Dj Pepsi from Renaissance Sound out of Jamaica is in Belize, one of his favorite countries, which he says reminds him a lot of his hometown Jamaica. He expresses that the people are friendly and the women are beautiful. Pepsi performed this past Easter weekend, Saturday, April 11th at the outside deck of the Eclipse Night Club in Placencia, where the outside atmosphere set the “spring break” feel of it all. The crowd was not as large as I had initially expected it to be though the crowd was still too big to be able to fit inside the club. But the vibe was nice nonetheless.
I sat down with Dj Pepsi from Renaissance Sound to ask him a few questions about Renaissance. Have a nice read:
Q: How old is Renaissance Sound?
Dj Pepsi: Renaissance Sound is about 21 years old.
Q: Who are the founding members of Renaissance Sound?
Dj Pepsi: The founders of Renaissance Sound are Delano Thomas, Avery Leach, Micheal Edwards.
Q: Who chooses the members for the sound?
Pepsi: Delano, one of the founders of the Sound, is the person who selects the members. He looks at different aspects of a person’s skill. He chooses people based on their special talent and because they are a well rounded DJ.
Q: How long have you been in the Sound and why were you chosen?
Dj Pepsi: I have been in the Sound for 12 years, from November 1998. They found me playing at what was at the time Jamaica’s premiere nightclubs, Cactus and Assylum. He met me and we began doing live remixes at the club, mixing dancehall and rock ‘n roll and I guess he liked it so he decided to make me a member.
Q: Did you start off selecting, mic-ing or both?
Dj Pepsi: I initially started off selecting for Delano and Dr. Dre, that is before Dr. Dre started selecting for himself. It became more profitable for every Dj in a sound to be able to select and mic for himself. You end up making more money for yourself and it cuts the expenses for the promoters who are hiring ‘cause then they only have to worry about paying the bills for one Dj instead of two.
Q: Why doesn’t Renaissance Clash? I think I have seen you guys kind of clash once or twice.
Dj Pepsi: Renaissance is not a clash sound, but we are known to defend ourselves from time to time. But Renaissance really tries not to put themselves in the clash arena
Q: What would cause Renaissance Sound to defend themselves? How do you spark that fire?
Dj Pepsi: You enter a party/event under the rules that it is just a juggling session and it is supposed to only be a party and then the other Sound starts throwing tune and trying to spark a clash, it all depends on the crowd’s response to the other sounds push for a clash that determines whether we defend ourselves or we just leave it at that. If the crowd is asking for a clash then so it is. If they don’t then the battle has already been won.
Q: Do you guys push artists and produce reggae/dancehall riddims and so on?
Dj Pepsi: We produce one drop (reggae) riddims, dancehall riddims, we have worked on almost 10 riddims now, some that have been successful in different markets. The riddim most popular is called “Stepz Riddim” featuring one of Sean Paul’s hit singles “We be Burnin, Tami Chin was on the riddim too with her song ‘Hyperventilating’. The Ice Breaka riddim is another riddim that we produced with the hit song “Not Going Down” by Busy Signal.
Q: How has your journey been in Renaissance Sound?
Dj Pepsi: It has been extremely fun and unbelievable at times. Apart from meeting artists in your country and being familiar with them, you also get to meet artists from other countries, the US, England, Canada. Because of the Sound we get to travel and play at places that are usually out of reach for most people, places like France, Germany, Japan, Finland, even as far as Estonia.
Being whether it be a Dj, entertainer, or a musician, everybody plays his or her part in this thing called music. One thing people have to remember is no one is bigger than the music. It’s all about the love of the music cause at the end of the day music will be there whether we are in it or not.
Present day members of Renaissance sound are Delano, Pepsi, Jazzy T, Dr. Dre (who is in Miami), Foody, Smoke, and Christuff. Renaissance carries its history just like every other sound in the business. They have their own original, classic way of playing and represent thoroughly for their Caribbean people.
Pepsi will be performing at Club Next “ALL WHITE AFFAIR” on Saturday, April 18, 2009.