Producer Delly Ranx has opened up about the making of the Red Bull & Guinness riddim, the mid-2000s production that carried Mavado’s “Weh Dem A Do” and ended up released twice over, with 20 songs through Greensleeves and another 20 through VP.
The beat took shape at Big Ship, where Delly Ranx was working alongside Nico, the selector who had already left Stone Love to go solo but still carried his name in the streets.
Delly laid down the pattern on a drum machine. When he heard it played back, he knew he had something.
“That’s how excited I got in the studio,” he said.
Although the production became synonymous with its title track, Delly Ranx was quick to clarify where his role began and ended.
“Red Bull and Guinness is not my song,” he said, explaining that he did not write the lyrics himself.
Once the riddim started circulating, the voicings came quickly. Delly recalled Wayne Marshall recording on it and Vybz Kartel cutting two songs. Turbulence was among the other artists who joined.
Mavado’s entry was informal. Delly said he played the riddim for the singer from his truck, Mavado responded to the melody, and the two set up a studio session. From there, the producer said, the rest is history.
At that point Mavado already had records getting play, but by Delly’s account none had yet become huge. “Weh Dem A Do” would change that.
The song’s structure drew debate before release. The chorus ran long and repeated, and Delly recalled someone in the camp raising concerns that it was too long.
The team kept it anyway. Delly pointed to “the sweet part” of the lyrics as the section crowds would sing back, and he credited that hook with shaping Mavado’s career from that moment on.
The riddim got its first real test at a Popcorn birthday party, which Delly placed around the sixth of December 2005. He said a selector played the tracks off a burned CD, and the reaction confirmed what the studio had already suggested.
“Test it,” he said of the instruction he gave. The riddim went on to mash up the place, in his words, and the response put pressure on the camp to move fast. Delly said the music had to get out quickly before the moment passed.
The volume of material that piled up was so large that one release could not hold it. Delly said the riddim ultimately carried 40 songs, some featuring new artists from America, and the collection was split between two of reggae’s biggest distributors.
Greensleeves issued 20 tracks, and VP put out the other 20. Delly said he believes he is the only producer to have released the same riddim through two different companies.
“That’s how hot the rhythm was,” he said
The riddim’s influence spilled beyond the dance. Delly recalled the title track sparking a craze for the drink it was named after, with the mix suddenly showing up everywhere.
“Everybody drink Red Bull and Guinness,” he said, laughing.
Nearly two decades on, the riddim remains one of the defining productions of its era. It stands as a marker for Delly Ranx’s work and as the launchpad for one of Mavado’s signature records.
