Rapping in Hausa, my ticket to stardom – Classiq

Weekend Magazine: You had your first production of the track, ‘Can’t Touch This’, done under your brand name, Arewa Mafia. It had an old school feel and you mentioned the name of American rap legend, MC Hammer. What’s the story behind it? Classiq: Growing up, I listened to people like MC Hammer. That was old […]

Weekend Magazine: You had your first production of the track, ‘Can’t Touch This’, done under your brand name, Arewa Mafia. It had an old school feel and you mentioned the name of American rap legend, MC Hammer. What’s the story behind it?

Classiq: Growing up, I listened to people like MC Hammer. That was old school rap, real rap. Now people just want to rap, they don’t want to make music. There’s a difference between making music and being an artiste. A lot of people can rap and sing, but not all can make music. So, the aim was to make music and it was inspired by MC Hammer. It’s actually not for everybody but for the lovers of music, people that understand music. Thanks to MC Hammer for the inspiration.

WM: What message were you trying to pass across?

Classiq: The message is that one should stand out and not do what everyone else is doing and eventually people will appreciate it. When MC Hammer made the song ‘Can’t Touch This’, it was popular because it was different

WM: How do you draw inspiration for your songs?

Classiq: It’s God first. Sometimes, no matter how talented you think you are, there are times inspiration doesn’t come. For me, all I do is go out a lot and listen to music a lot-a lot of old school songs. What happens in my environment inspires me. I witness an incident and it instantly serves as trigger for a song.

WM: Your track, ‘Kawai’ was about haters. Does your personal experience influence your lyrics?

Classiq: It’s not completely directed at haters, although you experience that when you are successful.  ‘Kawai’ is a word in Hausa conversation that can be used five times in a minute depending on the kind of discussion. So I was just playing around with the concept.

WM: Who are your favourite old and new school artists?

Classiq: There’s Biggie, Tupac, Heavy D, Naughty by Nature, Will Smith, Craig Mark and so on. Then talking about new school, there’s Jay Z, Kanye West, and in Nigeria, MI, Jesse Jagz, Ice Prince and so on.

WM: How has your background influenced your music?

Classiq: My dad is a professor, so I grew up in a home where academics was taken very seriously. At a point, I just wanted to skip school and go into music, but my dad kept telling me I’ll have more respect when people know I have gone to school. I studied Computer Science and there are lyrics I write now that being educated has facilitated. The way you analyse situations affect the way you think and your productivity, so I think being educated is leverage. You evaluate things properly before putting them in a song. If you’re educated, it gives you a wider range of stuff to talk about and gives your career a longer life span.

WM: How did you get into rap music?

Classiq: My dad is a fan of music and my aunties used to play hip-hop. My dad was my major influence. He enjoyed country and afro music, such as Fela, Don Williams, Jimmy Cliff, Jimmy Reeves, and Bongos Ikwue. So, growing up listening to those songs laid a foundation for me, and when I started listening to other songs, I got interested and I decided to make my own music. It all started like a joke. I remember when I wrote my first song and my brother laughed at me. I almost stop. I was about nine years old then.

WM: What was your very first experience on stage like?

Classiq: It was crazy and very embarrassing. The organisers kept telling me I’ll perform next and people kept performing before me because I wasn’t known. When I came on stage the show was almost over and people were already leaving. I was vexed and tense at the same time. But I finished my performance. The next time I was invited I killed it. And that was how I started way back in Bayero University, Kano. I always tell people, when you fall, always get back up.

WM: You always seem to have a mix of Hausa and English in your songs…

Classiq: It’s said, you’re a product of your environment. Kano is basically a Hausa-speaking state and I used to play football, so I used to hang out with a lot of stars. In this way, I learnt a lot of Hausa words that made my vocabulary very rich. So the credit goes to Kano, really. I was initially rapping in English, then I thought to myself, everybody is rapping in English, with the Hausa I have learnt in Kano, how do I carve a niche for myself?

WM: Most of your tracks, even from the titles, are in Hausa- ‘An Fara’, ‘Kawai’, and so on. So, how has your allegiance to the North influenced the kind of audience you get?

Classiq: Of course, Northerners are more drawn to my music, but I have been rapping in Lagos and the reception was just okay and a bit slow compared to when I spiced it up with Hausa. This brings us back to what I said earlier, if you are unique, people will spot you. The applause was crazy when I rapped in Hausa in Lagos. I was there last year and this year and they keep inviting me. So, it’s not about it being Hausa, but about being different.

WM: Any plan to use a different Nigerian language in the future?

Classiq: If I could speak my language, I would use it, but unfortunately I speak only Hausa and English. In the future, I might just learn Igbo. I’m actually looking forward to doing a song in Yoruba, then put a little bit of Igbo, Fulani then maybe later, Swahili.

WM: How did you come about the name, Classiq?

Classiq: Classiq is a combination of class and IQ, meaning my music has class and IQ. People have to be deep enough to appreciate it and then they have to have class.

WM: Your video of the song ‘I Love You’, in which you featured Rahama Sadau, a Kannywood star, led to her ban by Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria. How did you receive the news?

Classiq: Actually, I was on a trip to Gombe and was quite busy in that evening. But because I am always with my phone, when I came to my room, I saw a message from Rahama where she briefed me on what happened. My heart was really broken. I felt really bad. I was confused because I felt it happened because of my video. In fact, she took it in good faith more than I did. She said when things like this happen, God has a reason, but I kept saying I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t know it will turn out this way.  But, I am an artist; I don’t do things deliberately to displease my fans. We didn’t set out to disrespect anybody, ethnicity or belief. But when you do something unknowingly and people are displeased, I think the mature thing to do is to apologise. We both apologised.

WM: You did?

Classiq: Yes, I did on Instagram. I am not a member of the association, so I can’t write to them. I am directly involved with my fans.

WM: Is there a particular reason why you chose her for the role in the video?

Classiq: Yes, apart from the fact that she’s my friend, she’s also a known face in Kannywood. So, the essence was to use a known face from the North, because the North is my brand and will make people watch the video.

WM: What do you spend time doing when you aren’t in the studio or doing anything music-related?

Classiq: I play football. I am a very good soccer player. I also play video games, hang out with my friends or go out to watch movies.