Riddim

A riddim is a rhythm pattern, basically consisting of a drum pattern and a prominent bassline. Often a melody is associated with the riddim. The Jamaican-English term originates from the word rhythm.

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Riddims are the instrumental background of every reggae, lovers rock, dub, raggamuffin or dancehall composition. In other musical contexts a riddim would be called a groove or beat.

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In most cases the term riddim is used to reference to the whole background track or rhythm section, but in older, roots riddims, riddim name is used to reference to that certain bassline and drum pattern. Its also very typical that different producers have their own versions of the same riddim.

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Different artists perform on one and the same of the hundreds of riddims with different lyrics and different vocal styles, ranging from singing to rapping (for example Beenie Man's song "My Wish", Mr. Vegas' tune "Go Up" or TOK's "Man A Bad Man" are based on the "Juice" riddim).

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Most riddims are named by the tune sung on that instrumental track for the first time (the "Satta-A-Masagana" riddim is named by the song "Satta-A-Masagana" performed by the group The Abyssinians).

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In general riddims can be divided in three main sections. The oldest type of riddims is the classical riddim providing roots reggae dub and lovers rock with instrumentals (for example: "Bam Bam" produced by Sly & Robbie).

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Second type is the ragga riddim backing raggamuffin and dancehall tunes (for example: "Juice" produced by Richard "Shams" Brown), just as the third and last type, the digital riddims (for example: "Sleng Teng" produced by King Jammy).

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Rhythm: Rhythm (Greek ρυθμός = tempo) is the variation of the duration of sounds or other events over time. When governed by rule, it is called meter. It is inherent in any time-dependent medium, but it is most associated with music, dance, and the majority of poetry. The stud...

Drum: For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation)....

Bassline: A bassline is a series of notes with tones that are low in pitch, roughly at least an octave and a half below middle C. Although in principle any bass part in any kind of music can be referred to as a 'bassline', typically the term refers to a repeated melody characteristic of most forms of pop, roc...