WORDSPJ Some
封面明星 - Prettyboy 做
創意總監 - Derrick Odafi & Jessica Rushforth
創意製作人 - Jessica Rushforth 和 Derrick Odafi
攝影師 - 芭芭拉普雷莫
視覺總監 - John Serunjogi
造型師 - Malcolm Yaeng
造型師助理 - Gloria Iyare
佈景設計師 - 傑西卡·拉什福斯
MUA - 祝福 Kambanga
STUDIO - 拍攝更多照片工作室
我們覺得你身上有一種好戰的光環，你認為它來自你爸爸嗎？
P：是啊，我爸爸是個硬漢，他第一次對我說我愛你是在今年。我和他的關係總是要向他證明我是值得的。在去年之前，我們已經有 5 年沒有說過話了，只是為了讓你知道他有多努力。我覺得我去年從他那裡得到了驕傲。
我談到它。我仍然做商業的東西，但我覺得人們需要聽到真實的東西。我之前在我的歌曲中提到過，我們從來沒有說過話，我經常覺得人們不會在尼日利亞音樂中談論它或說那些東西。我的父母不想讓我聽音樂，但我必須通過向上帝祈禱和工作來向他們證明我值得這樣做。
就像在你的一首歌“Deh Go Hear Weh”中一樣，你會聽到關於我的意識形態。
P：是的，就是這個想法，基本上是整個國家。你在這裡看到我的兄弟 - 指著他的經理 - 他是一個大人物，乾淨的數字音樂大亨。但是如果他穿成這樣來到尼日利亞，他們就會像這個人在做什麼，他在做欺詐嗎？因為在尼日利亞，他們只知道醫生/律師。
這就是我為之奮鬥的目標，在尼日利亞，他們並不真正尊重音樂可以帶你去哪裡的工藝。前幾天我告訴他他們只相信醫生和律師很聰明，我他媽的很聰明。
下一個問題，漂亮男孩的名字從何而來？
P：DO 是我的首字母縮寫，漂亮男孩來自我媽媽和姐姐，因為他們曾經這樣稱呼我，我也是搖滾樂的忠實粉絲，他也經常使用它。
你希望女性伴侶具備哪些特質？
P：忠誠……她只需要為某事而努力，不管是什麼，她必須對它有熱情。
您對於倫敦的觀點是？
P：我經常來這裡，這次因為音樂而不同，我們現在起床了。我愛倫敦，我愛那裡的人，對我來說，這似乎很非洲。從某種意義上說，它就像家一樣。
倫敦和拉各斯有很好的聯繫，你覺得它是什麼？
P：首先，我們這裡有很多自己的人，這裡有很多非洲人。這裡有一種類似於拉各斯的整體氛圍，因為它非常繁忙，非常喧囂。但這裡是一個更高的層次，還有鬥爭。我愛倫敦，但與此同時，這裡的鬥爭很瘋狂，因為他們在這裡什麼都不說，只是內部的。
你在紐約也有經驗，那也是一個你真的必須努力才能做到的地方。
P：我想我所過的生活，我學到的一件事是你不能真的後悔。如果我有某種職位，我不能浪費它。倫敦很忙，就像地鐵一樣，你真的沒有空間，紐約就是這樣，就像 x2 不干淨，比倫敦更堅韌不拔。
回到音樂上來，你是說音樂找到了你還是你找到了音樂？
普：那很深。音樂讓我成為一個男人。我一直熱愛音樂，即使是在孩提時代，但更喜歡音樂的時尚方面。 Biggie、Mase、Tupac……我喜歡 Tupac，我什至有一個像他一樣的紋身。時尚在我的腦海裡一直很重要，同時也是音樂，但我從來沒有把自己看作一個說唱歌手，我把它看作是一種生活方式，所以我到處跳舞、振動、模仿。它的文化，尤其是它的時尚。當我年輕的時候，我可能想成為一名設計師。問題是，在高中時，我曾經寫過很多，詩歌等，陳詞濫調，但總是奏效。在大學裡，他們讓我用英語寫一首詩，我寫得很快，他們讓我把它讀出來，而且很長，每個人都喜歡哇。那個時候我腦子裡真的沒有音樂，但是那個時候 Drake 出來了，Rocky 出來了。我在學校表現不佳，我只是失去了我的女孩和心碎。然後我開始進入錄音室，但直到我覺得它很好而且那是在 2012 年我才發布任何東西，我沒有回頭。
紫色西裝：約翰·勞倫斯·沙利文
豹紋襯衫：Edward Crutchley
珠寶：Rathel Wolf
Prettyboy DO 的星光熠熠
就像第九期的“野火”一樣
當您想到 Afrobeats 時，尼日利亞藝術家很可能是您心目中的形象，我們知道他們擁有許多強大而有影響力的名字。開創性人物 Prettyboy DO 是當前來自非洲音樂強國的有影響力的藝術家名單中不容錯過的人物。這位出生於新澤西州的突破性藝術家提供了一種充滿活力和活力的聲音，不會讓您坐以待斃。這些聲音與他古怪的風格無縫匹配，從他在 COLORS 上的“Jungle Justice”和其他非常成功的單曲（例如“Same Energy”和“Chop Elbow”）的表演中，您可以清楚地看到這種創造力的反映。 Prettyboy DO 是一位走鋼絲的社會評論和實驗音樂的藝術家，將這些性格特徵歸功於他的環境和個人影響。 Prettyboy 本人和他的音樂一樣有趣，受 Dennis Rodman 和 Sisqo 等人的影響，他的個人風格和能量從頭到腳都與眾不同，從他五顏六色的頭髮到他富有表現力的風格感。
在他最近發布的最新項目之後，受聖經啟示錄啟發的名為“野火”的 EP； Prettyboy DO 已經能夠在 Afro-Pop 和 Rap 之間產生分歧，炫耀他的多才多藝，這使他與眾不同！被稱為 Alte 界的王者，毫不奇怪，他的影響力隨著音樂傳播，營造出迷人的氛圍。繼續他的旅程，這位歌手/說唱歌手似乎有一個明確的目標，那就是成為最偉大的人，一路上激勵人們，鋪平自己的道路。
WORDS Shenead Poroosotum
“音樂讓我成為一個男人。我一直熱愛音樂，即使是在孩提時代，但更喜歡音樂的時尚方面。大吉、馬斯、圖帕克…… ”
NW: When you have people that collaborate with you on stage, as well as it being a crazy experience for the fans, do you find that you learn more being with them on stage whether as a musician, producer or just as a person?
MM: Yeah, for sure. It's interesting having to try and adapt to everyone's performance style. Because, you know, Slowthai is very different from Nao or Christine and the Queens… Everyone’s kind of got their own thing that you have to play into. But that's kind of my favourite part of it; being adaptive and being able to curate different performance styles. But it's so interesting every time you have a different guest on stage, you kind of get a little window into what makes them a star, almost. It's like, particularly with someone like Slowthai, he comes out and it’s like Michael Jackson just walked out or something and everyone’s suddenly ready to beat each other up and have the best time. [Laughs]
