Rippa Riddim – Lazeme Music / Jah Wayne Records

Rippa Riddim sits in the early Lazeme Music / Jah Wayne Records catalog as a lean 2014 dancehall set, and it’s the kind of project that feels aimed squarely at selectors and sound-system players rather than casual listeners. Charly Black’s “Defend Mi Fren” and Teflon’s “Bad Gal” give it the sharpest pull, while Jah Wayne and Ryme Minista each turn up in both clean and raw versions, which tells you the producers were thinking about dancehall’s double life from day one. With nine cuts and seven different voices, the riddim moves like a compact showcase, ending on the instrumental and leaving the sequencing to do some of the talking for the production.