INTERVIEW BLAQBONEZ
Gracey Mae chats with Nigeria’s hottest rap export, Blaqbonez, who gives us an in-depth breakdown of his third studio album, ‘Emeka Must Shine’. The award-winning star, shares on inspiration, investment and impact.
Interviewer- GRACEY MAE
Hi Blaqbonez, Welcome to Tirade World,how are you today?
Blaq: Alright. I'm okay. How are you?
I'm all right. Congratulations on your brand new project ‘Emeka Must Shine’. How are you feeling? How is it being received?
B: I love it, man. Like it's doing what I envisaged it to do? We're just getting started. It’s beautiful. I can't wait to see how it grows in nine months, one year…
Let's talk about the artwork. It is a picture of you on your sixth birthday cutting your cake. Do you remember that day?
B: I don't; I honestly don't remember that day.
What was the inspiration for using that as the artwork?
B: It's just my one childhood picture that's seems very defining.
Let’s get into a little breakdown of the project. ‘Emeka Must Shine’ is your third album, aside from getting the money up - which you talk a lot about on this project, what has changed between your first project and now?
B: I think there's more of a fusion between Hip-Hop and Afrobeats on this one. So I think that's really different from ‘Sex over Love’...
Listening to the project, I felt like this one was really dedicated to the baddies. What were you trying to convey?
B: I want to make the soundtrack to people's joyful moments, I want you to have your birthday party and I want you to play it; I want you to graduate and I want to play; I want you to win something and the first thing you want to do is play it. Those are the moments that I'm trying to capture.
Let's talk about a happy moment on ‘6 Business Days’ you are in your braggadocious element, telling us that girls have to wait six days to see you. Have you always been a ladies man?
B: I think it has come with success. I was really nerdy back in the day before I started making music, so that wasn't my priority. I hit uni and my life went differently. I was already famous in uni, so the fame had already been working.
On ‘Kilo’, you talk about designers Alexander McQueen and Gucci. You're quite the fashionable guy. Do you see yourself in fashion anytime soon?
B: Yeah, definitely. That's something that I really, really would love to get into. I feel like there are spheres of life that people exist in, you know: music, movies, football…Fashion is one that I feel I should be in at some point.
Take a minute to write an introduction that is short, sweet, and to the point.
‘Nyem Ego’ talks about money and we see a different side to you. With every new project, we've been hearing more of your vocals and more range from you. To hear Jeriq rapping and you singing on this track was definitely very refreshing. What made you partner with another rapper?
B: I always create my own hooks because I find that's when my fans connect with them the most. So regardless of who I was going to put on it, I most likely was going to create the hook mysellf. It also helps performance-wise because when you go on tour. I don't want to have people sing stuff that I can’t really sing back to my fans.
On that track there is a lot of Igbo influence. It sounds like something straight from the East. Your family are from that region, so what did your parents listen to when you were growing up?
B: My mum was always into Hip-Hop so that part influenced me, and then generally, High-life music js everywhere. It's something that I won't specifically say my mum listened to; everybody listened to them. I feel like I grew up on both sides, in both worlds.
Did you ever listen to Dancehall when you were growing up? ‘Naija Shawty’ with Victony is giving us Caribbean vibes.
B: Yeah, definitely, definitely.
How did you guys get on track together?
B: Victony is my friend. I've known him for so long. We just spoke on the phone, and we were like, “Let's link up” and we did it.
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Apart from Projexx, who is on the project, is there anyone from the Caribbean that you’d like to work with?
B: Yeah, I definitely want to do something with Popcaan, Dexta Daps, and Shenseea; there's a lot of people.
On ‘Dollerz’ with Odumodublvck, you say “I ball like Maradona”. What football team do you support and who's your favorite player?
B: Chelsea right now, and Ronaldo
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“I think streaming farming has been way too much this year. I feel like, I've said too much about it. I don't want my name involved in it anymore. I feel that the more you complain about it, the more it's been attached to me; as the guy that's complaining about it. I think an interesting challenge, is social media. I think a lot of the algorithm has changed. I feel like there's too much in the way because content creators get paid nowadays. There's so much content out there so a lot of musicians are easy to ignore because if they don't tap into content-creating, you will be able to cut through the noise.”
Gracey asked; Jumping to ‘Shine Forever’ you talk about the struggle of being in the industry. What would you say has been the biggest challenge this year?
You shouted out Lupita Nyongo on ‘Masquerade’ with M24 - she's recently went public about her ex cheating on her. Have you ever had your heart broken?
B: I have but not really. I feel like I always see things coming that people don't want to. They don't like to look at everything, which I analyse every single day. I feel like I tell myself the truth so if something is coming, it's coming. I feel like I reciprocate the exact amount of energy that somebody brings. I don't know if it's some physics thing. Maybe that's just how I am so I'm never really heartbroken.
Listening to ‘Bad Till Eternity’ with Zlatan, you talk about the fact that the business is lonely and you smoke for sanity. I thought that might be one of the challenges that you mentioned, but it wasn't, so unpack that phrases for us?
B: I just think everybody in the business is fake. So it’s better to be alone if that's the best solution to your problem. If you try to make these relationships really real to you, you'll probably be disappointed. I've seen so much in people, I don't feel like there are so many stand-up people in the music business. I feel like everybody is just out for their own money and their own gain and doesn't really care about anybody else.
‘Wait, Let Me Get a Tissue’ is super graphic so the readers will have to soak that one up. Let’s skip to last track: ‘Cinderella Girl’ with my all-time favourite Ludacris. How did you two connect?
B: I was chilling, and I got a call from his team saying he'll love to work with me. I would love to work with him too,l so they arranged the flight; they flew me to Ghana where he was having a session, and we made the song right there.
That brings us to the end of the album breakdown, any final words?
B: I would like to say to the readers, this album is for fun, whenever you're having fun, I want you to want this to be the soundtrack of your life. I want you to look back on this album with fond memories.
This business is not for the weak. one. Let's move to ‘No Sleep $$$’ with your label mate, Young Jonn. You talk about the hustle. Do people underestimate how much work goes into being an artist?
B: Yeah, I think people still think music is some fun; you're not really working. That's why, before you even become successful, people just think you are not serious about your life because you're chasing music. It’s real work that involves really hard work, labor, time spent, and everything creatively, mentally, physically. Yeah, people definitely underestimate that.
‘Bezos’ is named after the Amazon founder who is building his own spaceship which a lot of people have ridiculed. What out of this world dreams have you got that might unrealistic to everybody else?
B: I really don't feel like any of my dreams are impossible. I just feel like there are stages. I really don't like to think too much, to be honest; material things are not necessarily major things in my head. I would love to be one of the biggest artists in the world, you know, Billboard Hot 100. Those things that mean something, in my chosen field. I’ve achieved the highest levels of things, but there's no physical thing that I'm thinking about.