NotNice Shares ‘Cool Reminder’ Juggling Riddim With Beenie Man, Patra, Elephant Man And More

Kyng Midas producer Notnice has co-opted some of Dancehall’s biggest-selling superstars for his new juggling riddim, titled Cool Reminder which was released today, July 15, 2022.

The riddim boasts Busy Signal, whose Bumaye was certified gold in the United Kingdom and platinum in France; Charly Black, whose Party Animal was certified gold in the US; and Patra, who makes her return to music after a protracted absence, and whose Queen of the Pack album sold gold in 1993.

In addition, 2001 Reggae Album Grammy winner, Beenie Man, and 2009 Reggae Album Grammy nominee, Elephant Man have also made an appearance on the beat.

From Jamaican music’s new generation, Chronic Law, Intence, and Iwaata, who are known for their prowess in Trap sounds, are also a part of the production, as are Baby Girl I’m Alone singer Jah Vinci, and Jafrass.

Nordia Mothersille, Tatik, Dyani and K-Queens are the other artists making up the compilation.

Official music videos have been released today for Elephant Man’s title track Cool Reminder, Nordia Mothersille’s When I’m Alone, Tatik’s My Style, Jafrass’ Level Up, and Jah Vinci’s No Boundaries.

The Cool Reminder riddim comes a year after NotNice lamented bitterly that Dancehall music has become too singles-driven while calling for more juggling riddims for 2022.  He had signalled he would be setting the ball a-rolling with a new juggling riddim, to harken back his musical compatriots to the times when the genre had solid international appeal, due to the juggling style of production, which is a series of songs on a single riddim.

In February last year, Notnice had rued the decline of ‘juggling’, during an interview with veteran entertainment journalist, Winford Williams, pointing out that historically most of Dancehall’s cross-over songs have come from these types of beats.

Again, in December, Notnice had said that he had been trying to get artistes to collaborate on one particular riddim with no success, which was in his opinion, an indication that many of them have failed to understand the culture, while others simply do not care.   In addition, the St. Mary native had also said that among the reasons some artistes refuse to voice on riddims, was fear of competition.

Juggling riddims in Jamaica, began almost by “buck-up”, in the early 1980s with the Sleng Teng riddim.  Following the reception Dancehall fans gave Wayne Smith’s Under Mi Sleng Teng, veteran music producer and sound system operator King Jammy had set the pattern for juggling riddims, by recording a slew of artists on the beat, before other producers could make pirated versions of the riddim, as was the trend then, when Jamaica had no Copyright Law.

Over the last several years, concerns have been raised by other producers and selectors, about the various ‘camps’ being formed by artists, which confined potential juggling riddims, which would have at minimum 12 artists voicing on them, to, in most cases, a handful.   This dilemma came about as artists refused to voice on the same productions as their peers whom they saw as their musical rivals.

In February, veteran Dancehall artist Red Rat had also contended that some veteran producers should shoulder some of the responsibility for the decline in the number of juggling riddims.

He had also said that he believes juggling will reclaim its once-dominant space as a feature of Dancehall, but said that the music producers who were experts at producing juggling riddims, such as Dave Kelly and his sibling Tony Kelly, should have never stopped churning out the compilations, especially since disc jockeys were still requesting them.

The Tight Up Skirt artiste, who is also a producer, also said that juggling riddims helped artists to dig deep and to use up their creativity, and along with the producers they would cooperate to ensure that no two songs on a beat sounded alike.  He had also said artistes had no problem allowing another of his or her peers to hear their songs before they wrote theirs.

Among the most outstanding juggling riddims over the last 30 years were several from Dave “Rude Boy” Kelly’s Madhouse Productions.   Among these were Pepper Seed in 1994; Joy Ride, Stink and Buy Out also in 1996, Showtime in 1997, and Bruck Out in 1999; Don Carleon’s legendary 2005 Drop Leaf riddim; Playground, by Jeremy Harding’s 2-Hard Records; Danny Browne’s Filthy in 1998 and Donovan Germaine’s Answer in 1993, are among a few of an extensive list of classic riddims.

The last huge riddim, which attracted a massive number of artistes and had a slew of hits, was Overproof, which was created by producers Justus Arison and the late Patrick ‘Roach’ Samuels.

Overproof had featured songs from 25 artists, among them Konshens’ Bad Gyal, Khago’s Tun Up Di Ting, Mavado with Settle Down, and Tifa with Dash Out.