NOW VIEWINGRecord
HomeJourneyCollectionsStoriesPathsMusic RoomGamesExploreMapDebateNews
Explore

ENTITY · RECORDING / SONG

"Under Mi Sleng Teng" — Wayne Smith

Well supported

"Under Mi Sleng Teng," released in early 1985, is widely credited as the record that pushed Jamaican music from live-band production to computerised digital riddims almost overnight, spawning several hundred versions. Its authorship is more crowded than the usual telling allows: Noel Davey and the singer Wayne Smith arranged the rhythm on a Casio MT-40, using the keyboard's "rock" preset, at a tempo considerably faster than the release; they brought it to King Jammy in December 1984, and he slowed it, matched it to Smith's singing key and added piano and clap tracks before voicing and issuing it.

No photograph yet — add one you hold the rights toOpenly licensed or your own work. We publish the credit and the licence beside it.

At a glance

Confidence
Well supported
Sources
Sleng Teng release histories; The Quietus fortieth-anniversary investigation; riddim breakdowns.

Coverage areas

Musical & sonic elements

Tap a tag to explore related records across the atlas.

Share a memoryWrite it, say it, or send a photo.Correct this recordA date, a name, a spelling we got wrong.Add a source leadA flyer, tape, article or photograph.

Connections

Media & sources

Recordings

Under Mi Sleng Teng - Wayne Smith

SPOTIFY · rights discovery only · documents

Official spotify upload; embedded as a discovery-only reference pending editorial review.

Source link ↗

Articles & sources

Open source ↗

MusicBrainz — Wayne Smith Under Mi Sleng Teng search

WEB · rights discovery only · source reference

Clickable source URL for recording verification; external reference only.

Source link ↗
Open source ↗

The Guardian — Wayne Smith and Sleng Teng

WEB · rights discovery only · source reference

Clickable music-press source for Sleng Teng context; external reference only.

Source link ↗

In stories

Story · Well supportedThe Riddim Economy: One Riddim, Many Voicings

How a preset rhythm on a consumer keyboard turned Jamaica's oldest studio economy into the digital age.

Story · Well supportedRecords that mark the turns

Six records that sit exactly on the fault lines: where ska begins, where it slows, where reggae gets its name, where dub, deejay and digital take over.

Debate & reception

What people argued about this record — two documented positions each time, kept apart from verified fact. Browse every argument in the archive →

Commentary

Release dates are not always one date

One side

A single global date

The other

Territory and reissue complexity

A Jamaican record rarely has one release date. There is the local pressing, the overseas issue that may follow months or years later, the album that collects it and the reissue that revives it — and a single year on a sleeve can refer to any of them. Most disagreements about "when" a record came out are really disagreements about which of those is being counted.

Read the argument →

Share this record

WhatsAppXFacebookEmail

Compiled and researched by The Jamaica Music Atlas music desk. The sources that informed it are credited above.

Share it freely. Quote it, teach from it, print it, put it on your own site — all we ask is that you credit The Jamaica Music Atlas music desk and link back where a link is possible, so the next reader can follow the trail to the sources. If you publish something built on this, tell us and we will link to you in return.