Joulesdakid: Returnee rapper shows great promise of moving forward the Nigerian Hip-Hop scene

Young Joulsey talked extensively to Pulse about why he returned to Nigeria, challenge with the music he makes and more interesting tidbits.

Talented Hip Hop artist Joulesdakid also called Young Joulsey made his way to the Pulse Nigeria studios on Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

If you an ardent Nigerian radio listener, you may have heard  ‘Aunty Dupe’ by Young Joulsey, a song which got him quite some buzz and airplay, a song he toured with in the UK alongside Ajebutter 22 who was also making waves with his single  ‘Omo pastor’  .

Young Joulsey tells Pulse he has been grinding with music since junior secondary school, performing at shows in school and learning how to write raps using unfinished songs of his brother who also was an artist in a music group at the university.

 

Joulsey dropped his first official single at foundation level right before university, before he would then stumble on a group of buzzing producers called LazyGNius and KTP, whom he worked with on a mixtape "JoulesDaKid:LazuGNius The Official Mixtape Vol. 1" in 2012.

Joulsey’s music is usually inspired by women he says because he always finds himself in relationships. Also the go-getter hustling spirit of Nigerians, the Chocolate City Music crop of artists Olamide and Falz birth and movement inspired his raps while Kanye West and ASAP Rocky were some of his foreign influences.

 

On his challenges with the music, the young rapper says it’s trying to strike a balance to be commercially successful, not losing his voice.

“Not compromising what you actually want to do for what you know, “ Joules explains adding that there seems to be a formula with Nigerian music that makes all songs sound the same - from the lyrics to the beat with the understanding that it might make you money.

“Then you forget your own sound and it just becomes about the money. Focusing on your own thing and being able to compete with people doing things that seem mainstream to the core.”

 

Joules recognized the need to get back to Nigeria after his studies abroad in the UK, he tells Pulse that a song might be big in Nigeria but not necessarily make it to the clubs in London, so there was always that disconnect for him as an artist.

“Nigerians over there don’t really know what’s popping in Nigeria to connect with Nigeria. They just have what’s popping on Youtube but they don’t know what actually gives the feeling of like a big jam.”

Joulesdakid also talked about stage performances and how the crowd only needs to be feeling your music already, leaving the artist with less work to do.

He talked about how he tries to sometimes perform his most popular songs at the end and other times at the beginning, then introducing them to new songs to go check out on his project. “It’s all about giving them a different vibe” he explained.

To Joules, "it’s all about the experience on stage and the people identifying the music.”

On the state of Hip Hop in Nigeria, Joules thinks Nigerians are not giving the rappers enough recognition like they do South African rappers. “I don’t think rap is the problem, I think Nigerian rappers need to understand that it’s not about rap, it’s about the people listening to the rap and you need to be able to make it work.”

 

On his thoughts on Nigerian music generally, Joules says “Nigerian music is one of the fastest rising in the world right now because there’s  no one that doesn’t know at least one Nigerian song”, referencing Wizkid’s ‘One dance’ as that song which has opened the door for the world to discover other Nigerian acts.

“So I think in terms of the music, the artists are trying to push more, and get the music out of Nigeria, and it’s not like we don’t want it to just be Nigerian, we want it to be something we can stand proud of and take to the everybody else.”

“Our pop songs don’t have to be like almost nonsense.”

Speaking of Alternative music in Nigeria and the artists labeled as such, Joules lets us know he’d rather not be placed in that category because he feels like it makes such people work less hard.

 

The rapper who would rather be classed with the likes of Olamide advises that as much as those artists may be trying to push their music outside of Nigeria, they should remain aware of the fact that their primary market should be for Nigerians, and encourages them to carry the Nigerian audience along with the music.

Beef as they call it in the Nigerian rap and Hip Hop game is still quite at its infant stage. Pulse asked Joulsey what his thoughts are on the matter, and if he likes to employ that in his music. Joules says he only expresses how he feels and if that involves name calling then he is unapologetic about it.

“I wouldn’t say I do a lot of name calling but I do definitely make it a point to say how I feel and if your name is in the middle of it, then I am sorry, I have to do what I have to do.” the rapper said, however adding that if the idea of two artists just beefing is for the fun of it, it comes off as unnecessary.

 

On  measuring his music career growth, and purpose for  doing music, Joules believes he now has a clear purpose for why he is into music, which he says is to pass across messages and influence people as a confident rapper

“I know what kind of music I want to make, I know I’m a rapper. I might do different instrumentals but I’ll still rap over them."

‘’I feel like I’m more confident in my music because I’m talking about myself and no one really can have an opinion about you,  If I;m rapping about cars , If I’m just writing bars and punchlines you can choose to like the punchline or not but If I’m  telling you about my life then you really can’t have an opinion, you just have to accept it, you can either relate to it or not.”

On what’s next for Joulesdakid, the rapper reveals he is working on releasing singles, get his songs in the mix of the playlist and in the clubs and be part of the industry proper.

He would like to work with MI, Jesse Jagz, Terry Apala, Cynthia Morgan and a Tiwa Savage though he mentioned he is trying to get to that point in his career where even if he features a big artist, people would still want to hear his rap after the featured artist is done with their part.

“I don’t wanna feature somebody that would come and own my song, so it’s all a process and if you understand this, it makes it all easier to get to that point,” Joules says on featuring the big names.

Joules, when asked about his favorite Nigerian songs, tells Pulse that he doesn’t do much of listening to fellow artists’ music not because he is arrogant or anything but because it distracts from his creative process and it’s quite common among a number of artists, not just him he explained.

He, however, was able to mention four tracks he has bumped into which include Niniola’s ‘Maradona’, Falz’s ‘Jeje’, Tekno’s ‘Samantha’, Davido’s ‘Fall’ and drops his own upcoming track titled ‘RRS’ as the fifth song.

Joulesdakid shows good promise of moving forward the Nigerian Hip-Hop scene as his earlier body of works, the mixtape and the most recent "Homecoming" EP would suggest.

from pulse.ng - Nigeria's entertainment & lifestyle platform online