Meaning
The instrumental cut of a reggae song — the bare 'riddim' with the vocals stripped out, originally the B-side of a single. The version let sound-system deejays 'toast' (chat) over the rhythm live, and let engineers remix it 'dubwise'. This single innovation of 1960s–70s Jamaica gave birth to dub, deejaying, remix culture, and ultimately hip-hop.
Examples
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Flip di record an play di version.
Flip the record and play the instrumental.
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Di deejay chat pon di version.
The deejay toasts over the instrumental.
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Nuff artiste voice pon di same version.
Plenty of artists record over the same riddim.
Origin
From 'version' (a variant cut); the B-side instrumental that seeded dub and deejay culture. See [[riddim]], [[dubwise]].
How it’s used
The stripped instrumental 'riddim'; root of dub, toasting, and remix culture. See [[riddim]], [[dubwise]], [[voicing]].