest News – a musical tribute to his extensive gossip-mongering abilities.

8. Bingie General – New Clothes Version – Unknown Riddim – Pisces Studio (1992)

I can’t find out the name of this riddim though I have at least 3 tunes on it – The a side of the 7” I played above, a sinister anti aids anthem by Major Mackerel called Disease, and a fairly anonymous bit of slackness from Sheriff called Good Red, all from the early 90s. I’ve also heard it backing up specials on a few soundclash tapes. It’s a bogley bit of bashment, with a taunting horn line and dubbed out guitars – nice and spacious with lots of punctuation, so it’s perfect for mixing out of vocal tunes and in between riddims. If you do happen to know what it’s called, please enlighten me.

9. Steely & Cleevie – Dirty Money Riddim – Q45 (1999)
10. Mad Anju – Hell Fire – Dirty Money Riddim – Q45 (1999)
11. Capleton – More Prophet – Dirty Money Riddim – Q45 (1999)
12. Lexxus – Ring Off Me Cellie – Dirty Money Riddim – Q45 (1999)

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Steely and Cleevie’s second riddim featured here, Dirty Money from ’99 is a slightly more typical cut from the duo. The stripped down production style is more delicate than the bagpipe, with clipped snares and a dull bass sound providing the rhythmic backbone, and a variety of synth stabs, swells, and hooks swimming up out of the mix.

Upcoming DeeJay (at the time) Mad Anju focuses his irreverent DeeJay’ng style on the subject of religion in Hell fire: ‘Yah no read the bible say/Say wickness nah go last/They think Jah waste his time dead pon cross’. which, like many of Anju’s tunes manages to be slack whilst delivering a religious or moral message..

If not for his rampant bigotry, Capleton would probably be my one of my favourite DJ’s. More Prophet is another killer cut from the ‘Busta Rhymes of reggae’. The fiery vocal delivery here features the Prophet at his more fire era best, with loads of drawn out guttural syllables and falsetto overdubs – and for once the batty boy talk is (thankfully) kept to a minimum – something that can’t be said for Capleton’s more recent output…

Lexxus’ Ring off me Cellie, was the first tune I ever picked up from the low-voiced DeeJay. The lyrics, I think are fairly self explanatory and comprehensible, and the chorus ‘Hear me Pon the radio/See me pon the telly/(ringtone)(ringtone)/Ring off me Cellie/One bag of girls want me DJ acapelly/Antoinette/Kelly/Susie, Shellie’ is particularly entertaining with its use of a mobile ring-tone, and some slightly more familiar slang. Lexxus was part of the Low-chat phenomenon that popped up in the late 90’s, where it seemed that DJ’s were competing to see who could get the bassiest sound out of their voice. Ward 21 were the other obvious contenders, but dancehall stalwarts Bounty and Beenie also did a few tunes in this style, with the latter’s Say it nice along with veteran DJ Silver Cat on Jammys being one of the standout tunes for me…

13. Pinchers – Someone’s Calling – Who She Love Riddim – Jammy’s (1999)
14. Bounty Killer – Smoke The Herb – Who She Love Riddim – Jammy’s (1995)
15. Jah Screw – Clare (Part 3) Version – Unknown Riddim – Greensleeves (1992)

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The next selection brings us back to 94 with Someone’s Calling My Name – a tune taken straight from the pew. Pinchers is one of those few artists from this period (alongside Sanchez), who could sing conscious lyrics and love songs over dancehall riddims and pull it off, and Jammy’s production of the who she love riddim, with its snaking bassline, marching snares, and stuttered organs works just as perfectly behind his devotional singing as it does backing Bounty’s Ganja anthem: Smoke The Herb. Beloved of jungilist’s (due to a widely available samplorific bootlegged acapella 12”), this tune is a snapshot of the days when the warlord was a little more relaxed: ‘I have rizla ready/Hand me the chronic/Me have some preserve/put dun and make tonic/Crack and the coke /all those things must abolish/Peter Tosh pon chalice in/na Buckingham Palace’…

Despite the fact that I still rate Bounty’s current DeeJay style (apart from his prolific and vicious homophobia), I think he produced some of his best work in the early to mid 90’s – Fat and Sexy, Book book book, Cellular Phone, Down in the ghetto – just a few of the classics he pumped out in his heyday. Whilst there’s no denying that he’s developed a unique and versatile chatting style over the last 10 years, IMO the lyrical content of his music has lost much of its charm in the process…

Haven’t got much to say about the Jah Screw version as it only plays for about a minute or so… Its a fairly nice echoey dub version, with just enough guitar to provide a counterpoint to Bounty’s fading vocals.

