Bashment Sound moves to the beat of their own rules. Made up of Miami-based DJs and producers Disco Neil and Silent Addy, the duo have carved out a lane connecting dancehall, Afrobeats, and the wider global club circuit.
Their breakout moment came with ‘Shake It To the Max’, the infectious single with Ghanaian artist Moliy, which exploded across clubs, social media, and international charts. But the foundation for that success was laid years earlier through DJ sets, parties, and a brand that gradually spread to cities like New York, Toronto, Kingston to name a few.
Being DJs has always shaped the way they approach music. “We’re in clubs every week and we see what moves the crowd,” Neil explains. “Being a DJ gives you real-time research with different crowds and different spaces.”
The production duo continue to expand that world with new collaborations, their latest release, ‘Ballerina’ featuring Skillibeng and Rema push their mission of connecting dancehall with sounds and audiences across the globe.
CLASH caught up with Bashment Sound to discuss their journey, the rise of ‘Shake It to the Max’, and the inspiration behind their latest cross-continental collaboration.
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You’ve all known each other for a while, DJing together before forming Bashment Sound. Do you mind taking me back into the early days and explaining how the concept of Bashment Sound came together?
Disco Neil: Originally, Addy and I linked up and we were doing events here in Miami, Caribbean-based events. We started with a party called Way Up, and we were doing it on Thursdays at a venue in Miami called Grand Central. We did that for a little while and built a following. Then we started talking about another event where we could film the DJ sets, and we were calling it Bashment TV. Originally, that’s where the name came from. Then we dropped the “TV” and just turned it into Bashment.
When we were doing the parties, we also started doing a T-shirt drop like a merch drop every time we hosted the event. People started collecting the shirts and waiting for each drop. That’s really how the name came about. It started as a party, then we started doing merch, then music, then we started a little label, and it just kind of spiraled from there.
Amazing, amazing. I love that. Do you have anything else to add, Addy?
Silent Addy: Yeah. Neil covered everything, but basically we started it as a party and realized we wanted to turn it into an actual brand. The brand is called Bashment. We were doing parties for years and were basically Bashment Sound. We just weren’t promoting it as a duo at first. From 2018 until now, Neil and I have been doing parties and DJing together all over New York, Miami, Toronto, Jamaica all over the place.
And talking about Shatta dancehall, how would you explain its significance right now, and how it interacts with the global dance scene we see today?
Silent Addy: For me, dancehall is always active. Every party I go to or DJ at, there’s always at least one dancehall song you have to play. That’s the moment when everybody gets on the dance floor. You’re dancing with someone and both doing your routine. When we travel to places like Paris and London, we hear a lot of what they call “Shatta.” That vibe, when it comes on, is hard to explain, it just hits. “Shatta” and dancehall are basically the same thing. They just call it Shatta in the French Caribbean and those regions. At the end of the day, it’s still dancehall music.
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Talking about your latest single, ‘Ballerina’, how did that idea come about?
Disco Neil: Well, similar to ‘Shake it to the Max’, this one also has a little Shatta influence. We already had a musical connection with Skillibeng, and we’ve made a couple songs with him before. This one came about when we went to Jamaica and recorded with Skilli while we were there. When we came back, we started thinking about who else would be dope for the track. We thought Rema would be a perfect fit. Addy’s publisher helped make the connection with Rema, and we ended up getting him on the track. The rest is history. It just felt like a really good pairing.
With all our music, we’re trying to bridge gaps and connect different parts of the world. We did that with Shake it to the Max through all the remixes with Kalash Sean Paul, Maureen and others. We’re just trying to connect different regions that are doing amazing things. This song is a big African–Jamaican link-up.
The mix of those two sounds together was really sick.
Silent Addy: Also, this was kind of a full-circle moment with Rema. We actually hosted Rema’s first Miami show as Bashment Sound. The second time he came to Miami, I was his DJ and played his tracks live. So being able to release a song together now, as Bashment Sound, is really a full-circle moment.
You’ve worked with so many artists. Are there certain things you look for when bringing artists on to a track?
Disco Neil: I think the fact that we’re DJs helps a lot. We’re in clubs every week and we see what moves the crowd. Being a DJ gives you real-time research with different crowds and different spaces. It gives us a good instinct for who would work well together on a record. That’s kind of like a superpower, being able to see how people react to music.
Do you have any more collaborations coming up?
