‘Inviting Riddim’ blends dancehall and soca

Dancehall meets soca on the Inviting Riddim, a three-song EP released in October by South Florida-based Most Wanted Records.

It is a blend that has done well throughout the Caribbean and the label is looking for big things with its latest project.

The songs on the EP are Party Tonite by Najgee, Big Big by Razor B and Yam Head by Delomar. According to Most Wanted Records' head Dewayne Taylor, they present, "A nice blend of dancehall and soca. The three songs complement the riddim well."

Soca has a massive following in Jamaica where dancehall music took off during the 1980s, thanks to sound systems like Stur Gav, Kilamanjaro and Volcano. The latter was owned by Henry 'Junjo' Lawes, arguably the genre's most successful producer.

It was also in that period that soca replaced calypso as the sound of choice in Trinidad and Tobago and the Eastern Caribbean. Soca acts like Machel Montano and Bunji Garlin draw huge crowds in Jamaica.

Dancehall has been popular in the Eastern Caribbean since the 1990s, thanks to Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Buju Banton and Capleton. The genre's new wave, which includes Skeng and Dexta Daps also attract massive crowds, which Taylor hopes to capitalise on.

"I'm looking to reach all the Caribbean islands and people worldwide who are music lovers and love to dance and vibe to music even if they are not good dancers," he said.