NW: Yeah, and just mosh. I feel like his music is very much something you need to mosh to.
MM: Some people just bring my expectations with them as soon as they appear on stage, and I find that really interesting.
NW: When it comes to dance and electronic music, we just had Drake release his album Honestly, Nevermind as well as Beyoncé’s new single ‘Break My Soul’. Would you say you’ve been able to bring emotion to dance music or how have other artists been able to do that successfully?
MM: I was hoping we would talk about this! I’ll put it this way, dance music or what we've termed dance music in the past like 20 to 30 years has been very whitewashed. I feel like we lost some of the core element and sold what the original guys from Detroit and places like that brought to it. It's kind of misframed to be like, oh, you need to put emotion into dance music. Dance music is emotional. At its root is its celebration. It's like catharsis, you know? And that was always true, but I think at some point along the way, the big profit machine was like, yeah, this is for like people to be at festivals and get really high to. I think at some point the idea of dance music, being emotional, got washed out by this idea that it belongs at massive festivals. It's such a good profit machine because a single person can make dance music and a single person can play live with a USB stick. It's so profitable and it's been taken advantage of, I think. Without getting into the race politics too much, because it's not really my thing to speak on, it is so important that Beyoncé released ‘Break My Soul’ because it's just like, finally! We're seeing some reclamation, that's what it's supposed to be. I love that song so much, it's so good.
NW: So, tell me, what did you think of the Drake album?
MM: Too political, couldn’t possibly comment. [laughs] No, I love the production. I love the selection, it’s amazing. And it's really interesting that he's obviously doubling down on these dance sub genres. Because it's not all house music, there's some like Baltimore club, there's some Jersey club in there… It's super interesting. And it sounds to me like he made it quite quickly, which I rate. I think that's quite interesting. Having Black Coffee executive produce is genius. I think a lot of people don't like it at the moment and everybody who says that to me, I'm just like ‘First of all, you're wrong. Second of all, you do love it, you just don't know it yet. In three months, you're going to be singing all the bits!’ That's kind of what he does, though isn't it? It’s super interesting that him and Beyonce lined up on that dance music moment because it makes me very excited. But very scared because it gives so many people permission to make like, crappy piano house.
