Busy Signal - Jafrican Ting and Bare Gal

In our January chart we couldn't choose between two Busy Signal tunes and had to make both of them number one. In February Busy got even more serious with this pair of tunes on the Jafrican riddim and we were forced to give him a double number one again. He's not normal.

Last year's Da Style Deh was the pre-cursor for Jafrican, with its chanting and call and response chorus. But Jafrican Ting went further. Big up the Coppershot team for producing such a crazy riddim.

When I played this tune to Gabriel and Benjamin for the first time on the way back from a gig in Reading we had to stop the car. It got 23 reloads. Twenty three. No exaggerating.

Busy Signal - Jafrican Ting | Download MP3 (right click, save as)

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Then we heard Bare Gal on the same riddim and things got out of hand. Gabriel started sounding the horn on the motorway and everyone got very over excited. We had to pull over onto the hard shoulder.

Busy Signal - Bare Gal | Download MP3 (right click, save as)

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We've opened our Rinse FM show with these two tunes twice and they've already been on heavy Heatwave rave rotation for a few weeks, starting to get forwards even though they're just a month old.

The irony is I haven't been able to get through the whole song in one piece yet; everytime it gets to "hey gal, me put yuh pon a block" I have to start the whole thing over again.

Posted by Dan_Bean | Monday 08 March 2010 | 1 comment

Sleng Teng - Happy 25th Birthday

Yesterday was 25 years to the day since Wayne Smith's anthem Under Mi Sleng Teng was first played in a dance.

The tune was built at Jammy's studio in Waterhouse before being unleashed during a clash with Black Scorpio at Waltham Park Road on 23rd February 1985. It flattened the dance and dominated the scene for months, with dozens (and later hundreds) of artists and producers rushing to record their own versions of the rhythm track.

Wayne Smith - Under Mi Sleng Teng | Download MP3 (right click, save as)

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Generally acknowledged as the first fully computerised dancehall riddim, Sleng Teng completely revolutionised Jamaican music and paved the way for all the ragga, bashment, dancehall or whatever you want to call it that I love so much.

Tomorrow night on our Rinse FM show, me and Benjamin D will be running through 25 years of digital dancehall, ragga and bashment, from Wayne Smith to Busy Signal. Expect to hear the likes of Super Cat, Ninjaman, Shabba Ranks, Buju Banton, Capleton, Sizzla, Lady Saw, Tanya Stephens, Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Vybz Kartel, Mavado, Mr Vegas and Sean Paul.

Posted by Gabriel_Heatwave | Wednesday 24 February 2010 | 2 comments

Have a happy dancehall Christmas

Last year we featured Caribbean Christmas carols courtesy of Assassin, Delly Ranx, Elephant Man and Rihanna plus late entries from Busy Signal and Michelle Gordon.

This year there is a bumper crop of seasonal songs. Where better to start than with the two artists who have dominated 2009?

I never picked sides in the Gully/Gaza debate but I've enjoyed the many highlights from both Vybz Kartel and Mavado. However, I think that Kartel and Black Ryno have the edge on Mavado, Flexxx and Savage in the festive stakes:

Vybz Kartel & Black Ryno - Gaza Christmas | Download MP3 (right click, save as)

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Mavado, Flexxx & Savage - Gully Christmas | Download MP3 (right click, save as)

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After taking a break from badman carols with last year's Dancing Paradise, Elephant Man returns to his classic Christmas style, placing a ridiculous singalong chorus next to HARD verses about being a badman in the winter.

Elephant Man - Badman Christmas | Download MP3 (right click, save as)

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Tony Matterhorn's effort is much more appropriately seasonal and annoyingly jolly. It's the kind of tune you might hear in a syrupy American movie while excited kids are ice skating in Central Park.

Tony Matterhorn - Christmas In JA | Download MP3 (right click, save as)

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Torch and Slu are keen to emphasise the importance of female companionship over the festive period: their 'gally' Christmas is all about candy cane and and Santa's sleigh.

