New Release: Sean Paul – Stand On Business

NEW RELEASE

Few riddims have changed Jamaican music as dramatically as Sleng Teng. Back in 1985, 16-year-old Wayne Smith unknowingly helped spark a revolution in Jamaican music with Under Mi Sleng Teng. The song was built around a riddim that Smith and Noel Davey had created the year before using the “Rock” preset of a Casiotone MT-40 keyboard. What started as an experiment became one of the most important riddims in reggae history.

Producer Prince Jammy, now known as King Jammy, immediately heard the potential. He slowed the riddim down to better suit Smith’s vocal style, and the result was something Jamaica had never heard before. Raw, stripped-down and futuristic, Under Mi Sleng Teng showed that a hit record no longer needed an expensive live band. The digital dancehall era had arrived.

Since then, the Sleng Teng riddim has been versioned more than 450 times, connecting generations of artists from Tenor Saw and Nitty Gritty to Beenie Man and Vybz Kartel. Its influence has also reached far beyond reggae, finding its way into hip-hop, EDM and other forms of electronic music.

Last year, the riddim’s 40th anniversary was celebrated with archival content, reworks and remixes, exclusive interviews and more. Now, Sean Paul also pays tribute to this landmark piece of Jamaican musical history with his new single, Stand On Business.

Sean Paul – Stand on Business