Silent Addy: We definitely have a lot of collaborations in the works. I don’t know if we can reveal too much yet, but yeah, there’s a lot coming. A lot of people have been reaching out after the success of Shake it to the Max, and we’re just trying to take full advantage of the moment.
When ‘Shake it to the Max’ started going global, was that surreal? Or did you know from day one that it was special?
Disco Neil: It definitely had a special vibe while we were making it. But you never really know how far something will go until you put it out. Once it started blowing up, it was surreal. Videos pouring in from everywhere like Fortnite, Dancing with the Stars, Burger King commercials, the MTV Awards, BET Awards. All of that happened in one year. Looking back, it’s definitely surreal. But we always try to make music with that energy which is planning and thinking big. With that song, we wanted a simple, infectious melody that would work in clubs, and it ended up doing exactly that.
Silent Addy: Yeah. When we made the song, Moliy had been linking with us before recording ‘Shake it to the Max’. She came to the house a few times and worked on songs with us before moving back to Ghana. We told her, “You have to come through and record before you leave,” because once an artist moves away it becomes harder to collaborate with the sending beats back and forth. So she came to the crib and recorded, and we ended up making Shake it to the Max, which became a huge blessing for all of us. When we played it in the living room, we already felt like it was something special. But like Neil said, you never know until the world hears it.
I also read that you’ve emphasized that Shake it to the Max is a dancehall record, even though it charted in Afrobeats categories. Why was it important for you to highlight that dancehall identity?
Disco Neil: Because that’s where the song really came from. At the higher chart levels, there isn’t always a dancehall classification. Afrobeats is doing really well globally, so sometimes things just get grouped there. I just want people to know that this is a dancehall record first. It’s definitely a fusion, but I didn’t want that part to get lost. That’s where we come from. I’ve even seen discussions about this with the Grammys because a lot of things get grouped into “world music” or “reggae,” when they’re actually different genres.
How do you think charts could better recognize hybrid sounds like yours?
Silent Addy: At this point, it kind of is what it is. For something to get its own category, there needs to be an entire genre movement behind it, not just one song. Afrobeats has its own category because there are so many global superstars in that space. Dancehall has stars too, but not at the same scale right now. I wasn’t upset about it being placed in Afrobeats, the fans know what it is. People who follow us understand the difference. Hopefully one day it changes, though. Even with the Grammys, dancehall artists still get placed in reggae categories sometimes, which doesn’t really make sense.
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I also read that you’re focusing more on a singles-driven strategy rather than traditional albums. What’s behind that?
Disco Neil: Right now, dropping singles just feels right. We’d rather focus all our energy on making one song great. If those songs eventually come together into an album later, we can figure that out then. For now, it’s about releasing strong singles consistently.
And sonically, should we expect more fusions and collaborations going forward?
Disco Neil: Yeah, that’s definitely a big part of our vision which is connecting different parts of the world. That naturally leads to collaborations. Not every song will necessarily be a collaboration, but with the direction we’re going, you’ll probably see a lot more of them.
Silent Addy: And our collaborations are intentional. We’re not just putting artists together randomly, it has to make sense on every level.
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Speaking about your NTS show, how would you describe the vibe for someone who hasn’t listened yet?
Silent Addy: Every month is different. One month we might do “Best of Vybz Kartel,” another month “Best of Skillibeng.” The last mix I did was Bashment Sound presenting the newest music coming out of Kingston. Sometimes we even record live audio from our DJ sets and use that. It really depends on the vibe that month.
You’ve mentioned building Bashment Sound through events in Miami, New York, Toronto, and Jamaica. Are we going to see more in the cities and unexpected places?
Disco Neil: We will be travelling heavy this year. We are planning on doing Jamaica, Toronto, New York, Miami and wherever we can add to the mix. We will also be in Europe like London and Paris. So many places we have mapped out.
Silent Addy: Hopefully Lagos and Ghana too at the end of the year.
I love that. I definitely need to tune in. Finally, if you could describe the next chapter of Bashment Sound in one word, what would it be?
Silent Addy: Expanding the Bashment ecosystem, the music, merch, and events. We want to bring Bashment to more places around the world. For example, we’re planning a Bashment in Tokyo. Japan actually has a huge underground dancehall scene that people don’t always know about. We’ll also be in Jamaica, London, Paris, New York, Miami and everywhere we can take it.
Disco Neil: If it had to be one word, though, epic.
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Words: Temiloluwa Adeyemo
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