10Tik ready for Sashi Experience Saturday
Deejay to share stage with Ne-Yo, Busta Rhymes, Bounty Killer
Published:Friday | May 24, 2024 | 12:08 AM
Dancehall artiste 10Tik is eagerly anticipating his upcoming performance at Sashi Experience Festival at Plantation Cove in St Ann on May 25.
“I grew up hearing the stories about Sashi, and I am looking forward to writing my own chapter in local music history with a great performance that people will remember,” 10Tik said.
The Roll Deep artiste believes that the performance will further solidify his status as one of the leading new faces in dancehall. He will be appearing alongside three-time Grammy Award-winning singer, Ne-Yo, and other superstars like Busta Rhymes, Bounty Killer, Skeng and Tommy Lee Sparta.
Sashi, first held in 1999, was last staged in 2002. The event in 2001 drew more than 15,000 patrons, according to a report in Billboard magazine.
“This will be my first major performance in Jamaica this year and it comes after a big show I did in Accra, Ghana, so I am definitely looking forward to this weekend’s Sashi show,” he said.
After the show, 10Tik will be turning his attention towards the release of his début album which will be a dynamic mixture of reggae and pop, a homage to the music that he grew up listening to as a child.
“Our father used to bring us to school in his Nissan Sunny, and he only listened one of three things – Buju Banton’s Til Shiloh album, Taurus Riley’s album with She’s Royal or Music 99FM, the only station he listened,” 10Tik shared.
“This repeated dynamic taught me to appreciate all genres of music, especially the soulful ones,” he added.
The entertainer says that his diverse experiences have sharpened his musical palate.
“As a grown man with a deeper appreciation of life, loss, love and the journey of seeing the Motherland and being received on the highest level of my career, my musical journey forward can never be clearer. My album isn’t just a set of songs I compiled, it’s my life’s work,” he said.
The former fireman dominated airwaves in 2022 with the infectious Roll Deep – a song that speaks to betrayal and treachery which racked up over 32 million YouTube views. The deejay followed up that bona fide street banger with the grimy single, The Real Way, which has surpassed 3.4 million views, and other songs such as Freedom with Yaksta.
10Tik views the release of his upcoming album in June as a chance to drop dancehall anthems and inspirational gems to inspire the masses. There are few musical experiences more beautiful than when a dancehall artiste in his prime waxes poetic over an earth-shattering beat, and 10Tik is intent on emulating those experiences.
“I’ve always wanted to inspire people to do their best, I have messages [that] I’m not sure the world was ready for as yet. This year is I’m here to add light to the world, make a change,” he said.
Since the start of the year, he has taken a more inspirational stance by dropping singles which inspire by radiating hope and positivity.
“The only three visuals released since year are songs that speak to the soul, real anthems ... songs like God Blood, One Life and Stronger are testament,” he said.
The deejay in an interview early in his career said that he speaks on behalf of people who come from nothing but are born with a burning desire for elevation.
“I talk about the ones who are unspoken, the ones who are marginalised and forgotten. When people listen to my music, it’s going to be personal to them,” 10Tik said at the time.