NotNice To Give Dancehall “A Cool Reminder” With New ‘Juggling’ Riddim

After lamenting bitterly in 2021 that Dancehall music has become too singles-driven, and calling for more juggling riddims for 2022, acclaimed music producer Ainsley ‘NotNice’ Morris, has taken matters into his own hands.

According to the Kyng Midas producer, he has set the ball a-rolling with a new juggling riddim, to harken back his musical compatriots to the times when the genre had solid international appeal, due to the juggling style of production (a series of songs on a single riddim).

“Is like dem doh remember!   Gi dem a cool reminder?⏳  New Juggling a faawud #dancehall #notnicerecords,” he noted on Instagram on Thursday.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CcUIB_BMAMJ/

In February last year, Notnice had rued the decline of ‘juggling’, during an interview with Onstage’s Winford Williams, noting that historically most of Dancehall’s cross-over songs have come from these types of beats.

Among them, he pointed out, were Mavado ’s I’m So Special and Serani’s’s No Games on TJ Records’ Unfinished Business Riddim,  Steven ‘Lenky’ Marsden’s Diwali which catapulted Sean Paul’s Get Busy and Wayne Wonder’s No Letting Go to the Billboard Hot 100 and Tanto Metro and Devonte’s Everyone Falls In Love Sometimes, on Donovan Germain’s Up Close and Personal Riddim.

Notnice, whose own juggling successes include 2016’s Ova Dweet Riddim,  had also contended that while Vybz Kartel copped gold with Fever and there were a few other anomalies, juggling riddims were more prolific.

Juggling riddims in Jamaica, began in the early 1980s with the Sleng Teng riddim.  Following the reception Dancehall fans gave Wayne Smith’s Under Mi Sleng Teng, veteran music producer King Jammy had set the pattern for juggling riddims, by recording a slew of artists on the beat, before other producers could make knock-off versions of the riddim, as was the trend then, when Jamaica had no Copyright Law.

Again, in December, Notnice had spoken on the subject, after his Dancehall compatriot Kranium, urged fellow artistes to voice on rhythms without caring which other entertainers are featured on the project.  At the time, the Melody Gad had posited that due to some artistes’ inability to shed their egos, the music had lost its essence.

“For dancehall to be great again in my opinion, we need fi start put out more juggling. Majority a di song dem weh out now innu a singles,” Notnice had told The Jamaica Observer then.

“We affi have juggling riddims in dancehall for it to have the impact it used to. When yuh deh party and a juggling riddim play, issa different vibe, a different energy…,” he had contended.

He had also said that he had been trying to get artistes to collaborate on one particular riddim with no success, which was in his opinion,  an indication that many of them have failed to understand the culture, while others simply do not care.

NotNice had also said that among the reasons some artists refuse to voice on riddims, was fear of competition.

In addition to NotNice and Kranium, over the last several years, many concerns have been raised by other 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.

In November last year, veteran musicologist and Party Animal producer, Kurt Riley, had stated during an interview on Television Jamaica’s The Entertainment Report, that as a disc jockey, just listening to a slew of dancehall songs all on one riddim, was a euphoric experience.

“Hearing your favorite songs or the baddest songs all on the same riddim, was just crazy energy,” he said, as he surmised that there was a ‘strong possibility’ that if Trap-infused Dancehall songs are correctly produced and engineered and contain the “Dancehall DNA”, they could make strong juggling riddims.

Among the most outstanding juggling riddims over the last 30 years were several from Dave Kelly’s Madhouse productions, among them Pepper Seed in 1994; Joy Ride and Buy Out also in 1996, Showtime in 1997 and Bruck Out in 1999.  Don Carleon’s legendary 2005 Drop Leaf riddim, was also a classic.

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 artistes, among them Konshens’ Bad Gyal, Khago’s Tun Up Di Ting, Mavado with Settle Down, and Tifa with Dash Out.

In February this year, veteran Dancehall artiste Red Rat had also contended that some veteran producers should shoulder some of the responsibility for the decline in the number of juggling riddims.

“In some sense I used to say that I blame our generation that didn’t train the yutes or bring them een and seh dis is what need to be done….  Because Like right now the Drop Top riddim that I produced…  I reached out to some a di young artiste dem and seh: ‘yow I think this riddim woulda fit you’, and dem tell mi seh dem don’t do jugglin.  I don’t think them understand the power of what jugglin did,” Red Rat, who is also a music producer said.

He had also said that he believes juggling will reclaim its once-dominant space as a feature of Dancehall, but argued that the music producers who were adept at producing juggling riddims, should have never stopped churning out the compilations, especially since disc jockeys were still requesting them.

“I blame the producers that used to do it.  Why dem stop?  A Shams and a Dave Kelly and Tony Kelly.  Why did you all stop?  You shouldn’t stop because something new started. It should continue; I still do it,” Red Rat added.

The Shelly Ann artiste said had also said that juggling riddims helped artists to dig deep and to use up their creativity, and they and they producers would cooperate to ensure that no two songs on a riddim sounded alike.  He had also said artistes had no problem allowing another compatriot to hear their songs before they wrote theirs.