Torch & Slu - Gally Christmas | Download MP3 (right click, save as)

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This vocal from Mr Vegas came out in the summer and is probably the earliest released Christmas tune I'm aware of, though lyrically it doesn't have a strict Christmas theme:

Mr Vegas - Keep Your Friendship | Download MP3 (right click, save as)

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Perhaps unsurprisingly, the pick of 2009's Christmas bashment comes from Busy Signal. This is another one that's not about Christmas but there's certainly has a festive feel to Stephen McGregor's excellent production.

Busy Signal - Soon You Will Find Out | Download MP3 (right click, save as)

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Posted by Gabriel_Heatwave | Wednesday 23 December 2009 | 2 comments

The Go-Go Club Riddim

This is shaping up to be one of the biggest riddims of 2009 and is certainly the hottest dancehall rhythm around right now.

Tarik 'Russian' Johnston's instrumental was originally used for a one-off Vybz Kartel vocal which came out in September:

Download: Vybz Kartel - Go-Go Club

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I guess the tune was too big for other vocalists not to turn it into a riddim project!

The first batch of voicings that came out included stand-out vocals from Kartel's fellow Portmore artists Black Ryno, Lisa Hype and Gaza Kim (pictured below):

Download: Black Ryno - Bike Back

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Download: Gaza Kim & Lisa Hype - Bills

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But the rhythm wasn't done yet; more vocals trickled out one by one, underlining its ongoing and increasing popularity. You can see why Elephant Man wanted a piece of the action:

Download: Elephant Man & Ishawna - Give It To Me

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If you're paying attention you'll notice that Go-Go Club isn't your average dancehall riddim; it's got a definite hip hop feel to it.

Having said that, "average dancehall riddim" is less meaningful now that Kingston's producers are dealing in everything from minimal retro ragga to dark orchestral epics and are influenced by dubstep and electro as much as reggae and soca.

Anyway, even with what seems to be a hip hop beat, Go-Go Club is recognisably dancehall, featuring a bad boy bassline and a syncopated snare anticipating the fourth beat of each bar.

These musical mathematics got a little more complicated when lovers' rock crooner Tarrus Riley (below) joined forces with gun-obsessed Aidonia for a tune defending the herb, creating a track that falls somewhere between hip hop, dancehall and reggae:

Download: Aidonia & Tarrus Riley - Di Trees

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And still the riddim wasn't done - only last week new vocals from Laden and Flippa Mafia dropped. Flippa's is the first of the many cuts on the riddim which is anything less than good, confirming our feelings at Heatwave towers that this guy is simply not a top flight artist.

If you can't cut it on a riddim this good then there's not much hope for you. Even Leftside's slightly grating comedic creation, Gran Faada, bangs out a big tune on the Go-Go Club:

Download: Gran Faada (Leftside) - Mi Tyad

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Finally, English dancehall's most wanted Gappy Ranks has also got involved in the riddim. Watch out for him blowing up Jamaica at Sting this Christmas.

Download: Gappy Ranks - Ball Out

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Honourable mentions go to Merital, Konshens & Dario, Demarco and Nicky B - all good voicings on the riddim but too many to feature all of them here!

Posted by Gabriel_Heatwave | Tuesday 03 November 2009 | 8 comments

Demarco: behind the scenes video

Demarco's Love A Come Down (She Can't Wait) has had a really successful ride since its release earlier this year. It's such an infectious banger.

So far we've seen a smoothly directed video featuring 'swagger man' - a character that I can't help but think would have been called 'dagger man' if the Jamaican Broadcasting Commission hadn't had their way. That was followed by the expert touches of soca don Machel Montano on the remix.

But the bit we don't get to see is behind the scenes. In the video below, watch Demarco play Love A Come Down for the first time to bossman Suku from Ward 21.

