Three years after Bob Marley’s death in 1981, the roots-reggae sound he led to international acceptance was still popular in Jamaica. However, it was under pressure from an emerging genre called dancehall, which led reggae’s digital transition that year, thanks to a sensational beat.

Conceived in Waterhouse, St Andrew, in late 1984, the Sleng Teng ‘riddim’ was unleashed in early 1985 with a flurry of songs, spurred by Wayne Smith’s single of the same name. It heralded a new era for Jamaican music.

Smith was 18 years old when he created Sleng Teng with his friend and fellow Waterhouse native Noel Davy on a Casio MT40 keyboard. They took their rough creation to producer Lloyd “King Jammy” James, who was instantly struck by the novel rhythm.

James recorded Smith’s Under mi Sleng Teng shortly after and reggae’s digital age was born. The song was released in early 1985 and rocked the dancehall which was still dominated by songs done to classic rocksteady rhythms.

Radio, which largely snubbed dancehall music at the time, could not help but play the flood of songs that were recorded on the rhythm.

Those songs included Tenor Saw’s Pumpkin Belly, John Wayne’s Call The Police and Unda Mi Fat Thing by Anthony Red Rose. The rhythm quickly caught on in dancehall pockets in the United Kingdom and Japan — which was emerging as dancehall/reggae’s most vibrant market.

In wake of the Sleng Teng‘s remarkable rise, many Jamaican producers began using Japanese equipment to replicate its sound. The most successful were Steely and Clevie, who were session musicians at James’ Waterhouse studio.

“We couldn’t stop playing it. People were loving it more and more, so I say: ‘We’ve got to get some more artistes on this riddim’. Then we started recording Johnny Osbourne, Tenor Saw, Sugar Minott and the rest of the artistes, and that changed the whole music scene in the 80s. That was the riddim that computerised the reggae business, and up until today, people are using computers to build reggae music,” James told Britain’s The Guardian newspaper in a 2014 interview.

Despite follow-up hits with Come Along and Ain’t No Meaning In Saying Goodbye, Wayne Smith lived in the shadow of Under Mi Sleng Teng until his death, at age 48, in February 2014.

Sleng Teng continues to drive dancehall and pop hits by Bounty Killer, Beenie Man and Snoop Dogg who sampled the beat (as Snoop Lion) for Fruit Juice, a song from Reincarnated, his 2013 album.