A Chat With PsychoYP – Leading A New Wave Of Nigerian Hip-Hop

Rising Abuja-based artist PsychoYP has been leading a new wave of music within Nigerian hip-hop. Building a healthy and consistent catalogue of music, the rapper burst onto the scene in 2017 but made himself known with his debut project “YPSZN” in 2018 capturing the ears of many. Making a bold statement, PsychoYP has since grown a large fan base and recently dropped “YPSZN2”, blending together a fusion of afrobeats, rap and trap he has formed his own distinct and wavey sound.

Paving the way for a new generation, I asked PsychoYP a few questions…

E: What drove you into wanting to pursue a career as a musician?

P: I think its amazing how your work or something you’ve created possesses the power to influence a massive amount of people, especially growing up and seeing the artistes who were doing it big on TV and the great impact they had on us over here all the way in another continent and how they were famous worldwide.

E: You released “YPSZN2” at the end of the last year, which had an amazing response. What was the main inspiration behind that tape?

P: The major inspiration behind YPSZN 2 is to solidify the fact that Hip Hop or trap music like this can be put out by Nigerians, the Nigerian way and can be accepted largely by Nigerians even to the point of charting on notable platforms.

E: You are one of the main artists pushing a new wave of sound within Nigerian Hip-Hop. Did you feel like this particular wave was missing from the scene? Do you think this will open more doors for emerging artists?

P: Yes, definitely, my kind of music was missing from the scene, because I feel like a lot of people listen to the kind of music I make and the kind of music I listen to as well, take South African music for instance, they have a wide variety of styles you can call Hip Hop but in Nigeria, they always try to make it about bars and lyrical content or you could drop a hot rap verse on an afrobeat track and that’s it. They don’t really have that range when you talk about Hip Hop. So yes, I’d say my kind of music is a breath of fresh air for Nigerian music.

E: You are part of the collective ‘Apex Village’ – Tell me more about that?

P: Apex Village Is a collection of some of the best creatives I know, everyone involved is gifted and contributes immensely to one idea, each member of Apex Village possesses a notable role. We put out our debut project ‘Welcome to The Ville’ about a year ago and we’ve racked up an impressive 700,000 plus streams, the project also got to number 1 on Apple Music charts. Apex Village isn’t about the music alone, we’re also art inclined, we’ve got photographers, film makers, graphic designers etc.

E: What advice would you give to emerging artists looking to go down a similar route?

P: I’d say, keep believing in yourself and keep doing what you know how to do. People will try to influence your decisions with their opinions or try to control but you’d realise that when you stick to what you know how to do, you become sought after even in places you least expect.

E: What’s the main goal with music for you?

P: My main goal in music personally is to touch lives. I want to be a constant reminder to anyone that they can do whatever it is they set out to do.

E: Being named as an artist to watch this 2020, can we expect anymore projects this year? Any collaborations we can look out for?

P: Yes, definitely, a lot of music, a lot of collaborations. I’m currently tryna wrap up my Masters’ degree so by summer, there’s gonna be music. I’m also tryna put out more EP’s, with producers and other artistes as well, if it works out as planned, it’s gonna be crazy.