ST. MARY, Jamaica – Deportee and Ricky Ten, two artistes on the Akbar Record Label out of Boscobel, St Mary, are set to drop separate singles on the Melodies Riddim produced by Zimm, on June 1.
After releasing their collaboration Bad Mamma Jamma which took the internet by storm this past January, Deportee and Ricky Ten are now back with two separate singles on the same riddim. Pressure Point, Deportee’s single on the riddim, is a smooth R&B/dancehall fusion with an international flavor. Ricky Ten’s single Melodies, on the other hand, is a hard-hitting dancehall track.
“Melodies is not the type of song you’d expect from an artist like me. A lot of people will say I, as a Rastaman, am not supposed to do a song like this, but if you check it, Rasta artists have always expressed this side of themselves, going back to songs like ‘Kinky Reggae’ by Bob Marley and even earlier,” Ricky Ten said.
Speaking on Pressure Point Deportee explained that he drew on personal experiences to make the track more relatable.
“I channeled my inner lover making this song. I reminisced over some of the best intimacy I had had in my life and what made it great, and the chorus and the concept just flowed from that,” he added.
Given the Akbar artistes’ history with successfully promoting and marketing their music, these two songs are expected to have global appeal.
For the 26-year-old producer’s part, the riddim came together naturally after he was asked to create a sensual project.
The riddim actually came about because of a request. A friend contacted me. They wanted a riddim to express emotion. They asked for something smooth. Zimm, who is from St Mary, said they wanted a Jamaican style. They wanted it to sound like an international Drake record.
Detailing the process of building the riddim, Zimm added: “I tried building a few different melodies but they weren’t cutting it. Ultimately I decided to look for a sample and I found the melody used in the riddim and immediately fell in love. I added a drum pattern that had both Hip Hop and Dancehall elements and the rest is history.”
In a shout-out to the artists on the riddim, Zimm said “Ricky Ten and Deportee are naturally unorthodox and experimental, so I think they were perfect for an alternative type of riddim like this.”
Career In Music
Deportee is a Detroit-based Dancehall-Reggae fusion artist who fell in love with Reggae as a teenager in the former Soviet Union, where his mother was stationed as a United States Diplomat. Ricky Ten began his career in music as a child prodigy, participating in deejay competitions in the Grant’s Pen community in Kingston.
The two started working together in 2022. Deportee was visiting Jamaica from the U.S. when he found Ricky Ten’s studio. At that time, the studio was on Main Street in Ocho Rios. They quickly connected over their love for music and creativity. In 2023, they decided to create the Akbar record label. Akbar is an Arabic word meaning “greatness”. The choice of the name was inspired by Deportee’s Islamic faith.
For Deportee, the label’s name pays homage to their resilience in a demanding industry.
Saying Allahu Akbar
“In Islam, when we pray, we begin by saying Allahu Akbar, meaning ‘God is the Greatest’. It reminds us that, despite all the little ups and downs in life, there is something greater to remember and strive towards. Akbar is a record label and collective of artists that strives to embody this attribute of God by making music that pushes the limits of sound and the fans’ expectations, reminding them that, no matter what music they have heard in their life, the greatest is yet to come,” he added.
