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Shout out to Bol for the link yesterday.
I haven't come across many examples of it recently, but I've always had a soft spot for hip hop tracks that use reggae and dancehall riddims. A lot of times, when a hip hop song uses a riddim for its beat, it comes off as a forced attempt to cash in on the periodic rise in popularity of dancehall (ex. the wave of dancehall rap after Shabba Ranks became popular in the U.S. in the early 90's). Some of the best songs fusing hip hop and dancehall that I've found have actually been unofficial remixes with a riddim replacing the original hip hop beat.
Last night I was sent a link to French producers Bost & Bim, who have been remixing hip hop and R&B with reggae for several years. From their bio:
"Bost & Bim (Matthieu Bost & Jeremie "Bim" Dessus) is a reggae/dancehall/hiphop producer duo based in France. We compose and produce riddims for french, english, african, jamaican artists. We also build some remixes with hip-hop/soul artists on our own reggae/dancehall riddims inna freeeesh style! In the same time, both of us are Reggae musicians (saxophone and guitar) working with the biggest reggae artists on stage and studio (Horace Andy, U roy, Leroy Sibbles, Derrick Harriot, Queen Omega...)."
Their English is a little rugged, but their remixes are dope. Here are a few of them off of their project Yankees A Yard:
Mos Def - Travellin' Man (Stranger Riddim Remix)
Ja Rule - New York (Road Riddim Remix)
Outkast - So Fresh and So Clean (Road Riddim Remix)
Bost & Bim have a full album of reggae remixes available for free download through their site. Just go to bostandbim.com, click on "Goodies" and then you'll see the link to "Download Yankees A Yard."
Bonus videos of a few classic hip hop/dancehall tracks:
KRS-1 and Shabba Ranks - The Jam
DMX - Here Comes The Boom
Supercat and Biggie - Dolly My Baby
1/10/2007 8:24:25 AM posted by Fresh