Trap-Infused Dancehall Could Make Strong Juggling Riddims, Says Kurt Riley
Acclaimed musicologist Kurt Riley has surmised that there is a ‘strong possibility’ that Trap-infused Dancehall sounds could make strong juggling riddims, under one condition, and that is if the beats and songs are correctly produced and engineered and contain what he describes as the “Dancehall DNA”.
The Party Animal producer was responding to questions posed by Television Jamaica’s veteran entertainment journalist Anthony Miller in a recent interview.
Miller had asked: “Could doing music with elements of Trap make as interesting a juggling, as you could with a 90s riddim?”
Riley, who is also a radio disc jockey and Chief Executive Officer of Jambian Music record label, responded in the affirmative, noting that the critical element was the production.
“People may be upset about this, but I believe it can. And what will make the difference, is production – the choice songs you put on di riddim, how you mix it, how you produce it, how you tell yuh artiste ‘dont say that, say this; do this, do that’. Tell the engineer ‘drop out this…all of these things,” Riley stated.
“If they do that with what is happening now, I think we probably can see the light, because for me, I think Dancehall is searching…I think it’s going through like a cleanse, a cleanse before it just break out,” the Kingston College old boy added.
“Change is a must. It cannot stay the same way. But what I always would like is for the DNA to be kept in it, just keep what is true to Dancehall, bit throw your flavour pon it man….If you check the history now, how many songs in the American music industry now that dem sample. What were they? All 90s. How many times dem resample and chip up Diwali, same wid Stalag.”
Riley said he was aware of sentiments being expressed that Dancehall was a dying genre, because many artists and upcoming producers in Jamaica have been shying away juggling riddims, which are a staple of the music, and also opting for Hip Hop beats instead of their own indigenous sounds. However, he said outside of the country, Dancehall beats are beloved and are being used by other nations to much success.
“Because all this talk about Dancehall is dead and this trap thing naw work, then you have another set of people that is saying ‘yow, we like this’. But the weirdest thing is, Anthony, is that when you talk to a lot of deejays that play outside of the culture of Jamaica, very few of them is going to accept what is happening here,” he explained.
“So you find this trend now where St. Lucia and Trinidad and Barbados taking stuff that we used to do, and wow! ta-dah!” he said.
“And by the way, these guys, the St. Lucians, Bajans, Trinis, they have juggling on those riddims.”
As a music producer, Riley who is the son of legendary producer Winston Riley, has produced a large catalog of songs, chief among them Trelawny native Charly Black’s mega-hit song, the 2013 single Gyal You A Party Animal which was certified diamond in Latin America, and certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Among his other music productions are Romain Virgo’s Trouble from the Love Sick album and Beres Hammond’s My Kinda Girl, which was featured on the reggae crooner’s Never Ending album.
Among the riddims produced by Riley are Via, Rum Runner, Animal Instinct, and Caribbean Rock which featured artists such as Busy Signal, Elephant Man, and Leftside.
Riley told Miller that as a disc jockey, just listening to a slew of dancehall songs all on one riddim, was a rapturous experience.
“Hearing your favorite songs or the baddest songs all on the same riddim, was just crazy energy,” he said.
“So when you in a party, or a dance and yuh hear yuh favorite Bounty Killer and yuh hear yuh favorite Beenie Man, Spragga and these guys are just spitting rhymes and just spitting lyrics, as a selector it just fill yuh,” he added, citing Diwali, Showtime and Badda Badda riddims, as some of the standouts.
When asked by Miller whether juggling had allowed some music to crossover, Riley responded in the affirmative, noting that Beenie Man’s Who am I (Simma) and Girl dem Sugar, Tonto Metro and Devonte’s Everyone falls in Love Sometime; Like Glue and Gimme Di Light by Sean Paul and No Letting Go by Wayne Wonder, were on the extensive list.
Over the last several years, many concerns have been raised by producers and selectors, about the various ‘camps’ being formed by artists, which confined potential juggling riddims, which would have at minimum 12 artists voicing on them, to, in most cases, a handful, as artistes refused to voice on the same productions as persons they saw their musical rivals.
Among the most outstanding juggling riddims over the last 30 years were several from Dave Kelly’s Madhouse productions including Pepper Seed in 1994; Joy Ride and Buy Out also in 1996, Showtime in 1997 and Bruck Out in 1999. Don Carleon’s legendary Drop Leaf was also a bomber in 2005.
The last huge riddim, which attracted a massive number of artists and had a slew of hits, was Overproof, which was created by producers Justus Arison and the late Patrick ‘Roach’ Samuels of JA Productions. Overproof had featured songs from 25 artists, including Mavado with Settle Down, Konshens with Bad Gyal, Khago’s Tun Up Di Ting, and Tifa with Dash Out.