Ricco Ras Shares The Advice He Got From Valiant After He Was Booed At UWI Carnival

Dancehall artist Ricco Ras is still licking his wounds after he was roundly booed during Valiant’s much-heralded set at the UWI Carnival over the weekend.

As Ricco deejayed over the hip-hop beat Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See, boos descended from every corner of the venue. Valiant waited patiently while his friend crashed and burned before taking the microphone from him.

After the clip of his remarkable flame-out went viral, Ricco Ras told DancehallMag that he has learned a valuable lesson from Valiant.

“Valiant said I have to put in more work, I have to put in the time and pay attention and that I should come to rehearsals with the team, so that when the riddim drop, mi de pon timing when him call mi out next time, and everything will go accordingly,” he said.

Ricco Ras explained the possible reasons behind his poor showing.

“Normally, the deejay would call me out after him mash up the place and mi go deejay on the Bounce Cheque riddim, but he told them to play my riddim, and there was a little delay so that throw mi off and mi get a little flustered,” he explained.

“Ah just life and music, Valiant said these are the things you go through before you reach your peak as an artist,” he added.

It is a full circle moment, as Valiant knows a thing or two about turbulent times onstage.

During his performance at the UWI Carnival on Saturday, the Speed Off singer recalled what he now describes as a “disrespectful” moment onstage during his mentorship with Popcaan in 2019.

Valiant admitted last month that he still had work to do to make his stagecraft even remotely good as that of Beres Hammond after observing the Lovers Rock Reggae icon’s recent show in Antigua.

Beres’ performance was “flawless,” he told CVM at Sunrise.

“So me as a younger artist, me teck een dat fi know seh me need more work; work di stage.  Me check mi performance, wha mi need fi improve pan.   Master mi a master mi craft; mi know mi sound.”