Sister Nancy: Bam Bam (12") [VP]

Why you'll love it

This VP 12" is cut at 45 RPM, with the Stalag riddim version on the flip. "Bam Bam" has been sampled well over a hundred times, and Rolling Stone placed it at No. 454 on its 2021 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

This edition

• 12-inch single
• Cut at 45 RPM

About the album

Plenty of people know this song without knowing they know it. Sister Nancy cut it in 1982 at Channel One in Kingston for producer Winston Riley, riding his Stalag riddim (built from Ansell Collins's Stalag 17 instrumental) and nodding in the chorus to an older Toots and the Maytals tune of the same name. It first appeared on her album One, Two on Riley's Techniques label, and it made her a star of the early dancehall scene.

Then hip hop got hold of it. Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, Lizzo and Kanye West with Rihanna have all borrowed it, and Billboard called it a strong contender for the most sampled reggae song of all time. Films picked it up too, from Belly in 1998 to The Interview, and the "Stalag Version" on side B shows just how much weight that riddim carries on its own.

It went gold in the UK on sales since 2008 and keeps popping up in adverts, TV shows and video games. We've tried playing it just once in the shop. Nobody has ever let us.

Also at Kops: more Sister Nancy on vinyl · browse Reggae & Caribbean

Tracklist

Listen

On VP Records (cat# VPRD-6335), a reissue of the 1982 album.