Hevvy Mettal Riddim – Lamar Clan

Lamar Clan’s Hevvy Mettal Riddim comes in hard and rowdy, with a 12-track dancehall set that leans on rude-boy energy and a name that pretty much tells you the mood. Fudgie Springer gets two runs at it with “%$^ and Kalek” and the cleaner “Luv and Kalek, ” while Jukie Blacks, Ricman, and Hooligan each add their own sharp-edged take; Ricman’s “Open Book” is one of the cleaner, more melodic cuts in the bunch. Compared with the more vocal-heavy Soy Sawce project Lamar Clan would follow later in 2012, this one feels darker and more percussive, with a rougher club pressure running through the whole thing. It sits neatly in that early-2010s Lamar Clan run where the productions were lean, direct, and built for sound system play.