MCskill ThaPreacha (@MCThaPreacha) Speaks On The Nigerian Hip-Hop Scene & More w/@VannDigital

Nigerian emcee MCskill ThaPreacha on March 8, 2016 [Press Photo]

With the recent release of his album ‘Diary of a Supernatural‘, Nigerian emcee MCskill ThaPrecha shows no signs of slowing down. To keep the momentum going, ThaPreacha recently reached out to us over at TheDigiSpot to wax poetic with us about a good number of topics. You can give what was discussed a read below…

VannDigital: Knowing that Africa was historically the land of Afrobeat music, when–would you say–was the first time that Hip-Hop was introduced to the continent???

MCskill ThaPreacha: I think the Hip Hop culture itself started out here from Africa. From cats spitting berry juice on the walls & creating graffiti art to poets reciting spoken words backed with the drums and all that. That was Hip Hop in its purest form and all this goes way back to the 1400s. But when we talk about the music, rap music precisely, then we’re looking at 1980s / early 90s.

What made you name your latest album ‘Diary of a Supernatural‘???

It was actually just gonna be named ‘The Diary’ before I got the moniker “Supernatural” for my music not being usual in an era where negativity sells. So um… I decided to name it ‘Diary of a Supernatural’ instead. The album is what I describe as “nothing but true life stories with a little twist in the end”. *smiles*

As a native Nigerian yourself, do you feel that there is a difference in Hip-Hop in Nigeria than it is in Hip-Hop in Ghana (for example) or is it pretty much the same across the continent???

No, it’s not the same across the continent especially now that local dialect is being infused a whole lot. The atmosphere & the attitude towards the culture is also very different. Some countries vibe more with the trap sound, some vibe more with boom bap, & some just really vibe with both. So it’s different.

I see that your “Man in the Mirror” single is a personal track for you. What was the inspiration behind it???

I got fed up fam! *laughs* Every single day, everyone complains and when given the chance to be the pacesetter, they fumble. I wrote the song with that in mind and just to reach out to people who listen that they can / should be the change they wanna see. We can’t keep complaining and cursing out people who do wrong–especially the politicians–and when given the chance, we do worse things. It’s saddening. The feedback to the song has been great, I just hope the message sticks.

Nigerian rapper MCskill ThaPreacha on March 8, 2016 [Press Photo]

How did you link up with AWKWORD???

On Twitter. I reached out to him regards jumping on the remix of the monster single “The Season” and he liked it. We’ve been homies ever since. And for the record, Awk is a great great guy! Shout out to him for always keeping it real.

What do you feel can be done for the Nigerian Hip-Hop scene (as well as the Nigerian music scene, in general) in order to progress on a national (if not, global) level, if at all???

I don’t think I’m ever gonna get tired of highlighting these points:

  1. Nigerian rappers need to release better music, better videos, & support each other. It’s so vital we support each other. It’s a clash of egos right now but I’m sure we’ll get there in due time.
  2. The media support is not favorable at the moment, we need the media to support our movement more.
  3. Fans need to put their money where their mouth is. Buy your favorite rapper’s albums! Attend their shows. That’s the kind of cult-like following we need right now. If all these can be achieved, I think everything else will fall in place.

I would like to see a MCskill ThaPreacha/Teck-Zilla collabo project happen in the future. Can my wish be granted LOL???

*laughs* Damn right! That’s possible. Yo Teck! Get in here!

Will there be any other singles from ‘Diary of a Supernatural‘ after “Man in the Mirror“???

I don’t think so, I think I’m done with that album. But maybe the title track “Supernatural” could get a video before the year runs out. Maybe.

Tell us the inspiration behind the “Beats And Rhymes” series. Will there be anymore entries in the future???

The “Beats and Rhymes” series was put together when the features on the ‘DOAS’ album was taking forever. I was bored, I needed to put out materials so I thought about putting together a series which could also feature up & coming rappers. But unfortunately, I couldn’t release more than one episode–which was a huge success by the way. I think the success of the first episode couldn’t let me release more episodes as it was on Chuck D’s RAPstation Top 10 charts at that time and eventually made it to number 1. I was getting mad love and I just couldn’t kill that buzz and by the time the buzz went off a bit, my album was ready! I just had to put it out. And yeah, we could get more episodes soon before my 9th studio project drops next year. We could.

Do you have any upcoming events, tours, and/or other ventures???

Yes, I’m working on a Tour of Europe. Oh shit! I just let the cat out of the bag *laughs* I won’t say more, I think in due time when its all set, I’ll definitely shed more light on this. And expect a new album in the first quarter of 2018! Peace.