Things to watch out for:

• Timberlee on crutches
• Demarco's anxious face as he plays the tune
• Suku's joke unimpressed face
• Demarco getting called 'fatty'

Posted by Dan_Bean | Monday 02 November 2009 | 3 comments

Five degrees of separation: Alton Ellis to RDX

The much loved and respected Alton Ellis (pictured below) died a year ago this month. However, his musical legacy lives on through his son Christopher, who has collaborated with Jah Cure on the Netzah riddim.

MP3: Jah Cure & Christopher Ellis - Why Can't We

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The dancehall reggae world recently lost another legend - producer Wycliffe 'Steely' Johnson - to whom Wyclef Jean paid tribute on his Patwa Swagga mixtape. It's a mixed bag of classic dancehall rhythms and Wyclef's pan-Caribbean style fitted awkardly over the tracks; the pick of the bunch is a version of the fast paced, x-rated Bend Over by RDX (pictured below).

MP3: Wyclef Jean - Sak Pase (Flatbush)

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What really makes the tune is Wyclef's use of Kassav's Zouk La Ce Sel Medicament Nou Ni.

Kassav are a Parisian band who sing in a localized version of French Creole, unique to the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique and this track is possibly my favourite non-English language song. Listening to this you can see where the likes of Busy Signal draw their inspiration for cross Caribbean sounds such as Nah Go Dung Deh.

MP3: Kassav - Zouk La Ce Sel Medicament Nou Ni

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The sound incorporates elements of Dominican cadence-lypso, Haitian kompa (from Wyclef's homeland) and Trinidadian calypso.

Trinidad & Tobago is most renowned for it's soca and calypso. However, the smaller of the two islands, Tobago, is as keen on conscious reggae and dancehall as Jamaica is.

The strength of the influence is demonstrated in Tobagonian local boy Positive (pictured below) and his huge number one Never Let Go, which made a big impact last year in the smaller islands but rarely touched shores abroad.

A guy to watch out for, he joins the likes of other popular non-Jamaican reggae artists such as Khari Kill (Trinidad), Marlon Asher (Trinidad) and Pressure Buss Pipe (St Thomas USVI)

Check the vocal similiarities between him and Gyptian:

MP3: Positive - Never Let Go

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Never Let Go was also the title for Slim Smith's 1960s single, the foundation for the classic Answer riddim, a Heatwave favourite. That song came out on a 12" single backed by Alton Ellis's I'm Still Waiting…

Posted by Dan_Bean | Monday 19 October 2009 | 1 comment

The Heatwave October Charts Part 2

How do you know if a tune is big? You personally can feel it. You might also be told about it. But you can't look at any dancehall charts and trust that the tunes are genuinely popular.

So to complement Gabriel's personal top ten for this month here's an insight into what's doing it for dancehall artists, producers, DJs, singers, promoters and bloggers in Jamaica, the US and the UK: people who create and spread dancehall and reggae music worldwide.

There are a lot of huge riddims coming out weekly - in case you missed them you'll see that the likes of Go Go Club and Set Mi Free are dominating the airwaves and dances in Jamaica.

These are matched by one-off singles such as Ding Dong's big hit Holiday from Notice Productions:

As it stands, everything seems too hot to single out - Stephen 'Di Genius' McGregor (pictured below) told The Heatwave that he simply had "too many" favourites right now.

Have a look below and see what the likes of Ward 21 and Bounty Killer's manager have got to say.

