Pioneering Brooklyn-based deejay DLife and independent music and culture writer Rishi Bonneville are teaming up to fill what they see as a void in global bass music online: mixes with a heavy dose of soca. While the Trinidadian art form has recently gained popularity outside of Caribbean, mostly for its 100+ BPM and its festive themes, most American, European and Japanese encounters with the music involve a few select songs.
“I want to play music from all around–Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Africa; but I want to make sure soca gets its shine. There are just too many good records out there. That is what Rum N Lime is about,” said DLife.
The Rum N Lime podcast launched last week with a special mix and interview with Alison Hinds, the soca superstar who started with the Square One band out of Barbados before launching a successful solo career. The first episode of Rum N Lime comes after the Barbadian carnival known as Crop Over; subsequent episodes will also be timed with other carnivals including London’s Notting Hill and Labor Day in New York.
Before joining The Show on WBLS with Doug E. Fresh, DLife played on Hot 97 alongside Massive B; he is a rotating host on Dancehall Saturday Nights on SiriusXM. Â During his years on-air he has helped to break hit records by Rupee, Kevin Lyttle, and Collie Buddz, amongst others.
Rishi and DLife first collaborated in 2007 when they co-produced the DLife Presents Extreme Soca Volume 1 CD/DVD for EMI on the Penalty Records imprint.
More recently Rishi’s writing on music and urban culture can be found online at the Asian American Writers Workshop (aaww.org), where he was a 2012 Open City Fellow.
The Rum N Lime podcast can be heard regularly at http://www.mixcloud.com/