Handcuff Riddim – Progress

Tight and militant, this 1977 Progress cut has that late-’70s roots pressure in full effect, with Gregory Isaacs’ “Handcuff (Hey Mr. Babylon)” leading the charge before the riddim drops into Ossie Allstars’ dub version and Prince Far I’s “House Of Jah. ” The sequence matters here: vocal, dub, then deejay chant, so you hear the tune open up and then get stripped back into its echo and bass weight. Isaacs brings the sweetest hook of the three, while Far I pushes the harder spoken-word edge against the same stern backdrop. Three tracks, three angles, all circling the same Handcuff riddim.