This year's Grammys have a chance to make history, albeit in a way that most viewers watching music's biggest night at home may miss. For the first time in its 39 years of existence, the award for Best Reggae album can go to a “one rhythm” album – or, as they say in Jamaica, “one riddim”. A single-riddim album is an LP with multiple artists singing or deejaying the same beat. The candidate LP is Cali Roots Riddim 2023, Produced by New Orleans-born, Bermuda-raised singjay Collie Buddz, and featuring an all-star cast of Jamaican and American reggae artists. Cali Roots Riddim 2023 he has some stiff competition, including releases from stars like Beenie Man and Buju Banton, but if he were to win, the win would be a substantial recognition of a uniquely Jamaican music-making style. “The Cali Roots riddim started with the idea of showcasing talent from around the world who share a passion and love for reggae music,” says Collie Buddz, who will be attending the Grammys. “It's weird seeing my name with all the reggae legends, but I'll take it.”
The name for the Cali Roots riddim 2023 represents the widespread influence of common practice in the Jamaican music industry over the past 50 years. A single riddim can accommodate different ideas and vocal approaches. It can also yield simultaneous hits for several artists when it's originally released and again when it's remade years or even decades after it was created.
The roots of the riddims date back to the 1960s, when Leroy Sibbles, singer-songwriter for the famed vocal trio the Heptones and house bassist at the iconic Studio One, created basses that became anchors for many of Jamaica's most recycled riddims. “Other producers were just copying our beats because they sounded good,” says Sibbles. “They would pick a track, re-record it and have their artists write and record on it. They'd try their own rearrangements, but they couldn't mess with the bass lines too much,” says Sibbles, laughing, “because the bass lines are what the music was identified by.”
The first monochrome album, 1974 Yamaha Skank, it was helmed by prolific singer and producer Rupie Edwards and featured deejaying artists and musicians soloing over beats from Uniques' “My Conversation.” (The song's riddim was originally created by Bunny Lee.) Since then, many artists crooning over the same riddim (or “juggling,” in reggae parlance) have become a mainstay of Jamaican music. The idea multiplied with the explosion of digitized beats in 1985. Economics also play a role: the chances of producers creating hit songs increase when multiple artists are recorded on the same beat, and it's less expensive to recycle music that already exists than it is to hire musicians to find something new.
So, in appreciation of the one-riddim's rich history of production style and Grammy moment, we've compiled a list of 25 essential reggae and dancehall riddims, recognizing the most important songs associated with each, as well as the producers and musicians who made them . happen.
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-reggae-riddims-1234951483/
