September 2026

A 23-year-old riddim just topped the Billboard Global 200. That is the story behind Karol G’s “BbY WOW,” which samples Skatta Burrell’s “Coolie Dance Riddim” and has now carried the Jamaican producer to the very top of one of music’s most competitive global charts.

450 is heading to Trinidad and Tobago with something to prove. The dancehall artist is set to perform at the fourth annual Caribbean Music Awards on Saturday, September 19 at the National Academy for the Performing Arts in Port of Spain, and he is treating it as a genuine milestone rather than just another booking.

When most people say “Bam Bam riddim,” they are referring to one of the most far-reaching rhythmic events in the entire history of Jamaican music: Sister Nancy’s 1982 recording of “Bam Bam,” which itself rides the foundational Stalag riddim produced by Winston Riley.

The Sleng Teng riddim is the most consequential rhythm in the history of Jamaican popular music.

If you have spent any time around reggae or dancehall music, you have almost certainly heard the word “riddim” without necessarily knowing what it means or why it matters so much.

The diwali riddim is one of the most consequential backing tracks in the history of popular music.

Learning how to speak patois means stepping into one of the most linguistically rich and culturally significant creole languages in the world.

The detail prosecutors keep returning to is not Lil Durk himself but a 24-year-old named Saviay’a Robinson, known as Lul Pab, who was pulled from a Cadillac Escalade at a Los Angeles gas station near the Beverly Center in August 2022 and later died from his wounds.

When the conversation turns to the best female dancehall artists in history, a handful of names have consistently shaped the genre’s trajectory, from the sound-system dances of Kingston in the early 1980s through to the global streaming era of the 2020s.

The best dancehall riddims are not merely backing tracks. They are the architectural blueprints of an entire musical culture, shared canvases on which generations of deejays and singers have competed, collaborated, and created some of the most enduring recordings in popular music history.