‘Shake It to the Max' Producers Disco Neil & Silent Addy Talk Moliy's Hot 100 Hit, Tease When Vybz Kartel Remix Is Coming
Already a popular act on the Caribbean DJ circuit, the Miami-based duo's stock rose exponentially when they made their Billboard Hot 100 debut last month. On the May 31-dated ranking, Bashment Sound landed their first Hot 100 hit with Moliy's viral dancehall smash 'Shake It to the Max (Fly).' Aided by an infectious dance challenge that's captivated everyone from J-Hope and Victoria Monét to Vic Mensa and Cash Cobain, 'Shake It to the Max' has quickly emerged as one of the leading contenders for 2025's song of the summer – and Bashment Sound has a plan to ensure it clinches that title.
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As the Skillibeng–Shenseea, Gladdest and Major Lazer remixes continue to conquer different corners of the scene, Bashment Sound has several other versions in the tuck. The much buzzed-about Vybz Kartel remix will arrive in time for Wireless, while 'the soca remix, which is already done, [features] Skinny Fabulous and Lady Lava,' Disco Neil exclusively tells Billboard. 'We're holding that one for a Notting Hill/Caribana vibe. We're DJs at heart, so we're tapped in with events happening in different parts of the world, and thinking about that when we're dropping music.' Grammy-winning dancehall icon Sean Paul will also be joining the fun with his own remix, and the duo is currently exploring a Latin remix, as per Silent Addy.
Now just outside the chart's top 40, 'Shake It to the Max' is just the third dancehall song to crack the Hot 100 this decade, following Byron Messia's Burna Boy-assisted 'Talibans II' (No. 99) from 2023 and Nicki Minaj's 2021 remix of Skillibeng's 'Crocodile Teeth' (No. 100). Notably, 'Shake It' sounds closer to the waist-wining riddims of dancehall's 2000s Stateside domination than the moodier sounds of contemporary trap dancehall, which makes its success even more interesting and impressive. Like 'Talibans II,' however, 'Shake It to the Max' also marks another successful collaboration between Caribbean and African acts; with Bashment Sound representing Jamaica and Moliy hailing from Ghana, the song has spent seven weeks atop U.S. Afrobeats Songs.
'Shake It to the Max' could very well be the inflection point that spurs the next U.S. crossover wave of dancehall hits, and Bashment Sound is committed to the fight for proper classification for the genre every step of the way.
In a spirited conversation with Billboard, Bashment Sound's Silent Addy and Disco Neil react to their Hot 100 debut, reveal the guest artists on future 'Shake It to the Max' remixes, and share what excites them most about contemporary dancehall.
When did you guys start working together?
Disco Neil: Me and Addy met a while back; it'll be [over] 15 years [since then]. But we started working together more recently, maybe in the past seven or eight years.
We both started off DJing in the same circles, and later, we connected and started Bashment, which is an event that we would [host] in Miami. Off of that, we formed a label called Bashment Records and started putting out our own music. That's what we've been building in Miami, New York, Toronto and Jamaica. We've been doing events in different cities and just spreading the brand. Everything has been Caribbean-based cause we're both of Jamaican background.
When and where did you guys make the 'Shake It to the Max' riddim?
Disco Neil: The song was made at our studio in Miami, the Bashment House, where we also live. Moliy was in Orlando at the time, and we had linked with her on another session and swapped contacts. We worked on three songs in March and then another three in August. We made 'Shake It to the Max' in the last session before she moved back to Ghana.
Did you immediately know you had a hit on your hands?
Disco Neil: We didn't get to sit on the song at all. We recorded it in August, it was teased [at the end of September], and it was out in December. When we recorded ['Shake It to the Max'], we definitely knew it had a special vibe. You don't know how far down the rabbit hole it's gonna go, but we felt good about it, especially off the response from the TikTok tease. That was definitely confirmation that we [had] something.
Silent Addy: When Moliy first teased the song, we were already working on getting a feature. We hadn't really finished the song, so if you listen to the original, the arrangement is literally just repeats [in the production]. I always say the remix is actually the version that we wanted to put out originally.
As the producers, what genre do you classify 'Shake It to the Max' as?
Disco Neil: I really like the classification of modern dancehall. [The song] was also spawned a little bit from the shatta movement that's going on over in Europe, which was one of the inspirations for the vibe.
Silent Addy: It's dancehall, but with some new vibes and new energy behind it. At the end of the day, the core of it is dancehall. I just feel like dancehall doesn't have the [proper] classifications [on the charts], so they put it in the Afro [category] because Afrobeats is popular right now and [Moliy's] an African artist. Afrobeats is amazing, but this is a dancehall record. It would be good if we had that classification. Maybe that's something we can make some noise about. I don't really like the term 'modern dancehall,' that would be more like [Teejay's] 'Drift' or [Byron Messia's] 'Talibans,' more trap dancehall.
What was that moment like when you learned 'Shake It to the Max' cracked the Hot 100?
Disco Neil: It's a blessing, honestly. It's just crazy to be a part of something that's groundbreaking in that sense and shaking up the place, no pun intended. We're letting people know that this style can work on a major scale and reminding them that it always has gotten to that major scale; it just needs to happen more consistently. This is a little moment to open people's eyes as to what's possible.
From a musical standpoint, why do you think listeners have gravitated towards this song?
Disco Neil: I wanted to keep the melody simple and infectious, and I feel like I definitely achieved that. The song is fun, and I feel like dancehall has been missing a lot of fun records. That is what's carrying it. That's why you can watch kids and grown people dancing to this.
Are we getting the Vybz Kartel remix on streaming anytime soon?
Silent Addy: We plan to release the Kartel remix closer to Wireless [Festival]. Sean Paul just started his European tour, and he wanted to add [his remix of 'Shake It to the Max'] to his set, so that's in the works as well. He shot a music video in Morocco and everything, he was super hype. But right now, we're letting the Skilli and Shenseea version breathe for a bit.
Between 'Shake It to the Max,' , and , where do you think dancehall can go with this momentum?
Silent Addy: I'm actually excited for the state that dancehall is in. We always tell people, '[Whether] dancehall is popping or not, we are still going to be doing it.' With ['Shake It to the Max'], a lot of the legends have been reaching out to us, from Buju [Banton] to Shaggy to Sean Paul to Bounty Killer to Elephant Man to Vybz Kartel. To get that co-sign from the legend and the people who are why we started this thing, that's all we've really asked for.
Disco Neil: The legends have watched trends come and go for decades, so to have them co-sign [us], gives the whole thing a new meaning. I think the success of the song also put a battery in the newer dancehall artists' backs. We were in Jamaica recently, and a couple of young producers who have produced some of the country's biggest hits [at the moment] were like, 'We thought we were running the thing, but now we're seeing how far 'Shake It to the Max' is going.' It opened their eyes. To hear that from them on the islands made us realize that this thing is big and people are taking notice.
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