Riddims That Slapped: Richard ‘Shams’ Browne’s ‘Orgasm’

In 2000, as fans awaited Buju Banton to take the stage in Germany, the Orgasm riddim came roaring out of the venue’s main speakers. There was no vocal track; the instrumental’s power rose from its bass. The aim had simply been to warm up the crowd. Instead, Orgasm triggered an all-out frenzy. Before the headliner had even stepped out, bodies were jolting about and cheers were filling the air.

The next day, Robert ‘Dubwise’ Browne, a guitarist in Buju’s band, called his brother Richard ‘Shams’ Browne and asked, “bredrin yuh know seh yuh riddim buss?”

In the beginning, few imagined that the Orgasm riddim would make an impact, let alone one that would ripple across cultures. In 2000, as Shams workshopped the instrumental at Main Street Studios, the constant refrain in the room was “how people a guh dance to this?” With its unusual groove, Orgasm sounded miles away from the other Dancehall riddims storming the scene. But that was the point. 

In straying from the mould of the moment, Shams decided to reboot a style from the past. It was Bobby Digital’s Top Ten riddim (1992) that caught his ear, with its kick drum and heavy drum dropping on the first beat. This anomaly inspired Shams to drop Orgasm’s bass alongside its kick drum on the one, adding more vigour to the downbeat through that union. Even if the move was unorthodox, Shams reasoned that the groove’s link to the drumming styles of Poco and Kumina music would be familiar enough to Jamaicans to make it danceable. 

It was a risk for someone with just four riddims to his name. Still, after the success of his first string of releases –  Gypsy, The Baddis, Grass Cyaat, and Intercourse – he had earned not only the respect of Dancehall’s top talent but their trust as well. The riddim’s name was bound to stoke interest too; given that his last release was titled Intercourse, naming the follow-up Orgasm was a no-brainer. 

The first artists to voice on the riddim were affiliated with B-Rich Records, Sham’s newly launched label. T.O.K. – whom Shams had managed since 1999 – were among that group, offering hardcore verses and a free-flowing hook on Ginseng.

Nah Support Dem, the scornful manifesto from Chico, followed. Shams then tapped the Main Street Crew deejays to knock out the next few versions: Little Miss Buffet, the winding tale by Red Rat; Slow Motion, the zany love letter by Buccaneer; and Yu No Beg, the independence-affirming track by Hawkeye. 

There was Mr. Lexx‘s hit Full Hundred, which definitely took the riddim.

Even after Mr. Vegas certified the riddim with Girls Time, Shams continued to refine his winning formula.

During a session with Beenie Man and Bling Dawg at Shocking Vibes Studio, there was a consensus that the riddim could use a bit more flavour, but the question then was what exactly? Rather than adorn the riddim with the typical saxophone or trumpet flourish, Shams suggested they try something fresh: a rock guitar. He called on his guitarist brother Robert Dubwise to lend a hand and the final product (Circumstances) clicked instantly.

As the hype surrounding Orgasm surged, artists began popping up at Main Street Studios unannounced. Everyone wanted a piece of the riddim; at one point, even then-rising star Sean Paul had trouble laying down a version, eventually causing him to half-jokingly ask Shams, “how yah guh roun’ me suh?” The reality, though, was that their schedules just never lined up for a session. 

The airplay that the riddim received only fuelled the demand among deejays hoping to be voiced. The riddim had taken over Jamaican speakers: radio disc jockeys endorsed it constantly; that now-familiar groove blared from streets, bus parks and storefronts; the juggling was the centrepiece of parties from Negril to Morant Point. 

Despite this sudden glory, Shams remained cool-headed. One of the few moments he found himself awestruck arrived as he flicked through TV channels. On that evening, he tuned into Entertainment Report and, to his shock, songs featuring his instrumental had claimed half the spots on the program’s top 10 list. His onetime underdog of a riddim had become a champion.

While the Orgasm riddim was sweeping through Jamaica, Shams was getting looks from overseas. He first appeared on VP Records’ radar in 1998 after the label had worked with his uncle, Danny Browne, at Main Street Records to license Sham’s The Baddis riddim. He had also built a close relationship with VP’s Joel Chin through their association with T.O.K. – Shams as the group’s manager and Joel as its A&R. After Joel raised the prospect of a deal with VP, Shams flew to New York to iron out the details with the international record label. 

Real Sex 2000 became Shams’ first full-length release on VP Records. The two-disc CD was an outlier among juggling compilations, featuring versions of two riddims (Intercourse and Orgasm) on disc one, and a megamix of nearly two dozen versions (Orgasm) on disc two. Joel handled the sequencing of the project, with Shams trusting that he would know how to structure it for the foreign markets. Though global sales sounded nice to Shams, they were just an added bonus. So long as his 45’s were selling in Jamaica, he was satisfied. 

Twenty years on and Shams’s relationship with VP Records is still bearing fruit. He currently works at the record label as an A&R, having lent his talent to projects such as Busy Signal’s Parts of the Puzzle and Alborosie’s For the Culture, as well as VP’s Strictly the Best series for the past six years. 

Aside from that, he still produces and recently updated his moniker to “Shams the Producer” to testify to that.

His craft is now guided by the wisdom he picked up along the way: “What I realized about music is that sometimes there’s a monotonous streak where every riddim has the same feel. Once something comes along that’s a little bit different, but the people can still groove to it, it often works,” he told DancehallMag.

This article is the first in a monthly series that will revisit ‘Dancehall Riddims That Slapped’.