9. Nuh Fraid
Its roots go back to 2010, but we had to include this beast of a digital dancehall riddim from big producer Jah Snowcone. A modern interpretation of arguably the most influential dancehall instrumental to date—Sleng Teng, a/k/a Lodge—the riddim was originally built with none other than Salaam Remi for Spragga Benz’s Shotta Culture album. Four years after Spragga’s vocoder-laced “Duppy No Frighten Vampire,” Snowcone unveiled a full stack of wicked tunes from Beenie Man, Capleton, General Degree, Suku, Mr Vegas (with the original Joe Lickshot!) and, of course, the instant anthem “Sekkle and Cease” from Agent Sasco that was one of our favorites of the year overall. Dancehall nice again with this one. – Deejay Theory