跳投：3 Paradis
珠寶：Rathel Wolf
帽子：卡拉
太陽鏡：造型師自備
這有點注定，這是一個過程，但你不知道這個過程是什麼。
P：是的，你不知道在遇到人的過程中會發現什麼。事情變大了。是上帝。這是上帝和工作。
除了音樂，你還會做哪些有創意的事情？
P：電影，我導演了很多音樂視頻。我可能會進入電影，這取決於我去那裡的雄心和意願。我真的很想現在開始。
你有造型師嗎？如果不是，它從哪裡來？
P：我只是在 Instagram 上，保存東西然後混合起來。
我們最喜歡你的項目之一是你的 2018 項目，你最喜歡創造它的時刻是什麼。
P：當我回到拉各斯時，我去了伯明翰和洛杉磯，那一次我決定放棄一個項目。然後我和我的表弟進行了一次談話，他告訴我“你必須放棄一個項目，放棄一些東西並了解你的聲音，就像你的單身人士正在流行一樣，你很興奮，但需要了解你的聲音”。太好了，一旦他說我很酷，讓我們走吧，讓我們開始吧。我有一堆我已經錄製好的音樂，去倫敦錄製 2 首歌。去拉各斯，開始和我的孩子們一起錄音，雨果，然後我們有兩個。現在我們可以舉辦一場表演了……我很生氣，我討厭行業政治，如果我們努力工作，你就能努力工作，讓我們去吧，讓我們抓住這個機會。我和我一起去參加一個表演行業 n****s tryna f**K 我很生氣。但演出結束後，我很生氣，我去了他的工作室，告訴他給我演奏一些東西，那個節拍讓我感到最快樂。拉起
Blazer: YOOX
Top: Artist’s Own
Jeans - Artist’s Own
NW:Your self-titled 2017 album Mura Masa was the one that just completely blew out of the water. Especially because of the collaboration with A$AP Rocky on the remix of ‘love$ick’ that I don’t think anyone saw coming. What would you say is probably one of your fondest memories of creating that project?
MM: Well, on the subject of Rocky, I think I owe him a lot because he was one of the first triple A-star gatekeepers who was like ‘You know what, I fuck with this guy. I’m gonna give him a chance. I don’t know anything about him, but I really liked that instrumental so let’s hang out.’ And you know full credit to him for putting me on in that way. So, we recorded at Abbey Road Studios because I was really trying to impress him. It’s funny, I booked Abbey Road and then he came in and was like “What are we doing here? What’s your connection to Abbey Road?” and I was like “I just thought it would be cool because of The Beatles…” and he said “Okay but next time I want to see your ends and I want to be in the shit studio.” [laughs] and I thought well, that’s interesting, that says a lot about you! But we spent most of the time talking about fashion and how he can’t do runways because he’s too short, even though he’s not short but he’s not like 6’7” or however tall you need to be on the runway. We talked about Virgil Abloh, Tame Impala, LSD, psychedelics, and things like that. And then we did a little bit of music-making on the side [laughs] and assembled the song that way. That moment of him trusting me and putting me on definitely clicked a lot of the other collaborations into place, because we were kind of begging it a little bit with other people. We were trying to be like, ‘Come on, I promise you want to be on this album, this is really good, it's going to be exciting…’ But then as soon as the Rocky thing became apparent, suddenly everyone was like, ‘Okay, Rocky thinks he’s cool.’ So, credit to him. That was a good moment.
