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SAWho’s the producer behind this popular instrumental?
‘Diwali Riddim,’ produced by Steven’ Lenky’ Marsden in 2002, is perhaps one of the most influential instrumental tracks of all time.
“Riddim” culture in the 90s within dancehall meant that instrumentals were easy to access, and many artists recorded multiple songs over the same instrumental, allowing them to release more music.
Lenky had originally created the instrumental in 1998 and shopped it around, to little or no success. By the early 2000s, it started to gain momentum locally in Jamaica; this expanded even more after Greensleeves spotlighted it on Rhythm Album #27, a compilation featuring 19 tracks built on the same instrumental, with contributions from artists like Buju Banton, Elephant Man, and Wayne Wonder.
By the mid 2000s, the riddim dominated the Billboard charts, spanning hits like Sean Paul’s “Get Busy”, Rihanna’s “Pon de Replay”, Wayne Wonder’s “No Letting Go” and others. The track played an essential role in the crossover of dancehall music to the rest of the globe, further establishing Jamaica’s influence on popular music. At a time when pop music was crying out for fresh inspiration, the track presented itself and set the globe on fire.
“XM24”, another instrumental track by Lenky, is a version of the Diwali riddim itself that has also been popularly sampled. Most noticeably on the 2007 smash hit “Love is wicked” by Brick and Lace, a song that was extremely popular and successful amongst black diasporan communities, particularly in West Africa. Most recently, the song was sampled by Darkoo on her 2024 single “Favourite girl”
Who did it best? 🤔
@samplechief
