Jamaican Slang EditorialTHE Blog for Jamaican Slang, Patois, Reggae, Rastafari, Real T’ing dem and Jamaica

With so many riddims coming out every week, it can get hard to put things in perspective. Anyways, we thought we would look at the top 5 most successful riddims to come out. Now, these are not the best riddims or our favorites, but these are the riddims that you can hear at almost any party. The list is not in any special order and let us know if you disagree or have a different top 5:

1- Playground (Beenie Man is definitely the one who made this riddim “sell off” with Who Am I.)

2- Diwali (This might be the most successful riddim outside of Jamaica and it is rddim where Sean Paul really blew up abroad. This riddim showed the world the fun dances coming out of Jamaica. Stand out artists are T.O.K., Sean Paul, Wayne Wonder, Elephant Man…and should I add Lumidee? Uh No!)

3- Bookshelf (Every single song on this riddim is pretty much classic, but the people that stand out are Sean Paul, Beenie Manand T.O.K. This is also the riddim where Sean Paul dropped Dutty Yo on Deport Dem.)

4- Buy Out ( Sean Paul and Elephant Man did their thing on this riddim. This was a fun riddim and people were signalin’ di plane all the time.)

5- Showtime (This might be the best riddim of all time because nuff artist use parts of this riddim or the riddim to launch their career. Beenie and Bounty Killer definitely murdered this riddim.)

Even before finishing this post, I have people on my case that these riddims could be replaced by others. Leave some feedback of what you think should be on this list.

http://www.vimeo.com/3979390

Reggae, especially dancehall reggae, is highly competitive and territorial. Similar to hip-hop and sports, there are rivalries. Most of the rivalries develop out of something small and then blow up, but there are definitely some people like Bounty Killer and Vybz Kartel that attract drama all of the time. With the Vybz Kartel and Mavado beef continuing to escalate like Ja Rule and 50 Cent or Nas and Jay-Z, I thought it was time to shed some light on some classic dancehall beefs. Here is Jamaican Slang’s interpretation of Complex Magazine’s list of the Ten Biggest Reggae Beefs. We have reduced it to the five best, zeen!?:

#1 - Beenie Man vs. Bounty Killer :

This one is the grandfather, king, and still champion of feuds inna di dance. They’re both legends, and they’ve found more things to squabble about over the past 15 years than a long-married couple. Whether it’s Beenie kissing RuPaul on an American talk show, Bounty appearing in a No Doubt video with a naked man, or most recently Beenie marrying Bounty’s longtime girlfriend D’Angel, they’re the Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant of reggae (except they’re both alive and neither of them has a she-male for a daughter). Their dysfunctional relationship is the defining thread of modern dancehall, even going so far as to entangle their younger protégés (the beef between Bounty’s protege Mavado and Vybz Kartel intensified when Kartel attended Beenie’s wedding).

#2 - Vybz Kartel vs. Mavado :

This feud started back in 2006 when Vybz left The Alliance, an unofficial group of artists (with Mavado, Busy Signal, Wayne Marshall, and a few dozen other DJs) started by Bounty Killer. At the time of his departure, Vybz Kartel was a member of the Alliance along with Mavado. Once separated from The Alliance, in typical Vybz Kartel style, Vybz started to diss members of The Alliance and it was the rising star Mavado that responded. There are dozens of diss tracks recorded by both artists and although, the beef take a breather in 2007, the heat was on again in 2008 with Sting 2008 as the battle of all battles to decide who would win. Four months later and people are still debating who won on stage at Sting 2008. This beef is pretty personal because both know each other well.

#3 - Beenie Man vs. Capelton:

This feud made it to the top because it’s like the Crusades. You have the Bobo Ashanti Fire Starter vs. The King of the Dancehall. Two ideologies against each other. Truthfully, this stems from Beenie calling out Capelton’s Bobo Ashanti rhetoric on the song “Hypocrites”. Capleton fires back with a CLASSIC track called “Who Dem.”

#4 - Vybz Kartel vs. Assassin & Spragga Benz:

Kartel and Assassin clashed first as a friendly rivalry, but then things got heated. Eventually, Assassin’s big homie Spragga Benz (pon di ends) had to get involved for the feud’s climax over the “Stepz” riddim. This one turned out like 50 vs Game: both landed stinging shots, but both also lived to fight another day. It just seems like Kartel is looking for fights!

#5 - Mavado vs. Beenie Man:

Mavado’s line in the song “How High” mentions “Baby Brian” (“give him some fat teflon fi try on/mek him madda cry ‘cause him die by my han’”)—and even though the song was released before Beenie’s half-brother Brian was murdered in 2006, Beenie understandably caught feelings. Based on the timing, it might be Mavado making a 50 Cent move going after the King of the Dancehall. For those that do not know, 50 Cent dissed Jay-Z well before Get Rich or Die Trying. Later on 50 admitted that by dissing Jay-Z he figured Jay would come back, which he did, thus helping 50 get on the map. The Alternative view is that Bounty Killer sent his new top soldier to go after the reigning (self-proclaimed) King of the Dancehall.

Here are some other honorable mention beefs in dancehall:

Ninja Man vs. Mad Cobra

Vybz Kartel vs. Bounty Killer

Ninja Man vs. Pretty Much Everyone to Step on Stage

Super Cat vs. Bounty Killer

Super Cat vs. Nitty Gritty

Deva Bratt vs. Munga

Merciless vs. Bounty Killer vs. Ninja Man vs. Beenie Man

To hear more of the songs associated with these beefs to learn more about them, visit the Complex Magazine Feature. Complex probably needed to link up with www.jamaican-slang.com to get better with the Jamaican Patois, zeen?!