Johnny Wonder (Music plugger)

• Demarco - True Friends
• G-Whizz - Life
• Mavado - House Cleaning (Set Mi Free Riddim)
• Chase Cross - Better Dayz (Clearance Riddim)
• Ding Dong - Holiday
• Bugle - Pearly Gates (Alter Ego Riddim)

Cecile (Artist - pictured below)

• Vybz Kartel - Slow Motion (Street Bullies Riddim)
• Mavado - Hope & Pray (Triple Bounce Riddim)

Max Glazer (New York DJ)

• Assassin - Hand Inna Di Air

Alaine (Singer)

• Ding Dong - Holiday

The Alliance (Bounty Killer's management)

• Mavado (pictured below) - House Cleaning (Set Mi Free Riddim)
• Bounty Killer - Chattabox (Vybz Kartel Diss)

Dancehall Mobi (Leading blog)

• Mavado - House Cleaning (Set Mi Free Riddim)
• Chino - Woman Pon your Head

Timberlee (Artist - pictured below)

• Merital & Vybz Kartel - My Money (Go Go Club Riddim)
• Ding Dong - Holiday

Fudgie Springer (Artist)

• Vybz Kartel - Nah Let Go

Ward 21 (Producers/artists - pictured below)

• Vybz Kartel - Love Dem (Set Mi Free Riddim)
• Assassin - Hand To Mouth (Set Mi Free Riddim)

Dylan Powe (Natalie Storm's manager)

• Vybz Kartel - Go Go Club

Prince Zimboo (Artist)

• Demarco - True Friends

YT (UK artist - pictured below)

• Mr Williamz - Be Yourself

Mr Lexx (Artist)

• Ding Dong - Holiday

Tony Kelly (Producer)

• Big Yard - Street Bullies riddim

Posted by Dan_Bean | Saturday 10 October 2009 | 1 comment

Tribute to Natasja Saad

It's two years to the day since the sad and untimely death of the very talented and promising Danish dancehall artist Natasja Saad.

Natasha's vocal on Enur's Calabria beat was just starting to make waves when she died. The tune went on to become one of the biggest international hit tunes - in any genre - of the last few years, spawning countless versions and inspiring millions and millions of people to hit dancefloors around the world.

Since then, a few excellent tracks she had recorded before her death have been released, including Bonfire with Enur, Better Than Dem with Beenie Man and Money & Tings:

MP3: Natasja & Enur - Bonfire

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MP3: Natasja & Beenie Man - Better Than Dem (Pharfar Remix)

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MP3: Natasja - Money & Tings (Remix)

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And don't miss her Danish language cut on the Wipeout riddim or her touching ode to Jamaica:

MP3: Natasja - Gi' Mig DK Tilbage

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MP3: Natasja - Jamaica

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Posted by Gabriel_Heatwave | Wednesday 24 June 2009 | 2 comments

Maxwell D vs UK Funky

Maxwell D, a former member of the Pay As U Go Cartel alongside the likes of Wiley, Riko Dan and God's Gift, was a key player in the birth of the grime scene in the early 00s.

Recently he's been getting busy with the sound of UK funky, dropping his Jamaican-influenced but distinctly London vocals over some of the biggest instrumentals in the scene.

Many of Maxwell's latest and greatest tunes are collected on his new mix CD, Funky Funky Funky - Maxwell D Takeover, mixed by DJ Sidies.

Download: Funky Funky Funky - Maxwell D Takeover

The mix CD is a must-have, but I thought I'd pull out some of his biggest recent tunes and give them some individual shine.

The first tune of his I heard this year that really caught my ear is the anthemic Blackberry Hype on Lil Silva's grimey house banger Different:

MP3: Maxwell D & Lil Silva - Blackberry Hype

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There was apparently some resistance from Lil Silva to Maxwell voicing on his production. Given how I love that in dancehall culture it's cool for any artist or producer to re-version a riddim, this seems a bit wrongheaded to me. I like the way Maxwell gets straight to the heart of the matter on New Brand Dance:

I don't need no permission to jump on your beat
I'm a big mic man that will jump on your beat

MP3: Maxwell D - New Brand Dance

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Veteran London producer Sticky knows all about bashment-style version excursions, so it's no surprise that Maxwell has been working with him. Along with Lady Chann's Your Eye Too Fast, Maxwell's Text Text Text has made Sticky's Fugitive riddim one of the hottest beats of 2009.

