The Barbadian producer discusses his new instrumental project, Caribbean identity, the challenges facing local producers and his ambition to take his production beyond the island.
For Producer Spence, the idea behind his latest project is deliberately uncomplicated: make music that makes people want to move.
The Barbadian producer is preparing a five-track Dancehall project, currently listed as “Thicker Thick” or “Give Me IT Riddim”, built around instrumentals rather than a vocalist carrying the narrative. The project does not yet have a confirmed release date, but Spence says its creative direction emerged from a desire to create music that people could enjoy without having to overthink it.
The idea became clearer during a trip to Antigua, where Spence says being away from his usual surroundings gave him a different perspective on the music he was making.
“When I traveled to Antigua my mind was completely free,” he says, explaining that observing the nightlife and listening to the environment helped shape his thinking around the instrumental project.
The experience reinforced something fundamental about what he wanted the music to do.
“I wanted people to dance,” he says.
That emphasis on movement runs through the project. Rather than attempting to give listeners a predetermined emotional narrative, Spence is interested in creating music that can be experienced physically and socially.
The concept, he explains, comes before the melody.
“The concept and theme I am going for comes first then the melody,” he says.
For this project, that concept was about making people dance rather than asking them to think too deeply about what the music meant. The production itself, he says, determines how that idea is communicated.
The decision to turn the instrumentals into a formal project was also influenced by the reaction he received after sharing the music. Spence sent some of his productions to artists and received encouraging feedback, including multiple voice notes expressing excitement about the material.
That response helped convince him that the collection had a life beyond individual beats.
For Spence, there is also a distinction between an instrumental and what producers commonly call a beat. An instrumental, in his view, carries more direction and structure, with elements such as an introduction and verse giving the composition a clearer sense of movement.
But he is not interested in making the terminology more complicated than it needs to be. The two descriptions, he says, are often used interchangeably.
His approach to making the project was otherwise familiar. He did not dramatically change his process simply because the music was being presented as an instrumental project.
He makes the music, sends it out and waits to see who connects with it.
“I just trust the process,” he says.
That willingness to follow the process also extends to experimentation. Spence acknowledges that every project involves some degree of risk, particularly when a producer makes choices that may push artists outside their comfort zones.
His tone choices on the project were one such risk.
“Every project has a certain level of risk,” he says.
For a producer working in a market where artists can sometimes be reluctant to move beyond familiar sounds, experimentation can be as much a test of communication as it is of creativity.
BARBADOS IN THE MUSIC
Spence does not describe the project as an attempt to deliberately manufacture a Barbadian identity.
Instead, he believes the Caribbean influence emerges naturally through the production.
He points to the drums and bass as particularly important elements, saying listeners may hear echoes of old street jams and a sense of nostalgia in the music.
“I would say the Caribbean through the drums and bass,” he says.
That connection matters because Spence sees familiarity as part of the relationship between music and its audience. If listeners recognise something in the sound, that can become a point of connection without the producer having to force it.
He identifies Bashment Soca as one of the sounds that can help distinguish Barbados within the wider Caribbean musical landscape.
But when it comes to the state of production on the island, Spence believes there is still work to be done.
He describes Barbados as operating at a Caribbean level and hopes that greater consistency among producers can help the country compete more effectively in international markets.
The challenge is not simply about musical ability.
It is also about visibility.
THE PRODUCER BEHIND THE RECORD
Artists are usually the most recognisable figures attached to a song. Producers can remain almost invisible to the audience, despite creating the instrumental foundation that gives the artist a platform.
Spence believes that imbalance remains a problem in Barbados.
“No, the artist mostly promote themselves and people hardly know who make instrumentals that bring the artist to life,” he says.
His concern goes beyond credit. He believes producers also need to become more aware of the business infrastructure surrounding music.
One of the problems he identifies is a lack of research and digital infrastructure among some producers. In particular, he points to the absence of automated online platforms where producers can sell their beats.
“We just need to understand the business side of it,” he says.
For independent producers attempting to build sustainable careers, Spence says one of the biggest challenges is gaining the trust of new clients while continuing to produce material that remains relevant.
Marketing, he argues, is another area where producers could benefit from greater knowledge.
He believes a course in marketing could be an important asset for producers seeking to present themselves not simply as people who make beats, but as artists and creative professionals in their own right.
LOOKING BEYOND BARBADOS
Spence sees the wider Caribbean as an important part of the future.
He believes Barbadian producers can become more influential outside the local market if they make better use of the opportunities offered by social media and digital platforms.
“Once we put in the work and take the opportunity of the social platforms anything is possible,” he says.
Regional collaboration is another part of that equation.
Spence believes collaborations between producers and artists from Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana and other Caribbean territories could strengthen the region’s collective voice internationally.
The idea is bigger than one island competing with another. A stronger network of Caribbean creatives, he suggests, could make the region itself more visible.
Technology has made some parts of production easier for him, although he does not believe it has fundamentally changed the way he creates.
For Spence, modern production technology is largely a collection of tools that make the job easier.
Artificial intelligence presents a more uncertain question.
Asked where human creativity remains irreplaceable as AI becomes increasingly involved in music production, Spence is cautious. He believes human creativity remains important now, but he does not rule out the possibility that technological development could eventually change that relationship.
THE CONFIDENCE TO REACH OUT
The project also represents a change in Spence himself.
Looking back at his development as a producer, he identifies confidence as one of the biggest differences between where he is now and where he was previously.
He says he would once have been less likely to reach out to other artists. Now, with what he considers a decent portfolio behind him, he feels more comfortable approaching artists with his work.
That confidence has been built through volume as much as experience.
Spence says he creates an enormous number of beats, but only a small portion eventually make the cut.
It is a reality that is rarely visible to listeners. They hear the finished production; they do not hear the hundreds or thousands of ideas that never leave the studio.
For Spence, that unseen process is part of the work.
The five-track project is therefore not simply another collection of productions. It reflects where he currently stands as a producer: more confident, increasingly willing to experiment and increasingly interested in building opportunities beyond Barbados.
He intends to continue producing and hopes eventually to place his work with international artists.
Among the names he would like to work with are Vybz Kartel and Valiant.
“To get a record with Vybz Kartel or Valiant would be great,” he says.
The current instrumental project is not necessarily the end of the experiment. Spence intends to bring artists into the music as the project develops, suggesting that the instrumentals may ultimately become a foundation for vocal releases.
For now, however, the central idea remains uncomplicated.
Dance.
Enjoyment.
Connection.
Spence wants his music to encourage people to experience music together rather than simply consume it individually.
When he looks ahead and considers what he wants people to understand about this period of his career, his answer comes back to that same principle.
“To enjoy music and to love one another true expression,” he says.
In a music industry increasingly concerned with numbers, visibility and digital reach, Spence’s ambition is perhaps more fundamental: to make productions that remind people why music was made to be felt in the first place.
PROJECT INFORMATION
Project: Thicker Thick / Give Me IT Riddim
Producer: Spence
Genre: Dancehall
Number of tracks: 5
Release date: TBA
Production credit: Producer Spence