“ 平等，一切都應該平等。沒有階級主義、部落主義、種族主義——沒有主義。 ”
Shirt: YOOX
Blazer: YOOX
Belt - HOUSE OF SEYON
Jeans - MM6 Maison Margiela
Boots - Christian Louboutin
Necklace - Artist’s Oen
為什麼您認為來自尼日利亞的新音樂家保持聯繫和經常合作很重要。
P：對我們來說賺錢很重要，第一。我們是同時來的，這讓我們走到了一起。我們肩負著同樣的使命，將人們與非洲音樂聯繫起來，向他們展示這是我們國家的一個新時代，我們都互相支持，也激勵著彼此和其他藝術家。
你們中的很多人現在都在發光，但有些人可能會迷失其中，那就是製作人。您經常合作的製作人有哪些？
P：Higo、DARE、Adey……很多與我合作的製作人都是我上台時遇到的，他們所說的製作人迷路或落後是真的，但這一代的製作人，他們正在為之奮鬥他們的權利......他們都太棒了，我覺得他們的名字和品牌將在全球傳播。隨著我的成長，我的人會和我一起成長。
你的另一個元素是你的視覺效果，你說你了解你的電影。告訴我們像 TSE 這樣的人以及你喜歡和他一起工作的原因。
P：我從他們開始，他們了解我的願景，不僅僅是圖片和視覺，而是一切，一切的外觀和感覺……我是我們國家的藝術鬥士，我的人民、視覺團隊、製作人都擁有那同樣的心思也為之而戰。
離我們很近的人是 Chuka Nwobi，他也和你一起工作，和他一起工作感覺如何？
他是我的兄弟，對藝術最有熱情的人之一，我認識的人中最有熱情的人之一。他是最年輕的人之一，但即便如此，我仍然和他說話。我們合作過很多項目，他在“Dey Go Hear Weh”視頻中發揮了重要作用。
你是一個很有表現力的人，你多久換一次頭髮顏色？
P：每個月
你談到製作音樂來觸及政治話題等。對你來說最重要的一些社交事情是什麼？
平等，一切都應該平等。沒有階級主義、部落主義、種族主義——沒有主義。每個人的機會均等是我最喜歡的事情。
“如果我還在做音樂，我認為自己是在尼日利亞從事音樂工作的山羊之一。”
NW: We really love that you meet up and work with some really interesting voices that follow the same musical values as your own. One of my favourite tracks that came out this year was ‘bbycakes’ with Shygirl, PinkPantheress and Lil Uzi Vert. I think a lot of people didn’t expect that mix of people on a track either, but it worked really well! Was that something that was planned? Or did that come together organically?
MM: It took a long time to get that together. Originally, at some point during lockdown, I made the beat and flipped the ‘Babycakes’ song. And then I thought well, if I want features on this, the obvious thing to do would be to go for UK features and make it a big UK thing. But the cornerstone of this being really interesting would be to have a massive US rapper on it, who might not even know what ‘Babycakes’ is as a record and the history of it. That's when Uzi came into the conversation. The idea on this new record is just to do things that are outrageous, fun, tongue-in-cheek, and mischievous. Having those three features on one record that samples ‘Babycakes’; you don't even need to listen to it to get the idea of how fun it is. You can describe it to someone, and they’d be like, what the hell are you talking about? And I'm so glad it had that effect because that was kind of by design!
NW: I wanted to touch on your relationship with PinkPantheress. You produced her track ‘Just for me’ off her debut EP to hell with it, but also co-produced the track ‘Where you are’ featuring WILLOW with Skrillex. What was something that you saw in her that made you want to work with her?
MM: She is so sharp, so intelligent, and just very inspirational to me. How she thinks about music and the decision-making process that goes into advising, is super interesting. And we figured out that we only live 15 minutes away from each other so, it was quite a natural hanging out process. The first time we met, we talked a lot about Panic! At The Disco because we both love them. There was a lot of interesting coincidental linkups like that where it was just like, okay, we're speaking the same language, in terms of our influences and stuff. I think she's so refreshing in terms of her taste and her attitude to what makes good music. She's quite punky in a sense, having the super short songs with owning the one chorus on them and things like that. How she was leaking her own music on TikTok and stuff, it’s quite counterculture, which I really love. But I think the chief thing is just song writing. She's such an amazing lyricist and she writes amazing melodies. You can see her making decisions intentionally that are really interesting. She's just a complete vibe.
我們看到您擁有很長的職業生涯並領導著新的藝術家。在接下來的 10 到 15 年裡，你在哪裡看到你自己和你的手藝？
P：10 年後我想在哪裡……該死，我會老[笑] 我看到不同的東西，但我認為自己是在尼日利亞在音樂上做這件事的山羊之一，如果我還在做音樂的話.如果我不是，我將擁有一位藝術家，但仍然是有史以來最偉大的藝術家之一。 10 年後我可能會拍電影。也許在我的腦海裡，我可能會試圖獲得奧斯卡獎。那時我認為自己是泰坦，一個家喻戶曉的名字——它甚至不會是我的藝名，而是我的真名。
令人驚嘆，希望製作能被世界記住的一代電影？
P：是的，只是想成為娛樂界的巨人。我不認為自己在商業上有什麼表現，但我會把手伸進去，我知道我會去拍電影。到那時，我認為我不會成為焦點，但我的電影會。
“如果我還在做音樂，我認為自己是在尼日利亞從事音樂工作的山羊之一。”
NW: As you said earlier about with the album and the way you work, a lot of it is premeditated. You take details into consideration, even physical copies. What do you personally try to do differently?
