Ah Wha Riddim

The Ah Wha Riddim has that early-’90s dancehall swing with a lean, digital pulse, skittering drums and a bassline that keeps the whole thing taut rather than heavy. Daddy Freddy and Shaggy Wonder’s “Yes We Are The Champions (Ah Wha)” gives it a boastful, chant-along edge, while Louie Rankin turns up twice and leans into the tough talk on “Divert” and “Typewriter. ” Sister Charmaine’s “Trailer Load Of Man” and Tony Tuff’s “Winding Machine” add a rougher, more seasoned feel, with Mikey Merican and Sleepy Wonder filling out the set in the same streetwise register. Recorded in 1992, it sits right in that moment when dancehall was tightening its sound and letting personality carry the riddim just as much as the groove.