Interview: Minz talks love, positive-thinking and that time he performed to 16000 fans
Minz first hinted at a project nearly three years ago, while speaking to Stephanie Ohumu for The NATIVE. But even back then, he was thinking of dynamic formats—playlists, EPs—not necessarily albums. Since then, more singles have dropped, mostly bubblegum Afropop love songs, some charted others playlisted across Spotify, Apple Music and Audiomack. Hard to tell if he will finally drop after all this year, but in this interview with ARTISH, Minz suggests a project may be in the works once more. The Afropopstar also talks about being an artist-producer, why his music is infused with the language of love and that time he performed to 16000 people at Vacances Bal Poussière, the biggest Afro-french festival Francophone Africa, held in Libereville, Gabon.
What three songs perfectly soundtrack these respective stages of your growth; childhood, teenagehood, and you now?
Basically, when I was younger, I was not really trying to stress too much. Like, I was not really living like the best life. Shit was happening with my family. Nigeria was in a shitty state like it currently is. I was listening to songs like 50 cents’ ‘In Da Club’, ‘P.I.M.P’ and Snoop Dogg’s ‘Drop it like it’s Hot’ and Mario’s ‘Let Me Love You’ to escape all that. I think those 4 songs are really the songs that got me interested in music cos before then I was more interested in football, but those songs really did something. Like they had a lasting impact but when it comes to Nigerian music, what was really playing everywhere was African China, Eedris Abdul Kareem’s ‘Jagga Jagga’. Those were the songs that I remember that were playing that time. And right now, I’m listening to Travis Scott’s ‘Highest in the Room’.
How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t been listening to Afropop or music from Africa?
So, I don’t really consider my music as Afropop. My music is more Afro-fusion like Burna described to Trevor Noah. Like Afro-beats is like pizza and you add different toppings on it. So basically, I feel like my music is kinda like that cos I make different types of music like ‘Quarantino’ for example, when it came out it was featured on ‘Breaking R&B’ (Audiomack) and I don’t really consider myself an R&B artist. It just feels like my music has a different vibe mixed with a bit of afro.
Did you make a conscious effort to position yourself as a pan-African artist? And how has this impacted your music?
So, I never really made a conscious effort. What happened was I was making my music and putting it out and just trying my best to push it within Nigeria but God works in mysterious ways I guess cos like all of a sudden, my music started moving even outside Nigeria. I remember there was this DJ from Sudan. He was already playing my music and it was already getting that kind of international recognition just from countries around. Then he sent me a picture of Shazam charts, and he showed me that my song was number 3 in Gabon. I was like this is mad, this is crazy cos that time the two hit songs that were just above my song were like the biggest songs in Africa that time. I think it was ‘If’ or ‘Fall’ and Runtown’s ‘Mad Over You’ so basically the next day or next two days, he sent me another screenshot and it was number 1 in Gabon so I was like this is crazy, I was like going with he vibe and all of a sudden, someone hit me up from Gabon to do a show. I thought the guy was trolling but before I knew it, I was flying there and I did some shows there and I met a video director and we worked on some music videos and from there they just started gravitating towards my music, it wasn’t really like a planned thing. It was just God, I guess. And how it has impacted my music? It hasn’t really impacted the way I make my music. It’s not like now I’m trying to like put French or something in my music or anything like that. I just make music and sometimes it works and like it really has a Pan-African vibe or something, but it hasn’t really changed how I make my music. It’s just one of those things that God has blessed me with.
What would you say is the biggest milestone your music has reached outside Nigeria?
So, in 2018 I was privileged to perform to 16000 fans in a stadium in Gabon and I was on the lineup with some of the biggest French artists from around Africa. I remember like after I went on stage, a guy called Dadju went up next. Dadju is one of the biggest Afro artists in France. It felt amazing.
Performing on a big stage like that, Did that like affect how you now went back to make your music knowing that you’re now an artist who can perform for a large audience. Did that affect how you approach your music?
It did kinda. It definitely gave me more confidence. I’m sure the songs I recorded during that period, within that week, the confidence could reflect in the music and it just showed me that God has big plans basically and the future is really bright. It just made me probably a bit more assertive.
Your ability to produce your own songs has given you the reputation of the lone star of your success story. Does that make you sometimes feel like an outsider?
So, there are times when the fact that I produce and sing my songs really stress me out because I’m a perfectionist. I consider myself the best at everything I do but when it comes to production, I know I’m strong in this area and not so strong in this area. So that push for perfection sometimes really stresses me out and that’s one area that stresses me but at the end of the day I always achieve the best results and achieve what I want. When I put out the music, I’m always satisfied. In terms of feeling like an outsider, yeah, I actually do feel like an outsider sometimes, but I’ve learnt that my own story is definitely different. I’m not like anybody else so I just accept my uniqueness like that, and I know that that’s what makes me special.
How does that impact picking collaborators? You know, like do you avoid intimidating artists by coming as a producer and not a producer-artist combo?
Oh, no. Uhm my production doesn’t really affect how I collaborate with people. Like honestly, the most important thing to me when it comes to making music is just like the vibe like am I down to work on this song? There are times when maybe I want to work on a song, and I feel like oh this could have been done a certain way. Yeah, I’d always offer advice but at the end of the day I let the person who has the music control the music and in terms of like working with other artists on my own songs, it doesn’t really affect, it’s just a plus really. The main reason I even wanted to produce music was cos I needed to sing on beat and I honestly didn’t know how to go about that so I said fuck it, let me try and make a beat and that’s it.
