ENTITY · PERSON (ARTIST, SELECTOR, PRODUCER…)

Dennis "The Menace" Halliburton

Well supported

Jamaican-American producer whose 1990-91 "Pounder" rhythm -- a version of the Steely & Clevie pattern heard on "Dem Bow" -- is the record that actually reached Puerto Rico. Working out of New York, he cut Spanish-language dancehall with visiting Panamanian deejays, and the variant known as "Pounder (Dub Mix II)" is the one 1990s Puerto Rican producers looped, layered and built the reggaeton beat from.

He is the least famous person in this chain and arguably the most consequential link in it: without the New York detour the Kingston rhythm may never have reached San Juan in a form anyone could sample.

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At a glance

Type: Person (artist, selector, producer…) →
Era: Dancehall and the digital turn →
Confidence: Well supported
Sources: Wayne Marshall, "Dem Bow, Dembow, Dembo: Translation and Transnation in Reggaeton"; Rolling Stone and Courthouse News reporting on the Steely & Clevie litigation, in which defence counsel noted that Halliburton has never been sued over "Pounder" despite its use of the Fish Market pattern.

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Footage

Dennis The Menace — "Version (Dub Mix II)"

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · performs

The Pounder dub mix that Puerto Rican producers sampled -- the specific artifact the defence points at when it says the copying starts in New York, not Kingston. Community upload (channel: Chema's Reggae Dancehall). Discovery-only.

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In stories

Story · Well supportedWho owns the riddim?

A rhythm built in a Kingston studio in 1989 travelled to Panama, through New York, into San Juan, and became the pulse of the biggest Spanish-language pop music on earth. A Los Angeles court is now preparing to put the question of who owns it to a jury.