Richie Loop hops on EDM train

Richie Loop exploded on the dancehall scene with the party song of 2011, My Cup. Since then he hasn't followed up with anything as successful.

"I'm writing. I'm producing beats. I'm a producer, not just a singer," the artiste said in defence of his absence from the dancehall scene.

Loop told THE WEEKEND STAR during a telephone interview yesterday that he "never came out as a dancehall artiste." He said industry players always saw him as an 'uptown yute', which caused them, and by influence, local music consumers, to not to take the artiste seriously.

one-hit wonder

After initial success,, the second hit never came out and leading many to believe he would be a one-hit-wonder. But the My Cup singer said he has been reaping rich rewards elsewhere and has been working with international artistes.

While stressing that he respects "all young dancheall artistes", Loop doesn't see the benefit of confining himself to the few categories of delivery and themes that dancehall has to offer. "If you not doing a certain category of music out here, it's not gonna cut it," he explained. "Why should I try to confine myself to this small pocket when there's a big whole wide door when mi can walk een?"

The artiste is now working the international music circuit, hopping on to the long-running EDM train. "Most of my stuff is released under Mad Decent," Loop revealed. Mad Decent is a label spearheaded by Diplo, who is also lead member of the globally succesfully EDM-dancehall music project, Major Lazer. This year, leading dance and EDM artiste Steve Aoki remixed a song featuring Richie Loop called Drop It Down Low by Henry Fong. "That's a big deal," Loop laughed, highlighting the international fame of Steve Aoki.

Loop claims responsibility for the rise of a four-member producer group based in California called Bad Royale, who are also backed by the Mad Decent label. He highlighted that he has also been busy with other projects which, by their design, keep him out of the limelight.

"Oh God, there's so much. I don't know what fi tell you," the singer laughed, when asked to specify. "I just finished producing five songs for Ce'Cile's new album, and I'm working on my EP. Some soca in in there too. Mi just finish construct mi studio, own personal studio ... Inna mi yaad."