83 Riddim – No Doubt Records

Kemar “No Doubt” McGregor’s 83 Riddim lands right in that 2007 roots-reggae pocket where militant singjays and conscious lyrics carried the weight, and this one came stacked with names like Richie Spice, Lutan Fyah, Queen Ifrica, Tony Rebel and Chuck Fenda. Richie Spice’s “A No Me Dat” and Lutan Fyah’s “Music Is Love” sit nicely beside Chuck Fenda’s “Heights, ” all three riding the same clean juggling with that steady, uplift-heavy pulse McGregor was getting good at. The whole thing runs as a 14-track set with a version cut from McGregor himself, which keeps the rhythm’s identity front and center instead of letting it get lost behind the vocalists. Heard now, it still feels very much of its moment, when No Doubt Records was turning out some of the more reliable conscious reggae plates of the late 2000s.