Cat 2 Tone Riddim – Various Artists

A wiry, minor-key dancehall cut with a little cheek to it, Cat 2 Tone Riddim sits in that early-2000s pocket where the beat is busy, the bass stays tight, and the vocals lean more playful than glossy. The lineup swings between swagger and patter: 2tone’s “Kon Kalote, ” Blackstyle’s “West Indies, ” and Cat’s own “Push Up Yah Lighta” give the riddim its hardest push, while Charly Oscar, Colonel Reyel feat. Lil Twent, and Krys keep the French-Caribbean flavor front and center. Dj Cat doubles up with “Cat 2 Tone (Megamix)” and “Ze Cat 2 Tone (Gigamix), ” which helps frame the release less like a tidy one-off and more like a DJ-friendly snapshot of the era, when riddims were being cut for sound system use as much as for straight listening.