RIDDIM CULTURE

Thursday 2pm-4pm with SGT BENJI & DJ LOCKSTEADY

SGT BENJI hails from Wellington originally. His interest in music, particularly reggae, began in his early teenage years and he worked at a small inner city record shop part time while still at school. His interest grew as time went on, and he ended up playing percussion with Sticks and Shanty, a local reggae band, doing gigs along with, the then up and coming, Upper Hutt Posse.

He migrated to Auckland in 1988 and after a few years playing in other reggae bands, went to Jamaica for the first time in 1992, and while he was there went to his first Jamaican sound system dance, the legendary Jah Love Music with Brigadier Jerry. This had a great impact on him, and on his return to NZ, he found himself spinning records at local fundraising parties, and featuring as a guest on DJ Dubhead’s radio show on BFM.

In 1995 he became a member of the Twelve Tribes of Israel Sound system, and after another trip to Jamaica, and armed with records from London the previous year, he was a resident DJ at the Chill bar (now the Safari Lounge).

Since then he has traveled numerous times back to Jamaica (playing at a local dance there once), and also worked with the Twelve Tribes sound system in California while there for a few months. He also witnessed other sound systems in New York, London and Manchester, and started importing records into NZ from Jamaica. Highlights include selecting for Culture Dan & Jeremiah of Jah Love Music when they toured here, and Ossie Gad of the Naturalites. His passion is playing new release Conscious roots as a manifestation of his Rastafarian faith, but also enjoys playing Bashment and Dancehall.

Latest tracks by DjLockSteady