How has your songcraft evolved over time?
So over time, I’m someone who’s always trying to learn and evolve. I’m observant. I observe what’s happening in the industry, I observe people when I work with them, like for example when I work with like bigger artists or artists who have gone really far in their careers, I listen, I learn and sit down with them and just take like notes of the things that I feel like made them get to where they are and I apply it in my music. I just learn and put my ears down and see what I could be doing better.
Who would you say are some of the idols that you look out for?
In Nigeria, I really respect Wizkid and Davido. They are two of the greatest artists Nigeria has seen. I’m not saying they are the greatest o. But they are part of the people you call the greatest. I look up to Wande Coal, TuFace, D’Banj. All those guys were guys who opened the doors for us. They patterned how I make my music cos there was a point where I was really obsessed with them.
Most of your songs are written in appreciation of lovers. Do you always have a specific muse in mind when you write, or do you write generally for all your female fans?
Actually uhm, I feel like the main reason why I’m appreciating love and all that is cos I’m a very emotional person and one of the strongest emotions I feel is love. I feel things deeply and intensely. So love is my air so it reflects in everything I do. Reflects in my music, my life, how I talk to people. Love is fresh in my mind so it’s very easy for me to just express love through my music but that’s not the only type of music I make. I make different kinds of songs; I have songs about life, talking about how my parents wanted me to study a certain thing and I went a different way. I have different kinds of music. By the time I put out my project and stuff, people will get to understand me a little more but mainly love is my strongest emotion and that’s why it’s really present in my music. Sometimes, I do have a specific person in mind. There are some songs I’ve made because I was in a relationship and I felt like there was a problem or something and I wanted to just address it in my music so there are songs like that. A lot of times, how it is for me is that I imagine I’m speaking with someone. It’s a bit of both. Sometimes, there is someone, sometimes it’s just abstract.
Your latest track, ‘Quarantino’, captures the mood of the current times, how else has the lockdown impacted your artistic process?
When you talk about the artistic process, even apart from making music, cos I make music in my room, like most of my music is made in my room. There are very few songs that I’ve gone out of my way to do in a proper studio. My room is basically set up as a proper studio, so I still make music the same way I make music. But in other aspects of being an artist, the lockdown has made me get more creative and more expressive because I’m naturally someone who doesn’t give too much away like I think I’m kinda mysterious and I’m reserved but now I’ve found new ways to express myself just in terms of communicating with the people who support my music more and I don’t really like the word fans cos I consider people who listen to my music as family so just connecting with the family more like going on IG live and making Triller videos. Like things they find entertaining and I also find entertaining so those are ways I’ve been trying to express my art and my music better.
Do you feel like any of the new things you’ve picked up during this lockdown, do you think it will affect how you now continue after the lockdown is over?
Definitely, it's going to stick and even probably get better because this pandemic made me realize that anything can happen any time like we don’t control much of what happens so we have to try our best to enjoy our life to the fullest. It’s not like I’ve not been enjoying my life, but I’ve been enjoying my life but just chill, by myself. Honestly, I miss outside. I’m not even someone who likes going out too much but just imagine being told you can’t go outside. It’s fucked up. I’m gonna try my best to enjoy this life. Life na one, no be two.
How do you stay motivated with the pandemic going on around?
It’s funny how I feel so motivated cos one thing that motivates me is the fact that I know people are really paying attention. Like releasing music during this time really showed me that people need more content. I put out a video I shot two years ago that I’d been hoarding. The positive reaction made me feel more motivated to give people content, more music and do more as an artist and a person. That’s my ginger; to do more.
We heard rumours that earlier in your career you had a bunch of offers that you turned down, do you look back at those offers now and feel like you should have responded differently
To be very honest, no. I really really appreciate my struggle, my journey; it’s beautiful. I would not have it any other way. Those offers I turned down, I turned them down for very strong reasons and to be honest, when I look at what would have transpired if I had taken any of those deals, I feel like I’m doing a lot better to myself than anybody else could have tried to do for me in terms of my vision and what I really want. So, I have like zero regrets and I wouldn’t really change anything.
From your experience as an artist, what lessons have you learnt from the idea that "you get what you give"?
So, recently I actually learned a lesson in that sometimes you know you feel down and you want to express a negative thought maybe on Twitter or something and I just realized that vibes are actually contagious whether positive or negative vibes. If I put out a negative vibe, I’m going to get negative energy back. If you express a feeling like you’re depressed, you’re down… I’m not saying people shouldn’t express themselves but when you put a lot of that out, what you get is negative energy but the moment I put out positive thoughts, something always happens like sometimes, I’ll just tweet something very positive and next that will happen is that my music will pop up somewhere. So what I do is try to give out more positive energy cos you really get what you give
Can you tell us what you’re currently working on?
Right now I’m working on one more single then I plan to drop a hot single off my project after that. The first one I’m trying to drop is just me but the next single after that is with one of the greats. Someone who has inspired me; it’s a really dope collaboration.
Minz is a Lagos based singer, songwriter and producer. Listen to him on Apple Music and Spotify.