Cuss Cuss Riddim – Papa Moke Music

The Cuss Cuss cut from Papa Moke Music leans on that sturdy 1984 roots-dancehall feel, with Barry Brown’s “Make It With You” and Tristan Palmer’s “Original Fussing And Fighting” carrying the weightiest vocal turns. Ranking Joe brings a more talkative, streetwise edge on “Come Out A Mi Life, ” while the Roots Radics version keeps the riddim’s backbone tight and spare, the kind of rhythm bed that lets the singers and deejay do the damage. It’s also a neat snapshot of Papa Moke’s approach in that era: less polished gloss, more rough-hewn studio muscle, closer in spirit to the label’s mid-’80s dancehall work than to any glossy later retread. In the catalogue, this sits as a compact four-track excursion, but one that helps map how the old “Cuss Cuss” framework kept resurfacing in different hands.