16. Spragga Benz – Ruff and Tuff – Kuff Riddim – Digital B (1994)
17. Garnett Silk – All Alone – Kuff Riddim – Brickwall (1994)
18. Leroy Gibbons – Magic Moment (95 Remix) – Kuff Riddim – Ghetto VIbes (1995)
19. Bounty Killer – Cellular Number – Kuff Riddim – John John (1994)
20. Dirtsman – Trailer Load Come – Kuff Riddim – Digital B (1994)

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The vast majority of dancehall falls into 6 basic categories. In a muso-critic fit of oversimplification, I’ve dubbed them the 6 ‘G’s of dancehall: Guns, Girls, Ganja, Gays, Ghettos and God. This selection on the Kuff riddim offers 5 cuts on probably the most prolific: the ladies – ranging from slack to mournful to cheesy – and then back to slack again…

The Kuff is one of those riddims that pops up all over the place, and has been a mainstay for Jammy’s since the late 80’s. Like a lot of riddims from this era, it’s a rhythmic wall, with the bassline riding every beat of a 4/4 kick pattern and the snare cracking on the 3 – though it’s the weird fluttering melody (that fluctuates from a guitar to some kind of synthy xylophone between versions), which makes this one special.

Spragga offers us the usual slack chatting on Ruff and tuff (‘Good and plenty loving/No powder-puff/she want a real raggamuffin’) over a very bright, digital sounding version of the riddim, replete with squelchy electro blips, female moaning, and truncated snare rolls. The contrast with the next cut couldn’t be clearer. Although All Alone is another Bobby Digital production from 1994, the sound has been softened to match Silk’s woeful ballad – with the voice pushed to the forefront over muted bass, lighter drums, and a looser arrangement (more on Garnet Silk later).

Leroy Gibbons takes over next, with the unapologetically cheesy love song: Magic Moment 95. Taking things back to the Kuff’s origin as a Sleng Teng derivative. Jammy pushes up the bass, minimises the melody, emphasises the snare, and lets the high-hats do most of the work – resulting in a much dirtier (though less harsh) sound than the preceding Bobby Digital versions.

Bounty Killer picks things up from Leroy Gibbons with the 95 hit Cellular Number. This version of the riddim, though most similar to the Jammys production (odd that, seeing as John-John is Jammys son!), with the kick pushed back in the mix, and elements inspired by the Bobby Digital mix – the squelchy snare (making an even more prominent appearance), and a scratchy stab that drops in every 4 bars – is probably the most experimental of the versions featured here, making up somewhat for the fairly average lyrics from Bounty.

We round things up with Trailer Load Come by Dirtsman – one of those Deejays whose entire career was pretty much a homage to Shabba Ranks (and this tune is no exception). Directly quoting the grammy kid, with nearly every lyric referencing a Shabba tune: ‘Mad bad and wicked inna bed/me wanna do the peanie peanie pon you/and just line them up’ this is taken from the LP ‘Acid’ and is another digital B production – a cleaner, tighter version, with a huge reverbed snare and numerous vocal samples backing up Dirtsman’s solid (if somewhat derivative) chatting. For comparison’s sake – the original Shabba cut of Trailer load come can be heard here (link removed).

21. Buju Banton – Massa God World A Run – General Riddim – Penthouse (1992)
22. Garnett Silk – Lionheart – General Riddim – Penthouse (1992)
23. Capleton – Mankind – Colin Fat Records – General Riddim (1992)

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This is the heart of the set – the General Riddim featuring three of the leading lights of consciousness from early 90’s dancehall. Buju Banton opens proceedings with Hail Massa God (the non-Wayne Wonder/Heal the world duet version) on Donavan Germain’s Penthouse label. The version is a fairly faithful, if somewhat tighter reworking of the original riddim, driven by a 4/4 kick pattern with a snare at the end of each bar. It all sounds fairly conventional until a few bars in, when Germain and Kelly start chopping up the beat, alternating between a rolling conga pattern, the echoed guitars which give the riddim its main melodic content, and a picked out complimentary bassline. He then piles on the pressure by throwing in a slew of what I call soundclash chops, when the producer steals a technique from the soundboy, and basically chops the entire riddim (or elements of the riddim) out between beats, as if using a cross fader on a DJ mixer. The resulting maelstrom is completely addictive, retaining the traditional structure and refinement of the original version whilst also managing to be totally unpredictable and stunningly raw in the range of devastating mixing desk edits employed by Germain.

