MAX Characters Presents: Chapter #1 – Q&A and Streaming
How would you describe the sound of your new album?
There are a bunch of hip hop subgenres, and I think the most dominant form that I dabble in is boom bap rap. However, my approach isn’t that I pick a genre and go with it; I experiment a lot within the realm of hip-hop and try to create different sounds and styles whenever I can. I don’t like the idea of fitting within a predefined box. Sometimes this is promoted by the beats I use, other sometimes by the subject matter, and also sometimes by a mixture of both and many other elements.
My most recent solo project has a lot of styles in it and it is a good example of this. A type of hip-hop that I tried to pioneer with my late friend and producer Victor Takunda (Tee kay) Lecha was called alternative pop rap and this style was heavily influenced by his beat production style. I don’t think I’ll ever release another alternative pop rap project now that Tee Kay is gone. The only project we managed to do with that style is our EP Lonely Island which is out on all major platforms.
What does the album’s title reveal, if anything, about the album’s impact and themes
We made a kind of hip-hop that I would classify as like goofball rap, which is a type of rap that is characterized by jokey, intricate lyrics, and themes about general pop culture but from a nerd’s perspective most of the time. You can hear it in the beats too. My music can get quite philosophical at times but with this project I think we made the quintessential goofball rap EP where we have stripped away a lot of depth from the tape and made it as much of an easy listening as possible. The best parts of the music are honestly in the lyrics and how they are delivered on the minimalistic beats. If you listen really closely, and have the sense of humor that we have, then you’ll find both some brilliant sneaky jokes and some disturbing ones in there.
How long did this album take to make from start to finish?
We really didn’t try too hard. Maxxgotthesmoke sent me the beats about a year ago, and I recorded the songs over a couple of months. I was going through a lot at the time which is why I could not deliver the finished goods much sooner, but eventually I managed to record the songs that we have now, and we decided that this tape would be the introduction to our collaborative efforts as MAX Characters which is my management label going forward.
Any overall theme of mood that you’re trying to capture while writing your album
I try to cover as many themes there are as far as they are useful to my chosen narrative when I make songs. There wasn’t really an overarching theme when making this tape. I was going through a depressive state and just used this tape as outlet to say some things on my mind, sometimes in a funny way, a smart way, or in a silly way. That’s it. I also didn’t write for any of these songs. I just recorded them, adding bits and pieces as I went while I had a sip of my black label.
If there’s anything you’d like to add, say, please do
Well, I have a lot to say about a lot of things. I know the tape was leaked by my ex but now that’s been dealt with. I just want to keep making art and hopefully one day people will take notice of the work that I and guys like Maxxgotthesmoke put in to make this art and maybe also appreciate it. That’s it.
Maverick Kabelo is the founder and editorial director of Africa’s Very Own Magazine. Kabelo is a business student, digital media enthusiast/entrepreneur, creative, writer and content creator. He started writing when he was just 16 after founding the magazine on Facebook.
