Double Barrel Riddim – Purple Skunk Records

Purple Skunk’s Double Barrel Riddim comes in hot and crowded, a 2004 dancehall juggling act that lines up heavy hitters like Bounty Killer, Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Elephant Man and Vybz Kartel over a sharp, no-nonsense rhythm. The cut most people will lock onto is Bounty Killer’s “Excitement, ” but the riddim has that same fierce, street-level energy running through Buju’s “Brick Wall” and Vybz Kartel’s “Touch Me If Yuh Bad, ” with enough room for Macka Diamond, Sizzla and the rest to keep the pressure up. Wayne Morris is the name attached to the production here, and this one sits neatly beside Purple Skunk’s other early-2000s dancehall work: rugged, vocal-heavy, and aimed squarely at sound system play rather than polish.