Rant + Repost About “Riddim”
Since social media killed off StumbleUpon and the web aggregators, the internet has been on a steady decline. People no longer wander; they scroll the popular social media apps or chat to AI. They rely on ad-focused feeds to “recommended” sites. Sometimes they poke around a site for seconds before forgetting it and returning to social media. More often, the headline feels sufficient, and they don’t even bother to click and read the article.
Yes, I’ll admit I’ve had to conform a bit too. My site is drifting toward that sterile TechCrunch / Business Insider template. It sucks.
We’re long past the days when esoteric blogs about Israeli psytrance producers could quietly shape global EDM. Long past the “post-dubstep” and “future” rabbit holes where a single sound or motif got stretched until the next one.
We’re at peak dead internet. Peak poserosity.
Part of why I still repost articles is to fight that flattening. Maybe you’ll click through the website I’m sharing, explore, and rediscover that niche rabbit-hole energy. Maybe you’ll find something better than doomscrolling. Maybe you’ll go to my blog or another before TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, X, Substack or whichever one-size-fits-all social media comes next.
Onto this repost: I’ve been vocal for 18 years about the absurdity of genre labeling. Ambiguous words like "techno" and "deep house" mean 20 different things. You need to judge a person before guessing what they mean by these terms. Riddim, the topic of this repost, is a prime example: a name hijacked, misplaced, and turned into a subgenre that has nothing to do with what riddim actually means. Midnight Rebels covers that mess below.
Check out the article, the website, and if you’re curious, follow the author NJ Bigornia and his Mixcloud under his EDM DJ pseudo name Jezrelle. I can’t speak well to the site’s coverage of the Nova Massacre (0 articles or mentions, despite being festival goers; endless content justifying boycotts of the one Jewish state instead) but can say they’re doing work with near daily posts.
Original link: https://midnightrebels.com/understanding-the-riddim-controversy-in-the-dubstep-scene/
Understanding the Riddim Controversy in the Dubstep Scene
In Jamaican Patois, “riddim” is how you say “rhythm,” but in music, it’s the instrumental backbone of reggae and dancehall, a unique system where one beat can launch hundreds of songs. A dubstep subgenre later adopted the name, sparking a heated debate about cultural appropriation and the erasure of the term’s true history.
NJ Bigornia; Sep 28, 2025
hat is riddim? We dive into the rich history of Jamaican riddim, the soul of reggae and dancehall, and explore the controversy around the dubstep subgenre that uses its name. Learn why calling anything but Jamaican music “riddim” is a problem.
Type “riddim” into a search bar and you’ll find yourself at a musical crossroads. One path leads to the heart of Jamaica, where “riddim” is the instrumental backbone of reggae and dancehall music. The other path takes you to the underground electronic dance music (EDM) scene, where “riddim” describes a subgenre of dubstep known for its repetitive, aggressive basslines.
This isn’t just a case of two genres sharing a cool name. It’s a point of major confusion and a heated debate about history and respect. The bottom line is this: the term “riddim” has a specific, deep-rooted meaning in Jamaican culture, and applying it to a dubstep subgenre, however popular, erases that important history. Let’s break down why. 1
The Real Riddim: Jamaica’s Musical Building Block
First, let’s get one thing straight. In Jamaican Patois, “riddim” is how you say “rhythm”. But in music, it means so much more.
Vybz Kartel
A Jamaican riddim is the instrumental track of a song, built around a core drum pattern and a powerful bassline. What makes this system unique is a practice called “versioning.” A single popular riddim can be used by dozens, sometimes hundreds, of different artists to create their own unique songs. Think of the riddim as a canvas, and each vocalist paints their own picture on it with lyrics and melodies. 2
This idea started back in the 1960s and ’70s at legendary studios like Studio One. Producers realized they could save money and increase their chances of a hit by having multiple artists record over the same instrumental track. This led to the creation of timeless riddims like “Real Rock” and “Stalag 17” that are still used today. The game changed again in 1985 with the first fully digital riddim, “Sleng Teng,” which launched the digital dancehall era. 3
A riddim isn’t just a beat. It’s the primary musical product in Jamaican dancehall and reggae culture, a shared piece of art that forms the foundation of the entire industry.
The Other “Riddim”: A Dubstep Subgenre
Now, let’s switch gears to the electronic version. The dubstep subgenre called “riddim” sounds completely different. It’s often described by fans as minimalistic, repetitive, and aggressive, with a “wonky” or “swampy” feel. 4
This sound emerged from the UK bass scene around the early 2010s. It was a reaction to the commercialized, over-the-top style of dubstep (often called “brostep”) that was popular in the US at the time. Producers like Jakes and Subfiltronik pioneered a more stripped-back, bass-focused sound.
Musically, it’s defined by:
A half-time drum pattern that gives it a bouncy feel.
A structure built around tension and release, leading to a big “drop”.
Harsh, synthetic bass sounds created with heavy digital effects.
The history of this sound is entirely separate from Jamaican dancehall. It’s a direct descendant of the UK dubstep scene.
The Controversy: Homage or Appropriation?
So how did an electronic subgenre get the same name as a foundational Jamaican music concept?
The argument for the connection is that dubstep itself has roots in Jamaican dub music. Some fans and producers feel the name is a nod to that heritage. One user noted that early electronic riddim used “that famous guitar stab with the fade out delay derived from Reggae”. 5
However, many people, including a large part of the EDM community, see it as a clear case of cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation is taking something from a minority culture without permission or understanding, which strips it of its original meaning.
By calling this dubstep subgenre “riddim,” the name gets disconnected from its Jamaican origins. The frustration is easy to find in online discussions. One user, after learning the history, said the new genre “sucked the culture and meaning out of it”. Another expressed their frustration, saying they were “upset at the use of the term ‘riddim’ to label their music…which would have rooted from reggae/dancehall”. The feeling is that the name was “yanked” from its roots without respect for its history.
The Push for a New Name: “Trench”
Interestingly, many people within the electronic scene agree that the name is a problem. There has been a significant push to rebrand the genre with a name that many feel is more fitting: “Trench”. 6
The name “Trench” was first popularized by the artist Getter back in 2014 with his Trenchlords EP series. More recently, producer Infekt has led a campaign to make “Trench” the official name, arguing it better describes the dark, gritty sound and avoids the cultural issues. This shows that many in the community are aware of the problem and want to fix it. As one fan put it, “we should probably call ‘riddim’ something else”.
Call It What It Is
The two riddims are worlds apart. One is a rich, culturally significant system of music production from Jamaica. The other is a niche subgenre of dubstep with a completely different sound and history.
Using the same name for both causes confusion and, more importantly, disrespects the legacy of Jamaican music. Words matter. To honor the creators of reggae and dancehall, we should reserve the term “riddim” for the music it actually belongs to. For the electronic version, let’s call it what its own community is starting to embrace: Trench.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnB/comments/zpn2lm/riddim_confusion/ ↩︎
https://enkismusicrecords.com/reggae-famous-riddims-history-examples/ ↩︎
https://www.reddit.com/r/reggae/comments/11yg2uc/question_about_remix_culture_using_of_the_same/ ↩︎
https://www.reddit.com/r/electronicmusic/comments/1635osi/why_is_it_called_riddim/ ↩︎
https://www.reddit.com/r/riddim/comments/z9du52/changing_the_name_of_riddim_to_trench/ ↩︎
