The Wire: Spotlight on DJ Rico Rodex Cynamon Pearl Reporting...

When asked what makes him tick DJ Rico Rodex will probably give you some cheeky response, but when I conducted this interview he unabashedly declares a love for Dancehall Reggae music as loud and clear as a thumping baseline. The music, ‘Dancehall Reggae’ has its origin in the Caribbean island of Jamaica; however bringing the Caribbean vibe into unchartered territory is this DJ’s speciality and primary mission. It could be that his diverse background gives him a natural aptitude for crossing cultural boundaries. Hailing Jamaican and Puerto Rican mix brings a new interesting splash of flavour that sets him apart from the ordinary. In fact, Dancehall Reggae itself is a hybrid of mixing of African drums with thick Reggae baselines while spicing it up with MC’s toasting catchy lyrics on top of hypnotic rhythms that make the body feel nice. Once you’ve had a little taste it’s not difficult to get hooked.




With the crossover to the mainstream favoured artists like Beenie man and Sean Paul have given it a modern appeal. In fact it has popularized itself in the Second Life party scene primarily due to DJ Rico’s empire which has not been solely built alone touting an impressive 884 followers in his ‘Dancehall Flava’ group.





Rico says that the benefits of joining his group are that members are offered special perks such as he will make a ‘morph’ for loyal followers; and not having to pay for him to DJ a set. That is a pretty generous offer considering most DJs charge an average of 1800L per set.

The life of a Dancehall ambassador means that he plays at different venues frequently so in order to stay tuned to the next party location one must be in the group. If you’re not in the Dancehall Flava group, you won’t’ know when the next party is. Good music and good vibes, who wouldn’t want to be connected, although he’s made some accomplishments a DJ in Second Life does not always find it easy garnering support. Rico admits that more could be done in the music party community amongst other Dj’s. Ideally, he would like to see other DJ’s support each other’s sets to cross promote. It’s as simple as just teleporting people into each other’s sets.

I suspect that DJ Rico’s Dancehall Flava is about to turn Second life on its Musical ear this summer. In the meantime DJ Rico gets my vote. You can catch me relaxing to cool Dancehall vibes whenever the opportunity presents itself. For more information contact Rico Rodex or look up the Dancehall Flava group.