MEET RICO CASSADINE: RAPPER & ACTOR

This is Rico.

Rico, tell us more about how you got started in music & acting?

Well, for as long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a part of the entertainment world. I remember telling my Mama when I was about 8 years old that I wanted to be an actor but my mom wanted me to be a football player; but that was not happening.

It took me a long time to actually trust myself and believe in myself to actually start acting and doing music.

When I was 19, I met a person by the name of Tanisha Cassadine and she was a female impersonator and the mother of the house of Cassadine.

I followed her across the United States as she won pageant titles in underground drag pageants and she won almost every single pageant she ever ran. But the one thing Tanisha always pushed was for me to live my life the way I want to and always dream big by doing what's right in my heart.

When she passed away, it pushed me to fight for what I believe in and what I dreamed of always doing; so that's how I actually initially got started in finding what makes me happy and gives me purpose.

I started acting first and then I ran into an artist by the name of young KSB and we became friends (you may know him from his song "Slob on My A**").

One day, he over heard me playing around with lyrics and asked me why I don't rap and I said I don't know how to do that.

Then he said, "But I'm sitting here listening to you recite something that you wrote and it sounds great."

Basically, he pushed me to do my first song and ever since then it's been magic.

I have been pushing myself to learn more about rap music in general because I've always been intrigued by music so it was great for me to just dive into it and learn as much as I could.

When I meet Wesley Henderson, the owner of "Aconnection TV," he opened my eyes to the potential that I had within myself to be an actor and I thank him for giving me my first role and pushing me to do well.

What are some of your favorite projects you've got to work on so far?

My favorite project that I have gotten to work on so far has been, "The Mister," (web series).

The Mister was the first project I ever got casted to work on as an actor and I was scared because of the fact that I didn't know how good I was going to be.

I had to sit down and have a one-on-one audition with the director of the show, who is the lead character of the show as well.

I was playing his best friend so it was so scary because he was looking for the connection and the energy to see if we had an acting chemistry

I was nervous as hell, but when I found out that I got the role I studied and I looked at different shows.

I always say Noah's Ark was my key reference for that character and it was so fun.

I made friends and all of us clicked. The whole cast became instant friends and we loved hanging around each other and working together.

I also have to say my new project that comes out June 5th has been the most eye opening project that I have worked on.

My debut EP is named "Scorpion Sting," because I’m a Scorpio and I was born November 10th.

During the time of quarantine, I lost my job and I had to literally stay in my house during the corona virus scare. While I was in my house, I had to do a lot of self-reflecting on who I was as a person and I had to let go of a lot of anger, feelings, pain and hurt that I had bottled up inside that I never dealt with.

All that came out in this project.