Another seven voicings will be touching down this summer, so expect to hear the sick live drums and piano combination of the Fugitive riddim pumping out of cars and club soundsystems for a while to come.

MP3: Maxwell D & Sticky - Text Text Text

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Maxwell also features on Sticky's next bashment/funky/dirty pop riddim, Jumeirah, with a track called Mad MD. Watch out for that one on our Rinse FM show this Thursday.

Our last radio show featured So Bad Mind, where Maxwell adds Jamaican-style melodies and lyrical themes to Perempay's explosive, synth-driven Buss It:

MP3: Maxwell D & Perempay- So Bad Mind

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Posted by Gabriel_Heatwave | Wednesday 03 June 2009 | 8 comments

JA bashment meets UK funky

The soca/dancehall drum patterns and relentless dancefloor energy of funky house have made it a perfect fit for my bashment-dominated DJ sets in the last couple of years - particularly the tunes and remixes featuring ragga MCs.

In the last few months, some of the biggest tunes in the London rave scene have featured bashment-influenced vocals: Donaeo's Party Hard, Lady Chann's Your Eye Too Fast and Ms Dynamite's Bad Gyal. Heatwave MC Rubi Dan has been busy too, dropping his distinctive London/Caribbean flow on funky house releases by Chinski and Grievous Angel.

And of course, the trend in funky for tunes calling out dance moves - Migraine Skank, Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes and the hilarious but excellent Stupid Skank - is a direct nod to Jamaican bashment dance songs like Dutty Wine, Gully Creepa or Row The Boat.

Two way traffic

Now it seems that rather than just absorbing and adapting Caribbean influences, the sound of UK funky is crossing the Atlantic and starting to cause waves in Jamaica.

Almost every time I've tuned into to London bashment station Mystic FM recently, I hear funky house played by Jamaican radio hosts who are clearly loving it, sometimes rhyming in patois over instrumentals.

Last week, Jamaican dancer turned MC Chi Ching Ching (above) was on Robbo Ranx's BBC 1Xtra dancehall show talking about hearing funky at London bashment night Uptown Splurt. "Da song deh a go hard", he said about Donaeo's Party Hard , and told Robbo, "trust me I'm gonna do two funky house songs," before doing an acapella variation of the Donaeo tune.

MP3: Chi Ching Ching and Robbo Ranx on BBC 1Xtra

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Also last week, I heard bashment artist Aidonia's vocal version of the funky house hit Inflation by Crazy Cousinz. This is the development I've been waiting for since the Afro-Caribbean rhythms of UK funky first first made me reach for the airhorn.

Listen: Aidonia & Crazy Cousinz - Bounce

As well as these clear-cut examples of Jamaicans listening to and engaging with UK funky, artists and producers in Kingston and London are moving in remarkably similar ways.

Lil Joe's vocal style in his cut on the Swagga Dagga bashment riddim is reminiscent of Donaeo's, and his use of 'jeez!' to punctuate his flow echoes London MCs' use of the same phrase.

MP3: Lil Joe - Hey Yo (Excerpt)

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The ravey synths, orchestral hits and snappy snares of Mr Lexx's uptempo dancehall tune Everyday bear a striking resemblance to the polished production of UK funky, though the beat itself is pure bashment and lacks the four to the floor of house music.

It's unclear whether these similarities are conscious or unconscious, but the lack of clarity as to exactly who is influenced by who is perhaps what's most interesting. The increased musical connectedness between Kingston and London thanks to digitial music and online networks means that musicians don't need to operate within small geographical scenes any more. Ideas and influence can spread rapidly, being shared and shaped by anyone who's feeling them.

Haven't we been here before?

Of course, similar interactions between London-centric dance music and Jamaica have happened before. Jungle, garage, grime and dubstep all borrowed much from dancehall reggae, both sonically and culturally e.g. heavy bass, clashes, dubplate culture and rewinds. However, they haven't had so much influence or impact in Jamaica, though there have been meeting points: the Greensleeves ragga jungle projects, Beenie Man alongside So Solid Crew, Harry Toddler on the Pum Pum grime riddim or Sizzla voicing MRK1's dubstep production.

