Blxckie joins Nadeska to discuss his latest album, B4now. The Africa Rising cover star talks about his musical community in South Africa, the reaction to his debut album, his musical influences, and how he stays close with his fanbase.
Key quotes below. Video to follow. If you’re able to use, please credit to Nadeska on Apple Music 1: apple.co/_NadeskaAlexis
On going from poetry to rap:
”I wasn’t really into rap in- in high school. I was more into like deep house and stuff like that, so rap came as a product of just me like, reciting the poetry and just like, figuring out how to express myself like, like orally in terms of, you know, the written pieces. You know? And then just gaining that confidence to-to be within like, the rap culture and stuff like that.”
On how it has been since his debut album premiered:
“It’s been, it’s been really crazy. I’ve only been in Josie for like a little bit under a year now. I didn’t expect like, to- to have an album out at this, at this stage. You know what I mean? ‘Cause I came from where I’m from here to just like, try and figure things out. I just didn’t expect it to be so quick. And then I’ve been working on new music also, uh, while the album’s out and just, yeah, just receiving the love and, and just… it’s been crazy. It’s been a nice experience.”
On his musical influences:
“Rap like, came about very late, but then when I was listening to it, it was more just like, boom bap, like Joey Bada$$, Ab-Soul, Kendrick, that type of thing. So really like, jazzy sort of sound. So I was like, more into like, instruments and just like, the whole melodic side of rap, you know what I mean? So, yeah, Hold was just like, and ode to just, you know, the neo soul era, like, uh, I took the concept from, um, Musiq Soulchild, uh, Halfcrazy, that song.”
On his musical community:
“So I was, I was more of like a Soundcloud rapper for a bit. Um, so the people that I stayed with when I came to Josie were like the, even now like, they still like run Soundcloud. If you go on Soundcloud in South Africa, it’s just us. It’s just me and my friends that I used to work with. So yeah, like, they were just like, just for the kids, like, we used to drop music like, often. Like, every two days. We used to do a lot of trailers and stuff like that. So, that, that sort of thing like, helped me like, sharpen the skills and like, perfect the craft. And you know, just find ways of like making music trying to sing, you know what I’m saying? Playing with the auto tune a bit, also just producing a bit. Yeah, that like, that whole space, that whole creative space in the whole lockdown just helped us to become more creative within the music making process.”
On how majoring in Psychology has helped his career:
“The most important thing was just like, self, you know, recognition, and- and just like, owning like, you-your space. It came hand-in-hand with hip-hop and stuff like that. Because hip-hop like, taught me to like, you know, just be confident in yourself. Like, be confident with your heritage, your culture, and stuff like that. And then when I got into psychology, it just, it just affirmed that some more. It just like, it just like made me, yeah just more confident within everything and just when I would uh, transfer it into music, it’s just like, yeah, now this is over. It’s like, I’m taking over this whole thing and stuff”
On the importance of staying close with his fanbase:
“When I was in Durban, like that was, that was the only thing that-that- that helped us, because I was in a group of like, uh, how many, there was like 10 of us and we were all like, rappers and producers and stuff like that, and we had like a WhatsApp group, um, with just like fans and stuff like that. We used to give them music and updates about what we’re doing and all that. And we found that, like, that little community would just like, spread out, and by the time we get on stage or by the time we’re in the streets and stuff, people already know. But then it wasn’t important for like, someone that’s like, in, like a promoter or like an event organizer to know us if the kids know us already, you know what I mean? Like, it was going to flare out eventually into- into those sorts of spaces and, and into the brands or whatever.”