Buju rides over all this in the accomplished fashion of an artist at the peak of his powers. This is a reality tune (with a touch of the biblical about it) lamenting the plight of the poor: ‘Look in a wi heart, and see whey wi can mend/where food is concerned, there is a problem/woman caan find food to gi the children/while the rich man has the chicken-back to fed the dog dem/but woe be unto them/he who rise against poor people shall perish in the end ’. True to form to his status as the Don Gorgon, and in a typical example of the perennial rivalry between dancehall DJ’s Ninjaman came out with his answer to Buju’s question of how massa god world a run? within weeks of this tune being released…

I nearly always try and slip a few Garnett Silk tunes into the mix when I’m playing a dancehall set, and Lionheart is not only my favourite tune in this mix, it’s possibly my favourite Silk tune ever. Another Penthouse production, the backing track on this is similar to the Buju version, but slightly more spacious, with pitch bent bass notes and vocal ‘oh!’ samples thrown into the mix of edits. The soundclash chops remain in place, but this time, the congas provides more rhythmic drive, rolling over in the background, seemingly with a mind of their own, even as the rest of the riddim stops and starts as it flips between edits and chops. The combination provides a perfect backing for a virtuoso performance from Silk.

A throwback to his days as a DJ for Mandevilles Destiny Outernational Sound System alongside Tony Rebel, Lionheart stands out from Silk’s discography for virtue of the fact that it’s only tune (that I know of) on which he combines the singing style that he was famous for with a fast-chat DJ performance. The content of the track is no less extraordinary than its delivery, and opens with a chorus which makes an odd third person sales pitch that almost dares the listener to find fault: ‘Everyone is gonna love this/You will never forget this/The Lionheart – giving you niceness/And I – guarantee you happiness’. The first verse continues in the same vein, describing the music’s effect on its listeners: ‘Sharon – oh she just love this song so wild/Trevor shouting his neighbours/Hey friend – turn on your radio/Here again the Lionheart come with a wicked ting/It’s a long time I haven’t felt such musical feeling’.. But it’s in the second verse, with the effortless flip from singer to DJ where Silk’s true intent is made clear. As the riddim is cut up with the first introduction of chopping into the mix, the gauntlet is thrown down to slackness DeeJays: ‘Hey sometimes when I say these things – you may be reluctant to believe/But if you hear a DJ chat slackness – jah know it get me grave/If they ever come a my dance – dem would have to pack up and leave/but you can stay if you are here and willing to take heed/Me use the culture counter-react slackness and take the lead/if a slackness DJ try come test me really make im bleed…’ The lyrics offer an overt challenge to slack DJ’s (basically everybody in the industry in the early-90’s), from one of the most benign and positive forces in reggae at the time (and possibly ever). Not only is the delivery enough to scorch any slack DJ unfortunate enough to step into its path, Silk pulls it off in fine style without resorting to the gun-talk and bluster that usually accompanies clash tunes. He somehow manages to diss a whole generation of DeeJays whilst remaining positive – offering the listener niceness instead of rudeness, and demonstrating conclusively that you don’t have to be slack to chat…

Capleton makes another appearance here, voicing over a Fatta production of the General, which was cut roughly at the same time as the two tracks above. This is a much harder version of the riddim, the bare rhythm is exposed as a cleaner 4/4 kick + snare (which sounds like someone bursting a paper bag in your ear) pattern is pushed to the forefront. The soundclash chops are still there, but applied to the bass only, and the edits and cuts between the main elements are much more restrained. The only actual addition sonics-wise is the introduction of a descending string line that features in the intro, and occasionally pops up in the track..

Based mainly around biblical themes that range from lamenting the evils of mankind, to an account of the birth and life of Jesus: ‘Me say only the almighty/People unno fi worship/ You know the almighty him well damn equipped/Him make me back, wi belly/we chest/make we spine and we hip/we hand dem fi thump/and we foot dem fi kick/Down in a river jordan/where the almighty dip/and who did a dip him/but John the baptist/When him come out of the water/Him feel so classic/and dun pon him shoulder/A white dove pitch’… This is Capleton at his finest IMO. Voicing Positive and educational lyrics with his hypnotic narrative style over a classic riddim… something that we could do with a bit more of today.

OK – that’s the end of the 2000 portion of the mix. The next section was recorded in one go a couple of months back, and was based loosely on the vague memories i had of how I had planned the mix on going…

24. Major Christie – If Da Lord – Riott Riddim – Jazzwad Music (1999)
25. Bounty Killer – Divide And Rule – Riott Riddim – Jazzwad Music (1999)
26. Sizzla – Anytime Now – Riott Riddim – Jazzwad Music (1999)
27. Jazzwad – Riott Riddim – Jazzwad Music (1999)

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The UK’s ‘master riddim builder’ Jazzwad has a tough time following up the General, but just about pulls it off with the Riott riddim from 1999. Softer sounding (by modern dancehall standards) the Riott is driven by a fairly muted bassline, backed by a melodic saxophone riff, with tiny vocal ‘uh-huh’s’, ‘yeah’s’ and ‘no’s’ and a variety of overtly electronic counter-melodies and sound effects providing the detail.

