“Just do it!”

“If you really want a career in music, just do it! Just start and don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t, anything is possible!”

At 21 years old Rick Rick is one of Barbados’ popular up- coming entertainers. He is seen as one of the island’s greatest young artists in the dancehall arena, but it did not start here. Rick Rick shared that his musical career started in 2013, where he was transitioning from his place in performing arts and acting to music. As he stated, it’s not hard to do music in Barbados, but it isn’t easy either and even if you do not have a lot of people pushing you, you have to have the ability to push yourself forward and pursue your goals.

But why dancehall and what is it about this genre that people may often misjudge? Rick Rick charmingly put it, “dancehall can be sweet too”. Often times he explained, dancehall artists do not always get the support from people as other artists do. Maybe it is something about the music that people do not fully understand. Even though this type of music can be seen as “badness” as he put it, it is still art, people are being creative and it is something that people should still be able to appreciate. In his dancehall career however, he has found that he does not have to stick with the “generic type of dancehall”, and as an artist and entertainer he has the ability to add his own “je ne sais quoi” to the music that he produces. 

He has also had the opportunity to work with various artists such as: Brutal Crankstar, Swagga Fox, Jah Koda and Crab Soldier throughout his career, and it is a goal of his to work with other artists internationally such as Kofi and Popcaan. Rick Rick explained that working with each artist was a different experience, but one of the things he is most appreciative of, is being able to gain wisdom and knowledge of the industry from Brutal Crankstar. Brutal was able to show him the ropes and his formula to getting through in the dancehall industry in Barbados and being a dancehall artist, how to get yourself out there and even what it takes to make a song popular and how to push that song. Along with Brutal, he acknowledged that he could not be where he is now without the knowledge, help and support from Fullklipp Entertainment and Aisha Mandisa Butcher. It was through these other entertainers, that Rick Rick was able to do something he never thought was possible- writing his own music. Although he explained that it is a team effort when it comes to starting and adding to some songs, he never thought that he would be able to write his own music, as he never saw himself as a writer. Rick Rick shared, that the first dancehall song he ever wrote was his song “Feel Like”. One bank holiday, he and his mom sat down, put pen to paper and wrote his very first song and this is a memory that he would forever cherish. It is through being consistent with his writing, that his talent has increase immensely.

As his musical journey continues, Rick Rick said that it is his nephew and mother that keep him going on the days that he may be “down and out”. Growing up, he always wanted to have someone to look up to, someone he could look at as his celebrity family and be proud of them, and this is who he wants to be for his nephew- a positive person in his life that he can look up to as he gets older. I look forward to seeing Rick Rick’s progress on his journey and everything that he has in store for the future.