Riddim

Riddim is the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word "rhythm," but in calypso, soca, dancehall and reggaeton parlance it refers to the instrumental accompaniment to a song. These genres consist of the riddim plus the "voicing" (vocal part) sung by the deejay. The resulting song structure is distinctive in many ways. A given riddim, if popular, may be used in dozens—or even hundreds—of songs, not only in recordings, but also in live performances.

Some classic riddims, such as "Nanny Goat" and "Real Rock" both produced by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, are essentially the accompaniment tracks of the original 1960s reggae songs with those names. Since the 1980s, however, riddims started to be originally composed by producers/beatmakers, who give the riddims original names and, typically, contract artists to voice over them. Thus, for example, "Diwali" is the name not of a song, but of a riddim created by Steven "Lenky" Marsden, subsequently used as the basis for several songs, such as Sean Paul's "Get Busy" and Bounty Killer's "Sufferer."

"Riddims are the primary musical building blocks of Jamaican popular songs.... At any given time, ten to fifteen riddims are widely used in dancehall recordings, but only two or three of these are the now ting (i.e., the latest riddims that everyone must record over if they want to get them played in the dance or on radio).... In dancehall performing, those whose timing is right on top of the rhythm are said to be riding di riddim.

Riddims are the instrumental backgrounds of reggae, lovers rock, dub, ragga, dancehall, soca, bouyon, and also grime compositions. Also, rare cases in reggaeton, which itself is largely based on the Dem Bow and Poco riddims by Steely & Clevie from the early 1990s, feature a riddim, such as Ivy Queen and Sasha's "Dat Sexy Body," which uses the Bookshelf riddim produced by Tony Kelly of the K-Licious reggae label.

...
Wikipedia