KINGSTON, 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 rhythm. Pressure Point, Deportee’s single on the project, is a smooth R&B/dancehall fusion with an international flavour. 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 channelled 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 of successfully promoting and marketing their music, these two songs are expected to have global appeal.

For the 26-year-old producer’s part, the rhythm came together naturally after he was asked to create a sensual project.

“The riddim actually came about because of a request. A friend reached out saying they wanted a riddim that would allow them to show emotion, something that was smooth, they also wanted something with a Jamaican style but also sounded like an international Drake-type record,” the St Mary native known as Zimm explained.

Detailing the process of building the rhythm, 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 artistes on the project, 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.”

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 (US) Diplomat. Ricky Ten began his career in music as a child prodigy, participating in deejay competitions in the Grants Pen community in Kingston.

The two began working together in 2022 when Deportee, visiting Jamaica from the US, stumbled on Ricky Ten’s studio, which was then located on Main Street in Ocho Rios. The two quickly bonded over their musical tastes and creativity, and ultimately decided to form the Akbar record label in 2023. 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.

“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.