Ghetto Palms 78: Creator Riddim / New Spragga Benz / Polyriddimatical Madness
- story Eddie "Stats" Houghton
- photo Andrew Dosunmu (F34)
Last Ghetto Palms I shouted at the devil of prefab dancehall, and this week the universe did shout me back in the form of veteran sessions player and producer Colin “Bulby” York, who released the polyrhythmic spree called the Creator riddim on his Fat Eyes label. Irrational rhythms may be replacing auto-tune as the new trend in JA, at least judging from the Weapon riddim and the new Spragga joint included below, which flips the clicky polyriddim of “Sweet Georgia Brown” (Cf. Brother Bones, Harlem Globetrotters, R. Kelly). This last should not be too surprising, since it’s produced by Salaam Remi whose previous collabos with Spragga include the Acid Hall riddim, a pre-millenium high point in dancehall creativity.
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posted on Nov 4, 2009 in GHETTO PALMS tags Beenie Man, caribbean, Catchdubs, Sizzla, Spragga Benz, Truck Back
Ghetto Palms: Spark Plug Riddim / Erup Interview / Exclusive “Click Mi Finger” Refix
- story Eddie "Stats" Houghton
Truck Back has ripped the veil off a new riddim called Spark Plug, which encapsulates the main things that are good about dancehall—incredibly tough snares, arabesque chords, frenetic energy—but is still spare enough to let any deejay fit in between the beat. Not surprisingly the initial run has brought out a rogue’s gallery of Jamaican artists literally from A to Zebra, who I think got a furlough from his 10-year rape sentence specifically to rail against white people over this beat (possibly he missed the whole Obama post-racial thing while incarcerated).
Ghetto Palms: Dashboard Riddim / Truck Back Records / Exclusive Interview
- story Eddie "Stats" Houghton
Every week resident FADER selector Eddie STATS runs through dancehall riddims and other artifacts from the ghetto archipelago.
Round about New Year’s a new brand riddim leaked from Truck Back, the upstart label which produced what is arguably the tune of 2008, Erup’s “Click Mi Finga” which was neck and neck with Serani and Mavado’s respective 45s on Unfinished Business for biggest vibe in dancehall not to mention award nominations and crossover chart success. It also came with a back story as word gradually spread outside Jamaica that Truck Back studios is so named because the riddims are built and voiced in a third world sound lab located in the back of an actual, factual container truck parked amid the ghetto palms of an empty lot somewhere in Kingston. I am not making this up.
