Virtual Reality Celebrity: Saty Sheryffe

All right. All right. Thank you for coming down Satyriassis. This is Roxanne Isabel with The Celebrity cafe doing our first Second Life interview with Satyriassis Sheryffe. He said his friends call him Saty. So Saty, tell me how you discovered Second Life?

I think by accident. And the reason I say that is because I have friends or associates here who have been a couple of years and they never told me about it, ok.  And somebody was talking one day, and I kind of overheard something and I started asking questions, and then that's how I found out about it. I came and I saw it and I kind of liked it even though it was quite inundating at the time. But I liked it, and so I came for a while, and then they ran me away. I was one of those people, I really didn't want to read anything, I just wanted to do something, you know what I mean? I want to jump in and just take off running. And it doesn't work like that. You have a lot to learn as a part of being here, just learning how to walk, you know what I mean? Just steps down, step-- all that kind of stuff in a virtual reality world it was kind of awkward to me. And so if you didn't do it properly, then you had problems. I was one of those people who walked around with a box on his foot and a box on his hand and a box on his shoulders, and a box on his head. You know?

Right.Right

But it was fun. So that's how I discovered it. And I liked it. Someone who I think said something about singing over in another place was called Paltalk

Oh yes, I remember Paltalk. Is Paltalk how you decided that you wanted to sing online? And then you merged that over to singing in Second Life?

Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. We would all sing in this one room-- I love that it was like a baby Motown, okay? And I think that they still do it over there in Boston's Room, I haven't been back in awhile, but yeah, it made me want to sing. And then when I heard about this place, Second Life, and then we had opportunities just to sing a little bit more than what we did over in Paltal. Paltalk you get in line and you sing. When you move here you don't get this standing on the stage and perform with your little avatar. So I really liked the idea, and I still do, that's why I'm still here.

That's whyyou are still here. Absolutely. Absolutely. So tell me about your avatar? When you went into designing, how did you pick your look and where do you feel like you fit in in this Second Life world as far as your appearance?

Well, let's see. This is maybe the most recent-- this is a mesh, but it was all trial and error [laughter]. Because like I say, you have so much to learn here, I think my first avatar. I looked like an ant or something. And so it was horrible.

So did you try out any fantasy avatars? Or do you basically stay with the human avatar that you are now?

Just the human avatar. See, the fantasy ones, they don't-- I have no attraction or interest in those that are. You know  i'm a singer here, that's what I do, and that's why I'm here, that's what keeps me here even though I like some of the other shenanigans that goes on here. You can do a lot of stuff here in Second Life, it's got a lot to do-- I won't say a lot to do, but many of the things that you do in real life you can do  here quite extensively.

That's the same thing that I keep telling people. So how many years have you been in SL? Because I know that SL has been around for quite a while because I've been here for a quite a while myself. And we're getting ready to celebrate our 15th anniversary. So how many of those 15 years have you been a Second Life resident?

Well, I came here in '09. Okay? And I've been here ever since.

And you've been singing this whole time because I remember probably my first encounter with you was at one of your live shows. So let's talk the weird side--

Okay. Go on.

--of SL, stalkers. I'm sure, especially being in the music industry on Second Life, that you have quite a few stalkers [laughter].

Well, I've been lucky, and I don't really have that. I've never had stalkers, maybe a couple griefers here and there. They were a little-- they wanted to be like me.

So none of that [laughter] crazy, strange, weirdness that sometimes goes on in SL?

No. I've been lucky enough to miss all that. I had a stalker for about seven years, but it wasn't here in Second Life. That person has no idea that I'm here and if they did they would probably be here with 20 avatars [laughter] and sicking them all on me. Shi is a female, so there'd be like 15 females chasing me. I've been lucky, though, so.

Oh, you've been lucky. That's good.

It's good.

That's good. So your Second Life and your real life, do they mesh? How much of your Second Life does-- actually, not how much of, does any of your Second Life bleed over into your real life or your real life bleed over into your Second Life [laughter]?