One barrier has been the difference in tempos: jungle worked as it was twice the speed of much dancehall reggae, but until very recently Jamaican artists have not regularly recorded in the 130-140bpm range which garage and its offshoots inhabit.

Another barrier has been the difference in production values. I've heard Jamaicans dismiss UK dance music as 'techno' or 'Ecstasy music', while Starkey Banton famously called jungle, "one bag a noise and a whole heap a sample". But in the past few years these barriers have diminished. Since the groundbreaking Coolie Dance riddim in 2003, there has been an explosion of uptempo bashment productions at 120bpm and above - traditional house/dance music tempo. Sometimes speeds have risen further, with more recent riddims like Global (128), Higher Altitude (134) or Tremor (144).

Dancehall production styles have also become closer to dance music in recent years, with ravey synths and four to the floor beats featuring more and more, such as in riddims like Mad Rave and Inevitable. As producers on both sides of the Atlantic use the same software to programme their beats, the sonic connections between the different genres are becoming easier to make.

Consequently, many contemporary bashment tracks are closer to funky house than any previous strain of dancehall has been to UK rave music. When the Jamaican blog Dancehall Mobi featured Aidonia's tune with Crazy Cousinz, it was simply described as his new "soca/dance-flavoured single" - not something a million miles removed from his normal dancehall output.

Moreover, the rhythms of funky house drum beats draw on Afro-Caribbean rhythms which have long formed the backdrop for dancehall, soca and reggaeton. So for Jamaican artists to rhyme over funky house tracks requires no great leap or shift in approach.

Not enough MCs, too many gripes?

In fact, perhaps the main opposition to the meeting of bashment and funky will come from the UK rather than Jamaica. The political wrangling in the London scene at the moment is often characterised as a split between soulful, vocal house and grimey, bashy MC-dominated tracks.

Indeed it's the latter style which lends itself so well to a dancehall crossover. Gappy Ranks, Maxwell D and Lady Chann (below) all have big tunes out with their Jamaican-influenced flows over UK productions blurring the line between bashment and funky.

MP3: Lady Chann & Sticky - Your Eye Too Fast

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Any 'controversy' surrounding MCs in funky could well be killed off with the arrival of Jamaican vocals on house instrumentals. I can understand people's frustration that relatively unskilled MCs might dominate funky, but who is going to argue when Mavado, Beenie Man or Busy Signal spits on their productions? They make most other MCs look like children.

It's also worth noting that the melodic, dancehall style of MCing suits funky so much better than the more full-on approach that some English MCs favour. Donaeo, perhaps the most successful vocalist the UK scene, has a half-MC, half-singer style which strikes me as a UK take on the Jamaican 'singjay' style of artists like Mr Vegas or Mavado.

What next?

It's going to be exciting to see how all this develops. The explosion of UK dance music in the early 90s somewhat eclipsed the growing English dancehall scene, so it's only right that London bass might be kickstarting a new chapter of JA/UK musical connectivity and creativity.

To catch some of the heat, come down to FWD>> this Sunday. I'll be playing a bashment vs funky set, rattling the bass bins and shaking your hips.

Then catch me on Rinse FM next Thursday alongside London city warlord Riko Dan (above). I'll be in the mix, rolling back to back bashment/funky riddims, with Riko doing his Cockney/Yardie thing and drawing the links live.

Plus I've nearly finished my bashment refix of Party Hard featuring vocals from Vybz Kartel, Capleton, Rubi Dan and Danny English. This should be available to download on our website in the next week or so - keep your eyes peeled.

And there's much more soon to come. Watch this space.

Posted by Gabriel_Heatwave | Saturday 02 May 2009 | 26 comments