An interview with Fast rising German born rapper and poet Mr Rehd

This week on The Emerge Review - Fast rising German born rapper and poet Mr Rehd takes us on a hilarious journey. He talks about his foray into music, his latest single "Sanusi/oil money" ( I think it's a weird one) and how reading has helped him in his career. Witty and intelligent, Mr Rehd is fun to talk to. He has an annoying habit of starting his sentences with "well" and inserting the perfunctory "you know" in the middle,you'd find "basically" @ the end of most of them! Enjoy!!

 

 

 Let's meet you

My name is Mr Rehd, a.k.a GMG,Ghana must go, a.k.a always talking about money, a.k.a I no send, make a tooth fly in the boot.. Basically.
 

This is serious, is this how you introduce your self every time?

Not really,but sometimes,I guess you should just.. You know, take the lids off!

You are welcome..
So how did music start for you?

Well, I won't say I was born with music but I was born into music. In my house, we had lots of musical instruments every where, my sister sings, she's known in Germany,my mother sings,my brother sings, even my cousins sing so going into music professionally was easy for me because I came from a music background. I started out dancing, from dancing I started miming then my friends took me to the studio to do a hook for them. The manager of the studio listened to it and was like "O boy! You've got a nice voice! I like your swag". For me that was a boost. From then I started doing hooks for people. I like experiencing new things so I got curious and decided to write my own song. It was like.. Plenty of bars, you know,I couldn't even count them,they were just words and words. I managed to put a melody to it and took it to my friends who were already into music and they were like woooow! I'd say that was it for me. From then I started having the confidence to do my own stuff, basically.

What's going on right now with your music,how has it been so far?

Well that's like two questions. I'll start with how has it been so far. Well it's been a looong tortuous road,you know,we've learned a lot of things, it's been a lot fun meeting people, growing in the music.. That's how it has been so far. Then...about what's going on right now, that's important. Right now we are promoting the songs. We've done singles, some of them are doing well out there in the public, we're moving on gradually. We are expecting great things in the future,new songs, more publicity, that's what's up.

Do you have any new songs you are promoting currently?

Yes, we are promoting three new songs. Actually one is not so new. It was done last year. The title is "Chop something" featuring Uk based rapper Linxman. 

 

 The song has enjoyed massive air play and I've got very encouraging response from people out there. I also have a song called "How Far Eko" featuring Chycopelli and another one called "Sanusi/oil money". Those are the three songs out there right now and they are doing very well.

That last one sounds interesting, Sanusi and Oil money, what's the connection? What's the song about?
 

Ok, Sanusi is like a slang for money, if you look at the current Naira bills,you'll see the signature of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, that's the central bank governor. So we are using Sanusi to express wealth,you know, oil money. Nigeria is a mono economy,our major source of revenue is oil,so right now, we are talking about the wealth that could be available to every one if the money from our oil is channeled properly.

 

 The song sounds like a dance track, did you intend it to be a conscious song?

The song is a dance track. The lyrics aren't even conscious. It's just a feel good song. We are just saying "this is how it should be on a good day. We are supposed to be swimming in money in this country. See, we have so much money in Nigeria and people are still poor so we are saying this is the way it should be,not necessarily through the lyrics but through the fun in the music. The title is like a catcher. It's like saying "let's put away our troubles for a minute and let's celebrate. Let's celebrate our heritage,let's celebrate our culture. I mean,we already got a truck load of troubles so the least we can do is to be happy.

 

How do you write your songs?

Ok,to start with, I'm a lyricist. I used to write poetry way before I started writing songs. I've written a book, although it's yet to be published. Most people who know me know that I write. I Listen to music a lot. I'm a music fan. Sometimes my songs come when I'm listening to music,you know, I hear a sound, I feel good and I sing along. I may have have a melody in my head but no lyrics so I keep humming until something comes up. Meanwhile I'm a man of words so I can always pick some words as catch words. At times I may just have a thought in my head but there's no melody so what I do in this case is I expand on the thought and later a melody just comes that fit them.

Interesting...
How has reading helped you in your career as an artiste?

As an artiste,you're supposed to learn from the best. Somebody, a great and legendary rapper said something. He's still alive, LL Cool J. He said "If you wanna be a great rapper,try and read everything you see". I mean everything, bill boards,product labels,books.. Books are almost like,unlimited,so I read everything.

What kind of books did you read as a kid?

Books I read as a kid... I read a lot of books. I read comics,encyclopedias,my house was full of encyclopedias so I read a lot of them. I grew up in a house of books,lots of them,there were no limits, quantum physics if possible, I read them all (laughing)

Lol.. Ok. Can you remember the top five books that made the most impact on you while you were growing up?

Weeell I used to be a dreamy lad growing up, so comics was my turf basically,but I read motivational books,a lot of fiction, I read lots of foreign authors, Fredrick Forsythe, John Grisham,Tom Clancy Up Center,counter terrorism,politics,thrillers... I read across every genre,even romance. Silhouette,Mills and Boons..lol. Then African writers, I read macmillian series, A man of the people, Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe,popular one... Arrow of God, most of those books were my literature books in secondary school. Flora Nwakpa I also read her books, I remember reading Wole Soyinka.. Really, I don't discriminate when it comes to books, although there are crappy writers out there,people who write a lot of crap so I always know before I finish the first chapter of your book if it's crap. I'll know so I'll drop it and I won't know your name. Meanwhile I like your writing.

Thanks...
Well it's obvious that reading has had a huge impact on you. How can we revive the reading culture in Nigeria so that more young people can enjoy the benefits like you're doing today?

Mmmm.. That's a tough one I must confess. For me personally I started reading from home, so it has to do with where you're coming from. Like, The Godfather, I read the book first,The Last Don, I read the book first. It takes time to read a book so you have to create time for it. It's a lifestyle thing. Reading is a life style, you can't force anyone to read. You can only imbibe the culture and it's a gradual subtle process. So maybe if we have the media promoting and supporting Literature Like you're doing here,then we can start making book entertainment interesting to young people. As for parents,let them buy books so that when the children come,they'll meet them,the way I met those books in my home. That's how I started. Some of my friends were privileged to imbibe the culture of reading. They were curious enough to start borrowing books and sitting down and trying to read them. When they did,they found out that "O boy there's something in here!" "Adventure dey here o!" Lol... You get it? That's how they started reading. They didn't have books but you know how books are,you can exchange one for another,buy one,before you know it,you have two. Books are like stray dogs,they'll come and visit you and stay in your home and become your own. Lol... I remember we even started book clubs then, it was fun. Another thing is, the power situation in the country is not helping issues. Most people only have time to read at night but when they want to, there's no light. Even the e-formats can't replace the real books,there is this feeling about thumbing through a book,folding the page and going out,you know,you're excited to come back and pick it up from where you stopped. Sometimes I buy a book,run through the pages brrrrrrrrrr...,put it in my nose and sniff it...(laughing)

Lol.. I do that too.

Where can we catch Mr Rehd?

You can catch me on the internet, always!

 Thank you so much for coming Rehd!

And thank you for having me here,the pleasure is all mine!

 

 To Download Mr ReHd's ''SANUSI'',''HOW FAR(EKO) F/ Chycopelli &CHOP SOMETIN F/ Linxman click any of these links http://www.reverbnation.com/mrrehd http://www.facebook.com/planetrehd
 FOLLOW ON TWITTER @PlanetReHd