He’s the Incredible Short Black Boy and has been able to redefine rap music in Nigeria through his lyrical prowess and deft of delivery . This young man stepped into the music scene last year September with the release of his 13-track debut titled ‘Talk About It’ boasting of hits like ‘Safe’, ‘Money’ and ‘Anoti’.
Christened Jude Ababga from Plateau State, he has not only redefined rap music in Nigeria but has also captured the hearts of Nigerians irrespective of their age grade. True to his stage name Mr Incredible, he’s got the swag, flow, rhymes, punch lines and creativity, practically teaching how rap music should be done and successfully too, without beefing, a phenomenon common among Rappers.
At this time when a lot of artistes and their fans believes that a good music video will sell a song better irrespective of what the song sounds like or the content, M.I on his part has a different view about this. “See, people need to stop thinking like ‘ Okay, I’ve recorded my single, now I need to shoot my video’. Think instead like ‘How do I make people feel what I feel about this thing (music)’? Don’t just do a video because you need to do a video, Make history, Make something amazing that people will remember for a long time. Just like Jay-Z, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley and even D’banj.
Sometimes, it’s not the video. It’s the lyrics and passion in a song that makes it. And there are some real good musicians who sing from their soul. So what do you need a video for? People can already see it (the video) with their eyes closed. ‘Gongo Aso’ video did nothing for 9ice that he hadn’t already done for himself. Besides, videos are expensive, so don’t waste your money on them. Sing from your soul instead. Let your soul resonate on your track and people will love you, whether you have a video or not.
He also hold the view that besides hard work, you have to be humble as an artiste. He puts it like this “Humility … I don’t know how to define it. It doesn’t mean to be weak or false. Just realize that the people around you that you meet everyday are the same people that make you who you are. Their impression builds your career”.
Talking about his hit song ‘Safe” he explains that it was a spontaneous song. I had finished recording and was actually mixing another song when it came. I thought the song I was working on at that time was going to be the hit on my album.But in the process of trying to make a song that talks about how I’m going to make this year, I made the song that made me make it.
It was just a freestyle. It didn’t even start with ‘Do Me’ (P-Square). It was either Wiskolowiska (Durella’s) or Yebariba Samboribobo (SauceKid’s) that started it and I thought it would be nice to put them all in a song. So, jokingly I started using other peoples’ songs.Before I knew it, everybody in the studio was like ‘that would be ill (good)’. So I said, ‘turn on the microphone’ and I just free styled. Now, when I say free style, note that what you hear on the CD is not the real version. We edited it.
Commenting on Djinee’s collaboration he says “I had no intention of doing so. But then, he just kept free styling and then I heard this side of Djinee that I don’t think anyone’s heard before. If you hear the rest of the song (the unedited version), you’d be shocked. He (Djinee) was very angry, very militant. I just had to edit that part off. I wasn’t even thinking whether it would be a single off the album; it just blew up. I thank God.
As if the song being a hit wasn’t enough the Naija rap Messiah blew the minds of his fans with a ground breaking video that totally confirmed his as “Incredible” indeed. He says “I had nothing to do with the video. The video was shot by Mex Factor. I just told him I wanted to shoot a video. He showed me some ideas and I thought they were nice and he said ‘show up this day’ and I came with a make-up artist. I stood in front of a green screen and I performed and that was it.
Two months later, he brought out the video and showed it to me. The video has done so well in Nigeria and South Africa. That is to show the kind of talent we have in Nigeria, talking about Mex. If you see some of the effects in that video, it’s annoyingly stupendous.
On how he has been able to get all to appeal to his rap style he says I can’t explain it. The problem with Hip Hop is probably that they’re having conversations that people don’t care about.I don’t care about bling bling and you may not care about someone telling you he has a Bentley and he’s driving to the club and he’s so fly. But when somebody else can have a conversation with you that no matter no how things are… he draws you in.
So it’s about identifying with people. ‘Teaser’ is probably the biggest club song on ‘Talk About It’ but it’s probably my least loved song because there’s little of M.I on that track. You may say I grew up a pastor’s son but you have to be smart about your conversations. Make what people want to listen to you
