John Eden vs Paul Meme – Boom Boom Bashment Mix

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Quite clearly there is no way I’m going to out-do the sheer balls-out hyperbole of Paul’s sleevenotes, so I’ll keep it personal…

For me, this mix started before Shake The Foundations volume 1 was completed in the summer of 2002. I was much more immersed in the current goings on of ragga then – listening to Rodigan every Sunday night, tuning into pirates, devouring the monthly catalogues from Dub Vendor. It was a mania I have more under control at the moment (for now anyway).

Actually buying the tunes was something of a problem because I was pretty skint and the sevens had a habit of disappearing by the time I got the cash together to show my face in the shop…

But those Rodigan tapes went round and round in my head. The occasional one-riddim LP was snuck into the house, and Hackney Libraries came out on top with most of the Greensleeves one-riddim CDs in their racks at a very reasonable hire charge of 80p. Basically this mix would be impossible if I didn’t live in London.

I lived and breathed the CDs – on the way to work, at home in the evening on headphones (because only obsessives want to listen to 20 cuts of the same riddim in a row, yes?). Some of the riddims were rubbish, some of the great riddims had mainly rubbish performances on them or had great cuts which were spoilt half way through because of the obligatory bunning of the bogeyman, er, “battyman”. Slowly but surely the cuts were whittled down… ticks and crosses.

It’s safe to say that this mix falls short of what the usual audiences expect – trad reggae fans (cf trad jazz fans) won’t generally listen to anything after 1985, whilst the bashment massive won’t listen to anything that came out before last month.

The furious issuing of one-riddim albums, on an almost weekly basis by Greensleeves and VP has meant that a lot of tunes get completely overlooked in the stampede, and also that quality has been superseded by quantity. At one point it seemed all Sizzla had to do was to gargle over the latest riddim and it would be all over the pirate stations like a rash. With labels needing to provide the “big 2” with 20 cuts of a riddim (or 40 in cases like Martial Arts and Sledge!) it seemed like nobody was listening to some cuts more than once – not even the people who produced them.

Which is why, in traditional white-boy crate-digging style, it’s not bad to spend a bit of time raking over the ashes. In 20 years there will be a new cohort of trad reggae fans paying big bucks for some of these tunes on ebay, whilst bemoaning the fact that ALL reggae made in 2045 sounds awful.

The mix was originally going to be entitled “Girls, Guns, Ganja”, those being the traditional preoccupations of most deejays. Of course many of the good cuts are actually from girls, and the lyrical preoccupations do move way beyond the basics. Half the fun is deciphering the vocal codes for yourself, though, so I won’t get into it line by line.

In terms of the actual music you have the subtle minimalism like Double Jeopardy, and the pounding Forensic. The Wu-tang and spaghetti western influences on Lightning and Mexican rub up against the more traditional African elements in Amharic and Nine Night.

As ever, I feel like a total blagger working with such excellent material. Most of what I do is re-presenting other people’s work in a new arena. If you like this mix the credit is due to the producers and artists and the best way to thank them is to stump up some cash for their work.

Tracklist

1. Double Jeopardy Riddim
Kings Of Kings (Ce’Cile Charlton & Cordel “Scatta” Burrell) 2001

Jah Mason & Chrisinti: Up Up Up
Madd Anju feat. Cecile: Feel So Good
Pinchers & Norris Man: Set Dem So

2. Bushy Bushy Riddim
Extra Extra (Debbie Harding & Harvel Hart) for 2001

Ce’cile: Spider
Danny English: Right Ya Now
Elephant Man: Sex
Sizzla: Bus Out A Dis
Alizade: Energy
Ce’cile: Spider

3. Mexican Riddim
Pot Of Gold (Richie Stephens) 2002

Bounty Killer: Dem Bawling
Mad Cobra: Fool
Ninja Man: Sharp Like A Knife

4. Rice & Peas Riddim
Natural Bridge (Rohan “Snow Cone” Fuller) 2002

Fat Bastard: Rice & Peas
Lady G: Girls Know What Guys Want
Spragga Benz & Elephant Man: Warrior Cause
Frankie Sly: Dem Nuh Know We
Shano: School

5. Lightning Riddim
2 Hard (Jeremy Harding) 2001

Ward 21: Don’t Push It / Pacemakers Bad Man
Gabriel: The Powers
Kurupp, Mr. Vegas, & Sean Paul: Eye For Eye
Buccaneer: Oh My God

6. Liquid Riddim
2 Hard (Jeremy Harding) 2001

Sean Paul & Cecile: Can You Do The Work
Devonte & Tanto Metro: Give It To He
Madd Anju: Someting For Dat
Lady Saw: Tell Me What You Like

7. Amharic Riddim
Jam II (Jammy “Jam 2” James) 2003

Sizzla: Peace
Cecile: All Night
Lady Saw: Hot Gal Fi Life
Spragga Benz & TOK: We Waah
Spragga Benz: Dem A Chat

8. Tai Chi Riddim
B-Rich (Richard “Shams” Browne) 2002

T.O.K.: Cree
Sean Paul: Time After Time
Wayne Marshall: Need A Girl Tonight
Tanya Stephens: Please Me
Lady Saw: Yeh Yeh

9. Nine Night Riddim
Studio 2000 (Steelie and Clevie) 2001

Lexxus: Gwaan Trace
Red Rat: Fright Night
Mister G: Old Crook
Captain Barkey: Wine Baby Wine
Wicker Man: Girls Gungo Walk
Sasha: Poppy
Determine: Rappin’ Up Rhymes

10. Forensic Riddim
In The Streetz (Mr. Vegas & “Computer Paul” Henton) 2003

Kerry: I Got The Man
Determine: Round And Round
Cecile: Weh Yu Up To
Turbulence: Hype in Jah
Mr Vegas: Fuck Face

11. Big Up Riddim
Taxi (Sly and Robbie) 2004
Wayne Marshall: Big Up
Lady Saw: Messed Up
Bounty Killer: No More Suffering