Take Off Riddim – Yemie Music

Yemie Music’s Take Off Riddim lands as a Malawi-rooted dancehall juggling with a very current feel: stripped-back, cleanly mixed, and built for vocalists who know how to ride a pocket without overcrowding it. The instrumental sits at 100 BPM, which gives it that mid-tempo dancehall sway rather than a frantic sprint, and the beat is framed as a modern riddim instrumental rather than a one-off song bed. Mistah Yemie, the Lilongwe-based producer behind Yemie Music, has been building a lane around dancehall, hip hop, and afro-fused production, and this release fits neatly into the catalogue he has been assembling across recent riddim projects.

What makes Take Off interesting is how wide the artist pool is while still keeping the sound local and conversational. The set pulls in Kay Stevo YG, Kaydi AD, Madotolo, Meder Zack, Young Cver and Mad Jay, Mistah Yemie himself, Noxy Chikweze, Erne B, Pop Mario, Reagan, Wiskay Milhore, Jupapa, Young C, Amana, Jai Star, Macstryder, Jahphyx, Rahaman and Scups Mpili, P Kay Vaden, and Donreego. A lot of these names work in Malawi’s dancehall space, where songs often move between English and Chichewa, and that gives the riddim a grounded, regional identity instead of a generic island imitation.

The strongest cuts are the ones that sharpen the project’s emotional range. Pop Mario’s Daily Prayer gives the riddim a devotional angle, while Erne B’s Mi Nuh Know Dem pushes the familiar outsider stance that dancehall still wears well. Young C’s Ndili Apa and P Kay Vaden’s Take Off sound like the sort of cuts that anchor a juggling by giving it a direct chant-along center. Even the titles tell the story: this is a project about motion, ambition, pressure, prayer, and getting from one place to another. That message sits naturally on a beat called Take Off, and Yemie Music knows enough to keep the production open so the voices can do the heavy lifting.