1. Michie One & Louchie Lou “Rich Girl”
“Rich Girl” may be the ultimate dancehall one-off. An interpolation of the unforgettable “If I Were A Rich Man” melody from Fiddler on the Roof, over the Fever Pitch—a bass-heavy UK answer to Sly & Robbie’s bhangra-inflected Murder She Wrote riddim—the tune contained the perfect combination of elements for both crossover appeal and dancehall immortality. However, it’s eminently recognizable hook made licensing problematic—presumably the necessary clearances for a UK recording (as opposed to JA, where ‘adapted’ is sufficient to indicate fair use of a copyrighted song) made a video shoot and radio promotion financially impossible. That left the song to become a hit a second time around when recycled by a producer with deeper pockets. That would be Dr. Dre, who remade it for Gwen Stefani and Eve’s cover cover version. Michie One and Luchie Lou attempted other weird dancehall remakes and found bigger video budgets but never the same level of catchiness.