For hipsters and disciples of reggae’s much-hyped roots revival, sound system selector Yaadcore is one of the movement’s most influential figures. He is their Inspector Willie, their Rory Stone Love.

Recently he made his official entry into music production with No Fenke Fenke, a song by Kabaka Pyramid and Shanique Marie. It was released on June 8 by Delicious Vinyl Island, the second project from that American independent label.

Yaadcore (real name Rory Cha) has established himself among neo-roots fans as co-founder of the popular Dubwise dances, and Reggae Aroma mixtapes. He told Jamaica Observer’s weekly Splash that the Delicious Vinyl Island deal gives him a chance to show his worth as a producer.

“I am very excited actually! As you seem to know,s it’s been a longtime dream. I always did remixes, which is a lower level of production in some sense. Now it’s time for musical creations from scratch as well,” he said.

It was he who approached Shanique Marie to record No Fenke Fenke. The title is a popular slang used by Jamaican ‘elders’.

According to Yaadcore, his debut production went smoothly.

“It just happened mystically. When I played the rhythm for Shanique, [I] don’t remember if it was her or her manager Gavin that uttered ‘ No Fenke Fenke‘ and I loved it. So we just build some more vibes on it then I sent Kabaka the track,” he recalled.

The song has been getting its share of spins on radio and at dances, an encouraging start to production for the diminutive Rastafarian who is closely linked to artistes such as neo-roots front-runners Protoje, Kabaka Pyramid and Chronixx.

Moving into production seemed natural for the Manchester native. It is a transition other sound system selectors like Rory (Gilligan) of Stone Love successfully made with acts like Jah9 and Samory I.

Yaadcore admits doing a triple shift as selector, producer and potential artiste may be challenging.

“It may become difficult to split timing for selecting if the demand gets high when I decide to vocalise songs. As far as production, they are all a part of selecting and vocalising, so that will always be in the mix,” he said.

Rory Cha has always been around sound systems. His father owned the Love People International ‘sound’ that was based in Mandeville, and it was through that medium that his passion for stripped-down reggae came.

Some of his biggest influences are heroes of hard-core sound system culture. They include Michael “Mikey Dread” Campbell, artiste/producer/broadcaster of Dread At The Control fame; Inspector Willie of Stur Gav, and Gilligan, who helped make Stone Love Jamaica’s first corporate sound system during the 1990s.

The first of his four Reggae Aroma mixtapes came out in 2011. Each featured artistes and songs that helped endear Rasta and roots content, to a new generation of Jamaican reggae artistes in the last five years.

Delicious Vinyl Island was launched in April by Delicious Vinyl, an aggressive ‘indie’ label that had massive success in the 1990s with hip hop acts like Tone Loc and Young MC. It also released songs by Born Jamericans, Mr Vegas and Machel Montano.

Under the current arrangement, Delicious Vinyl Island will distribute the work of Caribbean acts bearing the imprints of the company and artiste. No Fenke Fenke is a joint effort with Yaadcore’s 12 Yaad label.

Production duo Natural High Music and rapper Royal Blu are the other Jamaicans who have distribution deals with Dlicious Vinyl Island.