In Jamaican dancehall music, a riddim is the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section.
Jamaican music genres that use the term consist of the riddim plus the voicing (vocal part) sung by the deejay.
The unique nature of dancehall and riddims have been highly influential on the numerous remixes that now circulate throughout R&B and hip-hop music.
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.
These aspects of Jamaican music are expressed visually through the Dancehall choreography and its African inspired folk traditions, which emphasize earthly connection through flat-footed stamping and “bumper-grinding sexually explicit choreography, where the bass note is struck by the body itself—displaying its fecundity and celebrating its fertility”.
Riddims are the instrumental background (the rhythm section) of reggae, lovers rock, dub, ragga, dancehall, soca, bouyon, sega and also reggaeton, which itself is largely based on the Dem Bow and Fish Market riddims by Steely & Clevie from the early 1990s.
The work of DJs became less of shouting throughout points during a song, but more focused on an aesthetic with the voicings over these instrumental riddims.
Other live performances like at clubs or along the streets feature the use of sound systems in which there are usually medleys of different songs that all use the instrumental accompaniment.