Alcapone Riddim – Various Soca Artists

Alcapone Riddim lands with a more unruly, island-party feel than the name might suggest, and that suits this little three-track set just fine. “Bongo Lights” by Blackflag City has the kind of clipped, forward-moving bounce that keeps the chant moving without ever getting too polished, while Junior Killa And Baby Quin’s “Roll It” leans harder into the call-and-response side of things, giving the riddim a rowdy dancefloor edge. Mahammad Alkida’s “Fuck Bageman” is the roughest cut here, and it’s the one that really underlines how loose and street-level this 2004 compilation is. With only three tracks, it doesn’t hang around long, but that’s part of the charm; it feels like a snapshot from a moment when soca and reggae-adjacent productions were crossing paths in a very local, no-frills way.