AQ talks about re-orienting Nigerian Hip-hop listeners with new album 'Son of John 2'

On the eve of his album release 'Son Of John 2', Nigerian rapper Gilbert Bani popularly known as A-Q, talks exclusively to Pulse. He discusses the entire project, its back story, and how he will judge the success of the album.

The following is an edited transcript of that conversation.

What place was your head in when you decided to craft this album?

I was in a good place when I was making this album, inspired by recent events, amazed with the standard of the beats made for the project and the state of Nigerian Hip-hop, I was determined to put together a body of work that would make a difference in the Nigerian Hip-hop scene. The project was originally meant to be a mixtape but the creativity displayed on the project surpassed that of a mixtape, I knew this in my heart, but it wasn't until my team and DJ jimmy JATT listened to the project and told me it could not be just another mix tape that I changed my mind, we put our heads together and created a strategy to make the project much more.

What's the difference between SOJ1 and 2? Any similarities?

Son of John the mix tape could have easily been an album too, if we had a developed Hip-hop culture in these parts, but it lacked some certain elements, it was too raw in terms of production and delivery and sometimes I went out the theme set for the project, all this were corrected in the Son of John the album, the production was more refined, the theme was followed from the intro to the end, I was more mature with the delivery and message, and the mixing and mastering is at par or even better than any Hip hop album out there now.

What are your aims for the album?  How will you judge it's success and determine if those aims were met?

The aim of this album is to get the attention of every Hip-hop fan in the country, if not all, most, let them know that there are a lot of rappers here that can out class or match their favourite international rappers if given the exposure, The media for now is shy about Nigerian Hip-hop so we need the fans now more than ever to come out for us, request our music on their preferred stations, promote our craft to unbelievers and come out for our shows, I believe I gave the same feeling on this album as any other world class Hip hop album out there, be it Kendrick, Wale or J. Cole. Direct marketing is the only way to bypass the media and get to the fans, which better way to do than the internet.

The plan to sell the album for a quarter of its true price,  what's the thought process that went into it?  Don't you think it might backfire?

I brought up the marketing plan of selling for 50naira at an early morning meeting with the team, I need the press to understand this, hard copy CDs are sold at N100 or N150 retail price, the wholesale price is about 50 to 70 naira depending on the level of the artist, so basically our CDs are being sold at N50 on the streets and the artiste gets about 10 naira or less. These things need to improve, but I am not in a position to change that. Truth is I would make more per CD selling my album online for N50 than if my music were on the streets, plus there is a wider reach, easier access and its more comfortable to purchase.

However this is not the reason i brought down the price of my album, most music fans out there have never purchased a single or an album online, the purpose of the giveaway price is to let them see that it's an easy process. I am only trying to re-orientate the fans or (my fans) mind-set that all the hard work put into the music that we put out is not for free download. It's a slow process but what better way to start than with a giveaway price, when we have the numbers we could play with the prices however we choose, there is no way this can back fire because the original plan was to give it out for free in the first place.

Have you considered other options if you don't break even on this?

Making profit is not the reason for this project, If we do make profit, it would prove that the strategy works and we would find more ways to exploit it, less than 5000 downloads on all platforms covers the cost of production for this album and I'm sure we would make that, I did not waste my time chasing A-list artist for features or going after heavy weight producers, there are a lot of talent lying around, I gave them a platform for recognition and I think they did justice in making the album nothing short of a classic.

What songs really express your true spirit on this album?

‘Politricks’, ‘Free Thinker’, ‘Happy’, ‘I don't need love’and ‘Between the devil and the deep blue sea’

In one word,  describe how you want people to react after a listen to the album.

I want them to feel what they feel when they listen to Jay Z, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Wale, and many more. I don't know the word to use because people have different feelings when they listen to this people.

What do you think about the state of Hip hop in Nigeria?

I actually think we are at a good point, there is a lot of attention from foreigners on the Nigerian music scene and I think their focus is Hip hop, the quality of Hip hop music however might be very poor because of the need to appeal to a wider audience, and this is because the music is cheap. If the music sold at N1000, I would need to sell a 100,000 copies to make a 100 million, I might not necessary want to appeal to millions of fans, we just have to work on the quality of Hip-hop music and create ways to market to the fans because the way music is marketed right now does not favour Hip-hop.

Reminisces song, 'Local Rappers',  is it for or against Hip hop?  Are you in support of that 'Street against punchlines' movement?

I already showed where I stand with my response track ‘International rapper’, it's left for the fans to choose which boat they want to board.

Roc Nation is coming to Nigeria, any thoughts?

I laughed when I first heard the news, are they coming to do business with us or show us how to exploit our own music? My thoughts are as good as any; they see our industry as untapped grounds and are here to tap our resources. It’s a shame because the people I looked up to have not shown any dexterity in shaping the industry to what it should be, now I only look to self. If we need Roc Nation to come and make our industry what it should be, then fine, they are highly welcome.

If you were Jay Z's Talent Scout, which 5 rappers do you think he should sign?

Phyno, Reminisce, Ice Prince, Erigga and maybe ClassiQ, these rappers offer something different to the world and can have the same effect that ASA has internationally, rappers like myself, Jesse Jags, Vector, SDC, Boggey, etc, don't need an international platform to reach out to the world, we can conveniently do it from here if we have a developed industry.

Should Alaba International Market be scrapped entirely or cleaned up of piracy, if that option is available?

I don't think Alaba should be scrapped, I think they have a vital role to play in the formation of a new industry. Their distribution technique is unique, all we need is a licensed central body, that would determine quality and pricing. The central body would be in charge of production of CDs for sale and Alaba would be just another retail outlet, any material that does not come from this central body and has been already made available to the central body for distribution cannot be produced by any other distribution outlet if not it would be seen as piracy and would be a crime punishable by law. Sales can be tracked and profit can be properly calculated.

At what point would you look back and say you have achieved all that you set out to do as an artist?

I think I have already achieved all I set out to do as an artist, I have been on tours, performed on countless stages and gained respect and recognition as a Hip hop artist, the only thing missing is a credible award to acknowledge all of this and I can already feel it coming; so once that is in the bag I would look up to God to position me for the next journey.