Okay so, Falz, good afternoon, welcome, it's nice to have you here.
So let's talk about your video This is Nigeria.
The video is almost everywhere.
First question I'll ask you is from what you've seen, from what
you've heard, how did you think - how has this video being received by people?
Very very well, very well received. You know even initially when I was releasing
I didn't sort of anticipate the magnitude of reaction.
I thought there will be some sort of reaction and some sort of conversation
but I didn't know how largely received it would be
and I mean, I'm very pleased to see.
Your video is an indictment on Nigeria as a country.
Why did you do it?
It was important.
It was important to do.
First of all I was inspired by the original "This is America" by Childish Gambino.
I thought it was a very artistic and very creative way to
tell the American story and I thought it would be amazing to tell the Nigerian
story in a similar fashion so I decided to do a cover of both audio and video
and I also thought it was very important to stir up a heightened level of
political and social consciousness out here because I feel like we're a bit too
distracted by everything that's going on right now.
That, you know, everyone is sort of losing focus of what is going on, you know, in the country.
Has there been any backlash?
Of course. There has to be a backlash.
It's a normal thing.
Normally there will be backlash.
But I think generally the majority of what I've been
facing in terms of backlash is just a matter of people that are trying to
shoot the messenger so that they miss the message but you know at the end of
the day you know the message is pretty clear and everyone knows that the
message is the truth.
Now this is like a step away from what people complain in the mainstream...
In the mainstream theme of Afrobeats.
Women, money, parties and all of that.
Are you planning to become more socially conscious moving forward?
I'm an artist. You know, I'm a musician, I'm creating art, I'm creating
all forms of art you know I'm not restricting myself to any sort of style
or any sort of topic.
I'm just creating art.
Even before this point I had already been creating socially conscious music.
This one just happened to really catch attention.
Maybe because it was quite timely as well but I'm you know
like I said earlier I'm an artist and you know I'm creating different types of music.
Okay, so let's talk about the original.
This song is obviously a cover - or borrowed from Childish Gambino's "This is America".
Has he been in touch? Or did you have to get in touch with him for permission or anything?
He hasn't been in touch, no, and I didn't have to get in touch
with him for permission because it was just a cover, you know people do covers all the time.
Even before I did mine there were a million and one people
that had already done some covers but mostly parodies, you know, people just
making fun of the original or doing their own and trying to be funny with it
but um and maybe that's another reason why this one got quite a bit of attention
because everyone would have expected something funny you know coming
from me as well but I just you know decided to do something very serious.
What should we be expecting to see next?
Expect more - more activity. Definitely going to be putting out a lot more.l
On the music end I'm working a lot I'm in the studio all the time so you
know recording a lot.
I'm gonna be releasing a lot more singles.
Still gonna put out a few videos for tracks off "27" the album
and then of course fresh new singles, you know, and probably some brand new projects as well in the works.
How did it feel making this video?
The set, working through all of that.
Getting through all the messages you wanted to pass through - how did it feel?
Initially I was nervous while I was filming as well because I was really really hoping that...
... the message will be well received and you know, that we will be able to pass it
in a way that, you know, people really really catch on to the message.
For you as an artist filming this on the set, thinking about the message,
will it pass through this video...
How did it feel for you? What was the experience like?
I would say I was a little nervous because I was hoping that I will be able
to shoot and put out the final product and then you know hopefully that'll be
received in a way that it should be so you know I was a bit skeptical but I was
also very optimistic and hopeful that you know everything would go well and
I'm glad with the way it's been.
Thank you very much!
Thank you so much for having me.
What's up, what's happening?
My name is Falz AKA Falz the Bahd Guy.
Ladies and gentlemen, they also calling me the wassup guy.
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