Rapper Lisias Hilifavali Uusiku (26), otherwise known as Hilifa94, who at the beginning of this year released his mixtape Everything said he prefers to work with underground producers.
“I decided to team up with a lot of upcoming producers because I wanted to bring out the talent from the underground and in general wanted to work with more producers. Underground producers are better than the mainstream ones when it comes to hip hop,” he told Entertainment Now!
He expressed that working with producers such as Motion and Twowise was the best decision he could make and preferred not to have any features. “The mixtape means everything to me hence the title, and it was influenced by a lot of things I was listening to at that time, as I was also trying to distance myself from the music industry because it came to a point where everyone was just doing music for the sake of it,” stated Hilifa94.
Furthermore, he said the reason for taking a hiatus was to concentrate on other business ventures and to work on things outside music, aspects that could create long term success and wealth. “Like, I have been busy with marketing-related work with my business partner,” he said, further revealing he will be tapping into meat supply, an educational board game and expanding his horizon and value when it comes to income creation.
He detailed that artists either do music for the charts, awards or publicity purposes. He figured such an approach takes away the authenticity of tunes hence his decision to take a hiatus and not be part of the cohort. “That’s why I decided to move away from everything a little and listen to the likes of Kendrick Lamar, basically Top Dawg Entertainment, an American label – that’s where I got most of my influence but I include things that matter like current affairs,” he informed.
The young rapper said the hip-hop medium is something strong because there is always a message. Whatever sound it is, it depends on how one conveys the messages. “I want people to feel free when they are listening to my music and what I want to send across. I want to leave a solid mark in the hip-hop industry,” bared Hilifa94.
Hilifa94 told Entertainment Now! he is part of a group that would establish a label called Motherland, which aims to create a platform for artists to push further and create more content that matters to the Namibian demographic.
When asked if hip-hop in Namibia is dead or alive, Hilifa94 did not hesitate for a second to give his stance on the status of hip-hop in the country. “I won’t lie to you, hip-hop music in Namibia is dead; it is not alive as it was when the late Catty Cat, Black Market and 061 Music were doing music”.
He said the biggest hip-hop cats are not even doing hip-hop but have conformed to what people want to hear and what the charts demand. “Lioness, Skrypt and KP Illest, the music they do is watered down to afro-pop because they are focused more on what the charts contain and what makes it to the awards or the jukeboxes, forgetting that hip-hop needs a lot of pushing and I feel we have slept on the potential that we can reach with hip-hop. We are talking about the biggest genre in the world,” stated Hilifa94.
– psiririka@nepc.com.na