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Songwriting Reference — Jay RebL

The Riddim Vault

The first 20 foundational dancehall riddims, in chronological order — a working table for picking a riddim and writing a new song to it, not just a history lesson.

Reference — pick a row, start writing
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Read This First

Foundational, Not Literally First

Dancehall emerged in the late 1970s, but many of its foundational riddims were rebuilt from earlier reggae instrumentals — so this is better understood as the first 20 foundational dancehall riddims, not literally the first 20 ever recorded. Some of these 20 are actually foundational reggae/rocksteady riddims that later became important to dancehall, rather than dancehall riddims from the start — that distinction is called out per row below, and it matters if you're building a historically accurate playlist. Jamaican riddims were also renamed, recut, and reused across different producers and decades, which is exactly what makes them worth writing on today.

The First 20

Foundation Riddims

#RiddimEraIconic CutsContextSong Status
01Real Rock
Essential 10
1967–68
  • Sound Dimension — “Real Rock”
  • Willie Williams — “Armagideon Time”
  • Michigan & Smiley — “Nice Up the Dance”
  • Dennis Brown — “Stop the Fussing and Fighting”
  • Johnny Osbourne — “Lend Me the 16”
  • Tenor Saw — “Ring the Alarm”
  • Bounty Killer — “Roots, Reality & Culture”
One of the most-versioned riddims in Jamaican music history — a rocksteady root endlessly recut into dancehall.Not started
02Heavenless
Essential 10
1968
  • Johnny Osbourne — “Rock It Tonight”
  • Cocoa Tea — “Crying Time”
  • Pinchers — “For Your Eyes Only”
  • Little Twitch — “Spanish Fly”
  • Sizzla — “Big Up Di Girls Dem”
  • Bounty Killer — “We Burn the Highest”
A Studio One-era foundation still being recut generations later, straight through to Sizzla and Bounty Killer.Not started
03Swing Easy
1968
  • The Soul Brothers — “Swing Easy”
  • Alton Ellis — “Girl I've Got a Date”
  • Various Studio One deejay versions
A Studio One foundation — more accurately a reggae/rocksteady ancestor of dancehall than a dancehall riddim itself.Not started
04Nanny Goat
1968
  • Larry Marshall — “Nanny Goat”
  • The Heptones — versions on the Studio One rhythm
  • Later dancehall/deejay versions
Another Studio One rhythm that became part of Jamaica's reusable riddim vocabulary.Not started
05Cuss Cuss
Essential 10
1969
  • Lloyd Robinson — “Cuss Cuss”
  • Horace Andy — “Cuss Cuss”
  • Luciano — later versions
  • Various roots and dancehall deejay versions
The bass line became so recognizable it was repeatedly rebuilt across roots and dancehall alike.Not started
06Drum Song
1969
  • Jackie Mittoo — “Drum Song”
  • Horace Andy — versions
  • Various roots/dub versions
A major Jackie Mittoo/Studio One rhythm — a bridge between rocksteady, roots, and later dancehall.Not started
07Java
1972
  • Augustus Pablo — “Java”
  • Augustus Pablo — “Java Dub”
  • Various roots/deejay versions
Shows how a recognizable instrumental became a reusable riddim in the sound-system tradition.Not started
08Stalag
Essential 10
1973
  • Sister Nancy — “Bam Bam”
  • Tenor Saw — “Ring the Alarm”
  • General Echo — “Arleen”
  • Barrington Levy — “Sunday School”
  • Sugar Minott — “Everybody Got to Know”
  • Shabba Ranks — “Roots & Culture”
Absolutely essential — “Bam Bam” and “Ring the Alarm” make this one of dancehall's defining riddims.Not started
09Answer
1970s
  • Lone Ranger — “The Answer”
  • Various early deejay versions
  • Early Channel One sound-system cuts
Belongs more to the early rub-a-dub/deejay transition than the later digital dancehall era.Not started
10Taxi
Essential 10
1975
  • Sly & Robbie — “Taxi”
  • Black Uhuru — “Taxi”
  • Peter Tosh — “Stepping Razor” (Taxi-associated production)
  • Various Sly & Robbie productions
Sly & Robbie's bass-and-drum production approach made this hugely influential.Not started
11MPLA
1976
  • The Revolutionaries — “MPLA”
  • Early Channel One deejay versions
  • Various roots/dancehall versions
A major Channel One/Revolutionaries rhythm.Not started
12Full Up
Essential 10
1968
  • The Sound Dimension — “Full Up”
  • The Mighty Diamonds — “Pass the Kouchie”
  • Musical Youth — “Pass the Dutchie”
  • Yellowman — “Couchie”
  • Toyan — “Chalice”
  • Barrington Levy — “Carol”
  • Half Pint — “Political Fiction”
So closely tied to “Pass the Kouchie” it's often just called the Pass the Kouchie riddim.Not started
13General
Late 1970s
  • Early Jamaican deejay versions
  • Various Channel One/Volcano sound-system cuts
An early rub-a-dub foundation, not one of the universally recognized canonical riddims.Not started
14Death in the Arena
Late 1970s
  • Johnny Osbourne
  • Jackie Mittoo/Studio One-associated versions
  • Early rub-a-dub/deejay versions
Another bridge between roots reggae and the emerging dancehall sound-system culture.Not started
15Mad Mad / Diseases
Essential 10
1967 → 1981
  • Alton Ellis — “Mad, Mad, Mad”
  • Michigan & Smiley — “Diseases”
  • Yellowman — “Zungguzungguguzungguzeng”
  • Various later dancehall versions
Alton Ellis's 1967 original, revived as “Diseases” in 1981, then made globally famous by Yellowman.Not started
16Baltimore
Early 1980s
  • Early dancehall/deejay versions
  • Ranking Joe
  • Various early digital-transition productions
Sits in the period immediately preceding the full digital revolution.Not started
17Revolution
1983
  • Dennis Brown — “Revolution”
  • Various Revolution riddim versions
  • Early dancehall/deejay cuts
Representative of the early-1980s transition from roots/rub-a-dub into modern dancehall.Not started
18Tempo
Essential 10
1985
  • Anthony Red Rose — “Tempo”
  • King Jammy's / Volcano-era versions
  • Early digital dancehall cuts
Right at the start of the computerized dancehall explosion.Not started
19Sleng Teng
Turning point
Essential 10
1985
  • Wayne Smith — “Under Mi Sleng Teng”
  • Tenor Saw — “Pumpkin Belly”
  • Nitty Gritty — “Hog in a Minty”
  • Johnny Osbourne — “Buddy Bye”
  • Anthony Red Rose — “Tempo”
  • King Jammy's — numerous digital versions
The big one — computerized production replaced the live band and changed dancehall permanently.Not started
20Punanny
Essential 10
1986
  • Admiral Bailey — “Punanny”
  • Shabba Ranks — “Halla Fi Body”
  • Shabba Ranks — “Needle Eye Pum Pum”
  • Major Worries — “Babylon Boops”
  • Johnny P — “Bike Rack”
  • Ninjaman — “Border Clash”
  • Tiger — “Carbon Copy”
One of the defining digital dancehall riddims of the mid-1980s, spawning an enormous number of versions.Not started