There are four cuts here, including the version, starting with the hymn-like If da Lord from a relatively unknown singer: Major Christie. Bounty soon takes over with Divide and rule, riding a different, guitar heavy (and sax free) mix of the riddim, and Sizzla provides the best cut with ‘Anytime now’ – which features strong political lyrics and a positive (if somewhat ominous message) ‘Id rather to be/with the people I lead/giving my daily strength and showing them my daily need/ and id rather to see/more love the grieve/That’s the only way the ghetto youth a go achieve/And id rather to be/With the people in need/ Babylon system only come/yah so fi deceive/Id rather to listen and not a word receive/Dem a go cut the woman’s breast and bust deh man dem seed/West a perish/Long time me see it/Black people back up and yard in a the east/Tell the Indians a fi go look fi dem chief/Tell the white man pon a Europe go hide and seek/Hey – Rastaman ain’t got no secrets to keep/There will be a weeping and a wailing and a gnashing of teeth’… With the help of a bit of delay and some fairly severe eq’ng Sizzla takes us into the Riott version, which leads us directly into Steely and Cleevie’s third riddim on the mix – The Black Widow.

28. Steely & Cleevie – Black Widow Riddim – Black Widow Riddim – Shines (1998)
29. Goofy – Anything Can Happen – Black Widow Riddim – Shines (1998)
30. Mad Cobra – No One Style – Black Widow Riddim – Shines (1998)
31. Zebra – Picture Fi Frame – Black Widow Riddim – Shines (1998)
32. Merciless – Gal Sheet – Black Widow Riddim – Shines (1998)
33. Terror Fabulous – Them A Watch me – Black Widow Riddim – Shines (1998)
34. Mr. Vegas – Big Things A Gwann – Black Widow Riddim – Shines (1998)

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Black Widow, is one of those simple but infectious riddims that Steely and Cleevie specialise in. Minimal to a fault, the tune’s main impetuous comes from the organ/synth led main melody hook, and the bright snare hits, complimented by a subtle bass line that lays down the rhythmic foundation in this sparse arrangement. There are a variety of DJ styles on display here: Goofy’s irreverent chatting, Mad Cobra and Merciless’s girl talk, and Mr Vegas’s singjay braggadocio. The cuts from Zebra and Terror Fabulous stand out for me though; the former for the almost unintelligible chatting style which veers between a Caribbean to a Gaelic accent on (‘gal want mi’) Picture fi frame, and the latter for his bombastic consciousness on ‘Them a watch me’.

35. Andrew Bradford – Warlord Riddim – Warlord Riddim – Opera House (1998)
36. Buccaneer – Soco Numa – Warlord Riddim – Opera House (1998)

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The Warlord riddim (after the Bounty cut of the same name) is another minimal masterpiece, coming this time from Andrew Bradford’s Opera house label. Peppered with blippy electro snare rolls, Bradford keeps the momentum up by cutting in and out of the main melody sample and shifting between different bass sounds. I got a bit carried away with the Black Widow selection, and I only had room for one vocal on this – so I picked the best…

Buccaneer’s Soco Numa shows a different side to a DJ better known for novelty hits like Fade away. A not-so-subtle message to all the haters, this is a serious tune, with Buccaneer employing a twisting nasal style to convey his lyrical contempt: ‘Well, fi see you mash up in a life enough of them aim/especially when you have money and fame/but dem nah get close to we, shotta cant tame/so go (suck ya momma) from you a call out me name’. The Opera style backing vocals and smooth ‘yeah’ samples in the chorus add an extra edge to the riddim, and give a bit of contrast to the atonal delivery, making this tune one of the highlights of Buccaneer’s extensive discography…

Phew! This blogging stuff is harder than it looks! But nonetheless, we’re going to try and keep the frequency of posts (and mixes) reasonably regular. Without revealing too much, I can tell you that the next offering will be from another contributor and will be a little more jungilstic in flavour, so watch this space. Volume 2 of Droid inna dancehall is also in production – I’m planning a Dave Kelly/Shocking vibes megamix, with a whole load of Bogles, Butterflys, Pepperseeds and Urkle Dances thrown in, and maybe a bit more conscious ragga.. It’ll be all new mixes, and my first set using CDJ’s along with the 1210s, so, all going to plan, you can look forward to loads of timestretched vocals and some more hyperactive mixing.

Till next time…