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So in a few hours time today, Terry Tha Rapman will be launching his Boyz Are Not Smiling Clothing Line. This hip-hop veteran has a lot on his plate as this interview reveals. In our sit down with him Joe Spazm talks about Don Jazzy's rap comments, what he feels about the Mo' Hits Camp, the unity in the rap game and what he is doing for the next generation of rappers.
Pop Off Central- So Terry Tha Rapman what’s up with you and Don Jazzy?
Terry Tha Rapman- (chuckles) Well I don’t have any ill feelings or beef towards him as people are saying. I don’t really know him that well. The problem was I read an article in Hip Hop World Magazine, the new edition and there was a Don Jazzy article in it. In his interview what he said about rap music, his views about rappers I did not like it. I cannot remember them all but one of them was when he said that if you want to be a rapper just put it at the back of your mind that your mother and father will not be proud of you and things like he doesn’t value a genre of music that he has to go and consult a dictionary. First of all we are not forcing you to like rap music, just respect it. It’s not for everybody; I don’t think there is a genre of music that everybody likes. As much as I am not really into Fuji music I cannot come out and disrespect their music and say their music is this or that or whatever. I just respect it; they have their own type of crowd. I cannot come out and downgrade their type of music. So this is what I addressed. I tweeted at him and told him with all due respect I did not like what he said. I think he thought about it, he tweeted back at me, apologized and explained why. I would add that in as much as he apologized which was very noble of him I felt that there were still some things I did not agree with. We are doing this music for the youth, the younger generation. It’s not for the older folks. We understand that there will always be a generation gap thing, them trying to understand the music we are doing. I mean when we grow older we are going to have the same problem with our children so there is no way that you are going to say that just because your 40 year old or 50 year old dad doesn’t understand the music you are doing you should be doing music that they should be listening to. I understand that in rap the challenge that we face as rappers we have people that don’t like listening to intelligent music. As rappers we try our best to tone it down by infusing it with highlife. Everybody has done it even Mode 9 so there is no excuse, you can’t come out and tell us that we are doing music that is just alien. Who are now the people buying it then? M.I, Naeto C they have all broken grounds in rap music. The thing I didn’t like was that Don Jazzy is a very influential person and if he is making statements like that a lot of people will take his words seriously. That’s what I didn’t like and I know that a lot of people are reading that magazine and say this what I was feeling about rap music and Don Jazzy has said so his views will now change. You can now imagine how many show promoters read that. What we’ve built for over two decades has now been totally destroyed by over one statement. That’s just what I didn’t like. He should know that he is a very influential person so he should really think about things before he says them because people take him very serious.
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Pop Off Central- So let’s put this out there in black and white, you do not have any personal issue with Don Jazzy?
Terry Tha Rapman- I do not have any personal issue with Don Jazzy. If somebody said something that you don’t like even if it’s your dad you can tell him that you don’t like that. So it’s not like I came out and insulted him. People that are saying that I am at a war path with Don Jazzy is totally not true. I told him man to man what he said was not cool and he to realized.
Pop Off Central- What do you think about the Mo’ Hits crew?
Terry Tha Rapman- I think they are doing good. I am a fan of theirs and buy their albums. I believe as artistes and business men they have set standards for Nigerian music especially getting through to Kanye West. That’s a plus for us but when God has given you so much and put you in that position, it’s up to you now to help people that are under there. Kanye West does it all the time. I am even challenging Don Jazzy now, I am saying this I hope he gets to read this, if he can put money down send a beat to Mode 9 and let Mode 9 say he doesn’t want to rap. Reach out to rappers and give them beats, the commercial beats give out to them and help their careers. Help them out. If they don’t work on the beat then now you know the rappers are being stubborn. Have you tried helping them out and they said no we want to just do this hardcore thing.
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Pop Off Central- There are some people in the industry now that say rap is not a profitable genre of music in Nigeria. What is your take on that does it bring money?
Terry Tha Rapman- I don’t think that’s true at all. Since the days of Trybesmen, these people had memorable songs that people remember till today. People have broken grounds with rap music. Who are the people buying M.I’s albums? Who are the people buying Naeto C’s albums? Sauce Kid, Terry Tha Rapman, Mode 9, Pherowshuz, Overdose, who are the people buying their albums? They might not be as big as the pop artistes but there is a crowd out there that subscribe to music. M.I sold a lot with his rap album, so what are we saying? Hip Hop music is getting there, even faster. Why are there rap jingles in TV commercials then if it is not profitable? That means these advert agencies know that rap music is the order of the day, young people check for it that’s why they use it. So I don’t believe that when people say it is not commercially viable.
Pop Off Central- What’s your opinion about the rap industry in Nigeria?
Terry Tha Rapman- In as much I disagreed with a lot of things Don Jazzy said I understand what he was saying that sometimes we rappers make it hard for our listeners when we try to make it too complex. Yes, I agree. The thing about Hip Hop music is that it comes from the heart. You can’t please everybody. Look at Asa’s music she was just doing music from her heart. She wasn’t saying I want to do music so that I can sell but you relate to her. Fela did the same thing; he wasn’t doing it for commercial purposes. I don’t think there is any artiste that goes into the studio and is just thinking of only money and not thinking of touching people’s lives. There is always that part of an artiste that is like I want to touch people’s lives, I want to make music that inspires people, I want to make people to dream, and when they are feeling low my music can uplift them. So what are we saying here, I believe music shouldn’t be one way. We should have music that is conscious; we should have party music, political music. We aim to educate too not just entertain.
Vector, Terry and others @ the Occupy Nigeria rally
Pop Off Central - After the Don Jazzy comment, you were just one of the few rappers who came out to say that what Don Jazzy said was wrong. Why did you think that other rappers stood back?
Terry Tha Rapman- I was wondering why a lot of rappers didn’t come out to comment, big name rappers I am not going to mention names. This wasn’t about some rappers it was all rappers. Why didn’t they come out to complain? We are not trying to insult anybody here; we are just coming out to stand for something. Our genre of music was almost endangered until we struggled and suffered for it. Now it’s getting recognizable. I think if you are not feeling threatened by that statement then it’s really sad.
Pop Off Central- Does this mean that there is a lack of unity among rappers?
Terry Tha Rapman- Yeah, rappers basically say a lot of things but don’t back it up. I am saying that for sure because really not one person…okay the only person that came out to say something was eLDee the Don but he was more like a referee. I explained to him that it wasn’t beef in the first place and he understood what I was really trying to say. By that time he had not read the magazine so basically what was said was said.
Yung 6ix rocking the BANS T-shirt
Pop Off Central- So what’s Terry up to these days?
Terry Tha Rapman- Right now I am into a lot of things. My T-shirt line is out and it’s basically flying off the shelf. We are going to do like a BANS launch real soon. The World Domination mixtape is set to drop real soon. We did a Zombie contest, the first single that came off the mixtape. I threw out the instrumental for rappers just to get on and the best will get to be on the mixtape. We are going to announce the winner at the BANS launch. For now, the first single from my next album will drop after the mixtape.
Pop Off Central- Apart from the Zombie contest you did, do you have any other plans to help up and coming acts?
Terry Tha Rapman- You know I don’t want to promise what I cannot do. I am working on a deal right now but I cannot disclose much. I am hoping to push out my own label. I have a name that I have already registered BANS Nation and we are going to use that to help artistes. This was an idea that Pherowshuz and I have always been talking about. There are so many rappers especially where we come from in Kaduna state. It’s not easy to push out an artiste. It’s a full time job trying to push ourselves.
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