A Shorter Listening Curriculum

The Essential 10

If the goal is teaching the history of dancehall rather than just listing 20 riddims, narrow the listening curriculum to these ten.

  1. 1.Real Rock
  2. 2.Heavenless
  3. 3.Cuss Cuss
  4. 4.Stalag
  5. 5.Taxi
  6. 6.Full Up
  7. 7.Mad Mad / Diseases
  8. 8.Tempo
  9. 9.Sleng Teng
  10. 10.Punanny

There's an important historical progression behind the list — Real Rock, Full Up, Stalag, and Mad Mad/Diseases are particularly good examples of how a single riddim survives for decades through successive generations of Jamaican music:

Studio OneRocksteadyRootsDubRub-a-DubEarly DancehallDigital Dancehall

Row 19 — Why It Matters

The Digital Turn

Sleng Teng, 1985, is one of the first fully computerized riddims and the record that launched digital dancehall into a new era. It's followed quickly by:

Punanny
Kuff
Duck Dance
Peanie Peanie
Far East
Cuss Cuss ’86

Further Reading

Sources

Riddim-ID decade indexAfropop on foundational riddimsSleng Teng history (The Guardian)

Pick a Riddim, Write to It

Once a riddim's picked, run the resulting song through the same distribution playbook.

See the Song Factory Strategy