Thoughts of Fade: Nigerian Music Scene with Gapsiso, First Interview..

Gapsiso is a hiphop recording artist based in Abuja. In his words, his music is all about repping his hood and speaking his mind and considers himself rather eccentric compared to your everyday rapper. Because of the buzz of his latest release I have decided to come into his world to see if his above comments hold any truth or if they are opinions spawned from the Aether. Also to uncover what inspired his latest track called “Kapitalist”.

Why must we respect Abj boys?

WHAT MAKES YOUR MUSIC STANDOUT
The fact that am actually passing a message, none of my released songs come with that cliché “baby let me love you” or “I got too much money” I just tell a story about my world and of course fantasies.

SO WHAT IS ACTUALLY THE MESSAGE OF YOUR LATEST SONG “KAPITALIST”
I think its self explanatory. I don’t do that deep shit I say things as they are “anywhere you see abj boys you gats to respect”, that’s how the song goes and that’s definitely what I'm saying, and I'm not talking to just anyone but Lagosians who feel where they at is paradise and nothing is popping on this side of the country. I mean other parts of Nigeria are being suppressed and I want to be the voice of the people. I want to say what’s on the mind of that average upcoming artist who doesn’t want to talk because he is busy kissing ass and doesn’t have the balls to speak out. That’s exactly what am doing... Speaking out.

SO IS THIS LIKE A DISS SONG TO LAGOSIANS
No I wouldn’t call it that, but a beef would be good by the way though, the song is actually reminding them that they ain't shit and power can change hands anytime. I don’t like the way power is being centralized, it's like the state of the country right now, but that’s another matter entirely.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THAT SOUND FOR YOUR SONG “KAPITALIST”
I don’t want to sound corny but that was the only different thing available to me then. I want the case that when you hear my music it should standout and I would be doing lots of stuff like that later so this is not the first and the last. This alkayida, hip life sound reigning now is cool and I would be showing people the rap side of it.

SO FAR HOW HAS BEEN THE RECEPTION OF YOUR SONG
It's been Ok. Far better than my last release 5K downloads in the first week and over 6K now, but that’s not what I expected. I thought it would be bigger than that, but you see the system is so messed up, these radio people want to exploit you, everybody wants to exploit you.
An average artist in this country is broke but you have to bring huge amounts of money just to get your song played, that is bullshit even if you have to find something for someone, it should be after you have something.
And I feel because I didn’t play the route of creating that elite image people think I'm thinking backwards, but the truth is that they are the fake ones. I don’t see why a rapper who lives in face me I face you and hasn’t completed his government school fees would rap about private jets, Bugattis and designers.

IF AN AVERAGE ARTIST IS BROKE HOW DO YOU COPE
Well I work with the little I have and I have amazing people around me who support the movement, am not looking forward to signing with any label except I'm getting a billion naira advance. I know what I want and am working towards it, it doesn’t have to be now for me to blow but the time will surely come. I created my own movement BBR.

WHAT IS BBR
BBR is a platform I created to push myself and any like-minded person interested in documenting the life of an average African child, BBR stands for BLACK BOY RECORDS or BLACK BOY RENDEZVOUS.

SO AFTER THIS WHAT NEXT
A lot is planned but the thing is “money yab man”. I got a mix tape dropping before this year runs out or early next year. I want it to really make an impact that’s why I'm not rushing things. Its titled “I JUST DEY OBSERVE”.

WHY THAT NAME?
There is a lot of nonsense going on and am really vexed because I can’t do anything about it, like I said earlier, about the radio guys and fake rappers I'm just observing from my own side and plotting good against evil when I'm fully on my feet I'm coming out raw on everybody that has crossed the line, everybody gets a hit, from OAP’s to Dammy Krane to Hush Puppi to Dino Melaye and even T-boss’s breast sef. So ISSA mad thing

YOU SEEM REALLY PISSED
I'm trying my best not to take it personal, and just make good music for the fans that’s the main thing. I talk to my other guys making music out of passion and we lament over this together there is no love anywhere, don’t trust no baga don’t sign that contract.

Would have loved to ask deeper questions such as: What "fake" meant to Gapsiso? and What his view was about the global hip-hop and rap scene as a whole?. But I had to keep this post short and straight to the point (something I'm not very fond of doing).

To conclude, I'd just like to say... honestly I don't relate with the struggle. It sounds deep, and Gapsiso sounds truly passionate about it, but me, not being an avid fan of Nigerian music, could never quite understand "the hustle" like Gapsiso, who has and is witnessing it first hand. In contrast I would like to add the goal of BBR is quite commendable, keen determination and loyalty to cause is always worth observing. This may aswell be an underdog story in the making... Also Kapitalist is a pretty good song... Check it out below.

Get “Kapitalist” by Gapsiso: