Troop Riddim – Mentally Disturbed

TROOP RIDDIM comes in as a 15-track dancehall set with a fairly tight, frontline lineup, and the pair of versions from Aisha and Konshens tell you right away this wasn’t just a one-off singer project. Mentally Disturbed kept the focus on hard-edged rude-boy material: Bling Dawg’s “Game Up, ” Delly Ranx’s “Run Weh, ” Boom Dandimite’s “Craub Up, ” and T. O. K’s “Gangsters Never Die” all sit in that same pressure zone, with raw cuts folding in beside the cleaner versions. The riddim itself leans on a stern, stripped-back late-2000s bounce, the kind of pattern that leaves room for the vocals to jab through while the bass stays heavy and unsentimental. It’s a compact 2008 set, finished off by an instrumental that underlines the march-like drum phrasing and clipped low-end pulse.