MM: That's an interesting question. And that question kind of permeates the whole process from top to bottom doesn't it? Because if I feel like I'm doing something that somebody else would do, or lots of people have done before then to me, it's a wrong answer. I'm not really contributing anything or at least trying to push the envelope a little bit. And that goes for everything. Music, artwork, the way the live show is, the merch… This time round, we're doing jewellery for the merch which has been such a crazy process trying to do. And the result of it is just this crazy thing that I’ve not seen anyone else do. That goes for everything across the board on this project. The art direction has been so fun and trying to come up with things that are just mental and that make you kind of go ‘He did what?’ I guess every step in the process I’ve been checking myself and asking ‘How interesting is this? Does it serve a utility that is forward thinking?’ And that is reflected in my tastes I think, that's just the kind of person I am.
NW: With a few of your more recent releases, we’ve seen you edge towards working with rappers a lot more such as the track ‘blessing me’ with Pa Salieu and Skillibeng. What did working with them bring out of you?
MM: I think the chief thing that comes when I’m working with these kinds of people is the excitement about them and what they're doing. The question isn't ‘What can I get out of working with this person?’ or ‘What can I bring to them?’ – it's ‘How can I serve what they do and how can I help to create a kind of playground or a stage for them to be their best in line to do their best work?’ It's a respect thing. I appreciate the position of being able to work with them and think ‘How can I create an environment for them to do really, really fucking good work?’ That's chiefly what I'm thinking. I think that's an important question as a producer, especially when I feel like a lot of producer/artists are really obsessed with putting themselves alongside the artist and saying they’re just as important. And because of what we talked about earlier, and how difficult it is to explain what a producer actually does, or how like ephemeral the nature of it is, that's just never going to be the case. You're not going to look at me standing next to Pa Salieu and think, wow, both of those people are equally exciting. [laughs] Obviously Pa is, so how do I serve that? How do I offer something that you wouldn't get elsewhere? Or how do I work really hard to see what it is about him that is special?
NW: I think it's really interesting that she did that, and coincidental that the both of them released something dance-focused in a short space of time between each other.
MM: I've put it I put it down to exactly the motivation by my next album. She's probably been sitting on that song for a couple of years but it's only now that like we're getting it. You know, it’s the first Glastonbury in three years, things are happening again, and this is the music for that. You won’t break my soul, release your job… It's anti-capitalist in a way and super interesting. Crazy record. And it's written by The-Dream and Tricky Stewart who are the single ladies crew so, it was just like set to be so iconic. I love it so much.
NW: I had to mention it! But also, we know you’re a big fan of UK underground music, too. What are some of the main differences you hear with young artists these days compared to the ones you grew up with?
MM: It's important to know that I'm not actually from the UK. So, I would have been enjoying these things from an outsider perspective. But it's interesting to me now, just because of globalisation and the way social media works. There are a lot of UK people who are ‘big men on campus’ in the UK, and then they slightly try and Americanise their music, with some dream of crossing over. But there's essentially a language barrier. If an American hears a London accent or a regional UK accent, they just kind of switch off. It's on them though, being ignorant, but it's really hard to cross over. I think a lot of people are Americanising their own music almost for no reason and they should be bedding in on what makes them special and what makes them UK centric. There's very few and far between underground UK artists that have the potential to crossover just by sheer luck of their accents being acceptable or like the music they make being interesting enough. I think amongst those are the ones that I try and work with. Shy, Thai, PinkPantheress… It's very hard for a UK artist to have crossover appeal in that way. But then there's so many underground UK artists who are playing the O2 Arena in London, then they go to Amsterdam and play a 300-capacity venue. I think it's so hard to break out and there's very tense internal UK drama where everyone's looking at each other, copying each other, trying to compete locally when really, they should be thinking about their audience and expansion.
NW: With issue XI focusing on the theme of luminance so, the intensity of light being emitted, we wanted to ask you what you think links yourself as an artist with our theme?
MM: I think rather than see myself as a provider of light, I think I would see myself as the battery or something where I'm trying to make people shine as much as possible in new exciting ways that they couldn't imagine. So, I'm the curatorial wall-plug and the… I’m the plug, rather than a direct source of light, I think I'm trying to help people to shine.