I'm not sure how to answer that. Not necessarily bleeds over, but I'll say it like this. Maybe this might help. Maybe we will disagree and say, "Well, it does bleed over." Any of the people here-- quite a few people here that I associate with, quite a few, I talk to in real life. We talk to each other on the phone, and we go back and forth. So, yeah. Sometimes, for example, I have one friend here, Eva, she helps me when I'm singing. And I forget everything, and so she'll call me and let me know-- so if I have a set to do tonight, she'll call me in maybe an hour beforehand and let me know, say, "Hey. Don't forget. We got do a set tonight?," da-da-da-da-da because sometimes I do forget. I forget a lot of stuff. And so she helps me, so I--

Yeah. So you're getting that real-life support from second Life means.

From people here.

from Second Life people. Yes. Yes. I understand.

Definitely. Definitely. Some of the different clubs that I sing in here and other virtual reality worlds, for example, DigiWorld?, there was a club here named Nubian Keng, he had a lot of stuff here and cities. You might have went to his place. Well, he's in different places. And so I go over to DigiWorld?, and I sing there also, too.

Are there any other platforms besides Second Life and DigiWorld that you perform on, and Paltalk of course?

Yeah. Let me see. Something highway. I can't think of the name, but it's something highway. I don't know if I can find it. Let's see. No, I can't think of it. But it's something highway. It's been a while since I've been there. I moved on to DigiWorld with Nubian Keng.

I remember Nubian King because one of my first bookings in SL was at their club. In an earlier conversation, you were telling me about crossovers from real life to second life. You were telling me about Craig Mack. Would you care to explore further what you were telling me about?

Oh, yeah. I'd be happy to. Well, Craig Mack Well, to my knowledge, he never really told anyone exactly who he was, and he was here under CMack. I sang at all his clubs, and we were real good buds. We used to call each other on the phone also too. I just really didn't know that he was a rapper. We didn't talk about that. We only talked about second life here, and we had a lot of fun. He was a good friend. And we, you know, we used to roam the SL streets at night, and you know, I miss the guy because I considered him a real good friend. we enjoyed eah others company.

So you feel like for him because he was a celebrity in real life that, well, being like a normal person in SL? Do you feel that it equalized things for him?

I think that's what it was all about. He didn't tell anyone because he wanted people to socialize and be with him because who he was, not who he is today, you know, not the old school rapper.You know, that everybody knew. He just wanted to, you know, just to be his friend. So he didn't tell anyone, and I really appreciate that too because you know on here you got people all on you, he got people all the time and it was for the wrong reason. He wanted people to socialize and be with him because they liked him, they enjoyed his company, not because he was Craig Mack or because of-- his song, is what helped Puff Daddy. We all know this now. Helped it get off the ground. It was Flava In Ya Ear, but he didn't want people coming to him for that.  And so, all the people who really were, you know knew who he really was , they were truly as friends. Okay, and not somebody that you're trying to rat on somebody's skirt tail, you know? And so, I miss the brother and I love him. Now, there are a few other performers here, who performed in real life and I don't know if they want anybody to know who they are [laughter].

Right. Exactly.

Okay.

So is there anything else about your second experience that you would like to share with the celebrity Cafe Readers?

Well, if they have never been here, I would like to highly recommend that they come and they see what it's all about. We have a lot of great fun here. You meet a lot of great people here. There's a lot of things to do. A lot of things that are in the real world they have brought those things here. We have stuff about Michael Jackson and-- I forgot what the name of the place was, but we have it here. People have duplicated a lot of things here that come from the real world like the Titanic is here. They have two versions of it. One might be a little bit more authentic than the other. We have two versions of the Titanic. I think you got Titanic and the Charmed Titanic. We got a lot of clubs. The dancers are fantastic. The animators. The people who produce the animations for us, to dance. They are outstanding. You see how we dress. The clothing, the people who design the clothes, they are fantastic because they really put together some nice things for us to wear here. This is a really great place to come and spend some time if you have some time and home alone, or not necessarily alone but if you are at home, and have nothing to do with your time, I would recommend that they all come here and see.

Do you recommend they come here, and in a way, get out and meet some people, and discover some new things?

Come, and yeah, participate. You know even whenyou at home. You know, but here, when you come-- when you're at home and you come here, you could participate with hundreds and hundreds of people. You can talk to them and meet people from all over the world, okay, and every place you can think of, they are here. And you develop really wonderful friendships. That do rolled over into your real life. if you will allow it..

And some great friendships.

Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you giving me this interview, but it's actually kind of all the time that we have. And I really appreciate you doing this for me.

My pleasure.