MCSKILL THAPREACHA: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THIS WEEKS SPOTLIGHT ARTIST
Rapper and writer MCskill ThaPreacha (Real name: Olawale Aremo) took the time to connect with RAPstation for an exclusive interview. He is currently based in Nigeria and as you will read, faces his own challenges with being in a country where Hip Hop is “unstable.” Rapping and writing for some time now, it wasn’t until 2010 that he returned and officially entered the Hip Hop scene. After the release of his first mixtape, “Metaphysical Induction,” and positive feedback gave fuel to his drive of releasing another mixtape a year after. Today, he is working on his latest album “Diary of a Supernatural” and his latest project “Beats and Rhymes.”
RAPstation.com (Kianna Woods): First, off, where did you get your name, MCskill ThaPreacha, from?
MCskill ThaPreacha: I’ll break it down, when I was much younger "Skill" was a name given to me by my peers, guess I had skills in everything back then *laughs* so I stuck with it and it used to be my stage name when I first stepped onto the scene in 2004 but during a six-year break before returning in 2010 I was able to differentiate between a rapper and an MC and I thought why not add MC to the Skill? That stuck! I became a battle MC and added ThaViper to the MCskill but I didn't wanna be known as just another battle emcee so I moved on and started writing music I later figured I sounded all preachy most times, the KRS-One effect I call it and that's where the name Preacher but spelt "Preacha" surfaced from. So here we are MCskill ThaPreacha. A record I made in 2013 titled "Metamorphosis" can also be used as a perfect explainer for this question. Just had to chip that in.
Tell me about growing up and the influence music had in your life before you decided to make it a career.
Growing up, all I wanted to be was a medical doctor and never for once saw myself doing music. Loved music a lot, no doubt, but it wasn't until 2001/2002 that I started writing my own music and I pictured myself being a great rapper. It wasn't decided at that point I wanted to make it a career, though. When I recorded my first joint in 2004, music was still a hobby, then my rhyme book got stolen and that was the end of music. This is an exclusive right here, Kianna. Never said this in an interview! *laughs*
True story, though, my rhyme book got stolen by someone I was gonna start a group with. A duo called "The Scavengers". The Scavengers meaning "A substance (in our case, people) used or programmed to remove impurities (whack rappers) in the air. Deep name huh? *laughs* I had written a lot of music in that book. A lot. Then one day, my dude came to my crib and said
"yo! Give me your rhyme book so I can study it and know the direction we going with this music thing and I'll write on same subject matter"
and since we just agreed to be a duo, I let him have the book and next day, he disappeared! Like I never saw him since then. Left the country with my book! It was really saddening and that was the end for me. Dreams of being a great rapper shattered real quick but who knew six years later I'd be back on that grind? Not even me knew this was gonna happen 'cause I never sat down to think about making music a career, it just happened.
Next, When did you decide rapping was something you wanted to do and what was your reason or reasons?
Like I said earlier, I didn't actually decide I wanted to do rap, it just kind of chose me. I've always loved rap music, I grew up on it. I started writing down words that rhymed and that was it. The game chose me.
What were your drawbacks from getting into Hip-Hop, if any?
None I can think of. *smiles*
What is the Hip-Hop scene like in Nigeria?
The scene is unstable at the moment but like some cats gon' say, it's still growing which I feel is quite sentimental to think in that direction. We in this situation right now because of the mistakes the OGs made while in their prime which is clearly not showing love, bringing people up or setting up platforms for the Kulture. After the emergence of "Afropop" or "Afrobeats" as its now being called, there was absolutely nothing to fall back on except our skill as emcees and our egos which clearly will not put food on our tables. I love Hip Hop, that's what got me into it in the first place but I gotta eat still.
Limited media outlets are supporting Hip Hop now due to the wide acceptability of the more marketable Afro-pop genre while some ten years ago Hip Hop artists bagged endorsement deals from multinational companies. Hip Hop in Nigeria clearly now has been treated as just a genre and not a Kulture hence, the setbacks. We got monthly Hip Hop events slowly popping up. I just hope we emcees holding it down now for the Kulture stand the test of time and keep doing our best to take Nigerian Hip Hop to greater heights and of course hope to be here when it becomes a really big thing.
How has living in Nigeria influenced your music?
Greatly! The everyday struggle in the country for one, I listened/still listen to Fela Kuti who still inspires me on making conscious music. Sunny Ade, the juju King for his energy on stage. You really should check online for some of his stage performances, he's arguably the greatest! Ebenezer Obey and Barrister's storytelling abilities and Onyeka Onwenu's sheer brilliance all influenced the way I create music and none of them was a rapper and that's the shock value. Growing up watching these legends wouldn’t have been possible without having lived in Nigeria.
"Episode 1" is on the RAPstation countdown, so tell me about your latest project Beats and Rhymes?
Just want to give a major salute to RAPstation for recognizing the REAL out there putting in work and of course for supporting my hustle. Appreciate the love.
Beats And Rhymes is a Hip Hop series that's gonna see me release new songs with a follow-up video at scheduled times pending the time I wrap up features on my forthcoming Diary Of A Supernatural album. I already released an EP (which was my 7th studio project) this year titled Supernat Over Preemo and honestly, I could churn out these projects every 2-3 months but I wanna take things a bit slow this year by concentrating more on my album without vanishing completely from the scene. These thoughts gave birth to Beats And Rhymes.
I also really wanna use the Beats And Rhymes platform to promote some unheard voices in the game here in Nigeria by featuring them on a couple of episodes. A whole lot of rappers putting in work in the Underground but getting no love from the blogs and other media outlets.
Lastly, Beats And Rhymes will be hosted in its entirety by my producer Stormatique and hopefully, we should be looking at 8-10 episodes in its first season.
Diary of a Supernatural is your latest album to be released soon, what has that process been like?
It's been great as I've recorded a whole lot of songs and experimented on so many beats. Now I get to listen closely to all the songs again and again and decide on which songs would make the final cut.
Does the title have a back story?
Yeah, I go by the moniker "Supernatural" and I thought I share some stories in my diary so this album started off as an album that had lots of stories in it... I mean, true life stories that happened to me. I thought at a point it will get really boring if I just keep telling stories though so I gave it a little twist in the end. That you get to listen to when the album gets released. This totally doesn't sound like a back story I guess. *laughs*
That’s awesome! Lastly are there any shoutouts you may have that you would like to leave at the end of this?
First off, to you guys at RAPstation... Like I said earlier I really appreciate the love. To my family, for their support and to everyone out there supporting my music, I really do appreciate the love. Keep supporting my music and brand.
•-» Connect With MCskill ThaPreacha
•-» http://www.mcthapreacha.com
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•-» http://facebook.com/mcthapreacha
•-» http://instagram.com/mcthapreacha
•-» http://mtv.com/artists/mcskill-thapreacha
