Funeral Ceremony Riddim – Notnice Records

Funeral Ceremony Riddim lands in the heat of Notnice Records’ early-2010 dancehall run, when Ainsley “Notnice” Morris was shaping some of the sharpest Portmore-era productions around Vybz Kartel’s camp. This one sits comfortably in that lane: dark, clipped, and built for confrontation, with the sort of bare-bones pulse that leaves space for talk, threats, and counter-threats to land heavy.

The best cuts on the riddim are the ones that tap into the prevailing beef energy of that moment. Blak Ryno’s Empty plays like a direct shot at Big Ship, while Popcaan’s Evil Thing and Shawn Storm’s Rise It Up sharpen the Aidonia tension into fast-moving, street-level fire. Vybz Kartel turns up in multiple corners of the package, including Pass Mi Gun, the hard-edged Murder Informa with Jah Vinci, and Climb Di Mountain with Gaza Indu, which keeps the project anchored in the Gaza sound even as the voices split across different angles and alliances.

What makes the riddim work is the tension in the production itself. The beat is spare and tense rather than flashy, with a marching feel that suits the diss-track framing and the gangsta posture of the performances. Gaza Kim and Sheba, Maxwell, Merital, and Doza Medicine add their own rough-cut contributions, but the record’s center of gravity stays with the Kartel circle and the clash talk surrounding it. Released in 2010, Funeral Ceremony captures a period when Notnice could turn a simple pattern into a full-blown dancehall statement.