Famous Eno’s “Gypsy Riddim” drops next week on Mixpak records. While that in it of itself may not be all that exciting, it should be cool to see where and how this riddim migrates (get it?).
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/122469084" params="color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]That’s because “Gypsy Riddim” is not necessarily a gem, but instead a competent and at times interesting artifact. The track starts with an intoxicating string part that sadly only reaches its full potential until the final minute or so of the riddim. That is of course not to say that this track is without merit. Eno- er, the Famous one, I mean- deftly manipulates the density of the beat throughout, earns a good amount of cred for the juxtaposition between said string line and the trap-esque percussion, and flys pretty close to the sun when those two ideas become fully integrated by the end of the tune. There’s just not enough of that synergy to carry the track from good to great, and those elements aside, there’s not much to see here.
However, there is certainly enough raw material in “Gypsy Riddim” to give other artists plenty to work with. Rubi Dan voices on "Terminator", the version live on the Mixpak site, and some of dancehall’s biggest (and not so big) names grace this riddim between the five different versions included in the download. But what should be more interesting is the first version of this beat to surface that’s been broken down for parts and reassembled into something only vaguely resembling the original.
