Discover... popsnotthefather
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Photo Courtesy of Artist
It’s no secret that the first 6 months of 2020 has felt more like 5 years. The one thing which has always been a way to escape from life, is music. This is true even now.
Earlier this year, in the infancy of lockdown, WFA came across the upbeat trap-stylings of: popsnotthefather, a South African artist whose carefree attitude to life, is paralleled in his music.
Although he explores deep subjects in his music, he’s still able to deliver it in a way which doesn’t weigh you down as a listener. This is partially thanks to working with 808x, who, as a producer, was able to bring the project to life, sonically.
Hailing from Gauteng (pronounced with an “H” at the beginning), pops is part of a new wave of artists from the continent helping to share a different view of Africa.
In our phone call back in May, we spoke about his most recent release “NNNN”, his love of UK music and recently featuring on Ebro Darden’s Beats 1 show.
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Where did your name come from?
I had this Indian friend who used to call me “Baba Mabude” because I used to speak like my dad; and this then turned into “pops”. But that couldn’t be made into a rap thing so, I was just driving to Eastern Cape one time and my friends called me saying “You need a rap name for real”; I was just thinking off the dome and popsnotthefather came out of my mouth.
I lie to a lot of people about it: the cool story is always different. The Hollywood version is that I had a pregnancy scare.
You have this great energy as we’re speaking and I feel like this is translated well into your Spotify Artist Bio. So we’re just going to dissect bits of it. You say that your favourite albums are ones which have a few songs on there. Which ones are these?
Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. That really slapped. It was everything. Everything that he does, people always tell you he’s on some evil shit so you hate him and think he’s a bad guy. But then you get the music a lot later and it hits you in a whole different way.
OutKast: Speakerboxx/The Love Below. They’re pivotal to everything. [Andre] 3000 is the real Dad. I made out with this girl to Take Off Your Cool (feat. Norah Jones) and she’s still in love till today Goddammit. (laughs).
Pharrell Williams: GIRL. It’s too much, you don’t even need to know the names of the songs or anything because those songs are just always in your head. They’re just too catchy. This album was my whole energy for like 2 years. He’s a genius.
Okay, who else would you call a Genius? Would you call Kanye a Genius?
Hmmm nah. Because, I believe when you have this wisdom you should know when it’s time to stop doing something and do something else. Like fully commit to being an evolved being. He let a lot of people fall out of love with him and he wasn’t able to see that he could have stopped doing certain things and let his legend carry on.
I mean his new stuff is good but it just took me way too long to hear it [because of how he behaves]. And it only connects with me on a sonic level.
His earlier projects, though, changed my life.
You say that you wanted a sound that people could fall in love with. What do you hear in your head when you think of a sound people should fall in love with?
A sound that is not too abrasive or too repetitive. But at the same time, super catchy.
Moving on to your project, “NNNN” — what’s the idea behind the name?
It’s pronounced “Not Now Not Never”. And it’s basically music that’s not meant to exist right now but it’s not not meant to exist. Like if it doesn’t hit you now, it’s not like it’s never gonna hit you. It’s a definite slap.
Now moving on to platforms which have shown you love for the project, you’ve recently had a premiere on Ebro’s Beats 1 show, congrats! Where were you when you heard the news and how did it feel?
It was lit. I couldn’t believe it. You know when you had a dream about your life? It was a dream. So when it really happens, you’re like “Holy Shit!”
Taking things to the continent, South African music seems to be having a moment across genres with artists such as yourself, Elaine and Sho Madjozi, why do you think it’s taken this long for the West to pay attention?
I think there are a lot of new channels which are allowing us to be heard. For example, Apple are doing a lot of new things in South Africa. There’s a lot of infrastructure even online, people are realising themselves, that there’s a whole new way [of doing things]. Also, the sound is really evolving. People are listening to themselves a whole lot more. Sometimes, African artists are told to sound “African”, but in the States or the UK, no one is telling you, you have to sound a certain way; they just do their own thing.
Photo Courtesy of Artist
Interesting you say that because I feel like the UK, in the last 20 years, has built a strong foundation for genres like Grime, Drill and Afrobeats.
I fuck with that shit. Like Grime and Drill. I fuck with Stormzy and Skepta.
So in South Africa, do you feel like the different genres are having a bigger moment because of the solid foundations?
I think we’re building towards that because there are a lot of people doing things independently, which is cool; but if there are a lot more people in a group doing something, [there are] more people banging the same drum.
It’s weird for me to say because on my tape it doesn’t sound like I’m doing the same genre.
What’s your favourite track from your project? and what was the most fun to make?
They were all really fun to make. Some weren’t actually because they were like low energy. I think PVCJUNKY is my favourite because it was the last one added to the project. And it was fun to make because the girl I was talking about in it was in the room when we made it.
Which was the most challenging to make?
We had a rule where all the songs had to be finished in one day, respectively. So if a song didn’t get finished in one day, it probably wouldn’t be finished. Except for KARMAKOLLEKT. That one was made before the new rules so that was a hard song to make because it took days of writing and going back and forth over it. It was also about a real situation so it was tough. I had to be honest.
Was this quite a cathartic project for you? because I feel like so many emotions are coming out in this interview. Did it help you heal?
Yeah yeah, I’m in a much more accepting place with the Universe right now. Whatever comes it’s all good, because I spoke my piece.
Speaking of Africa earlier, which African artists would you want to collab with:
Wizkid, Santi, Dedejaé, Rema, Amaarae, Burningforestboy, Elaine and everyone at innanetwav.
Santi is interesting because he’s an artist, he’s not only a musician. He creates art both visually and sonically. That would be interesting.
Yeah, he fucks it up on a musical level. That’s all I care about is music. Videos are lit and visuals are cool to think about but only coupled with the sound. It has to make sense with the sound and that’s why I care about music more than anything.
And finally, what does success mean to you?
For me, getting to that place where you know can’t nobody fuck with you. Like you’re at the top of the mountain and you’re looking at all your work and you are in the sky right now looking at what you built.
Money is cool but there may still be things you don’t have, so success is looking back on your work and knowing that it’s an undeniable sculpture.
Either you love it or you hate it, but you have to hate it for a real reason.
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Photo Courtesy of Artist