NADJEE // Interview

A Rap & A Cup Of Tea had the chance to meet Nadjee, this artist who captivates the French public thanks to his hosted titles made of R’n’B and Afro sounds. This young man, with a voice as seductive as his songs, straight from the north of Paris, has come here with great ease on his journey, as his desires for success and to go even further have grown with him. The young man, who made a hymn to Kylian Mbappé during the football World Cup this summer, was very comfortable to answer our questions with a lot of spontaneity and humour. This 24-year-old artist was able to remain himself, with much honesty present in his personal ife as well as in this interview, where he agreed to reveal many things about his playful and surprising personality.

Tell us about you Nadjee... I come from a family of musicians. Everyone makes music at home, whether it’s my sister, my parents, or my cousins. For as long as I can remember, I have had a fused relationship with music. I am borderline a born singer. (laughs). And when I arrived in college, I decided to choose the musical route, which means that in the morning, I went to school like the other students, and in the afternoon, I went to the Conservatory of Romainville near Paris where I played different instruments.

And the beatmaking – this art in which you excel – it arrived later? I was still a teenager when my dad gave me his old drum machine, and that’s when it all started. Then I tested the software of beatmaking and I never stopped creating.

'’ Things have changed today. We all make songs on the internet trying to show what we are capable of.’’

Nothing has changed since then? Not really, I’m still the same person who does what he likes and tries to change things. (laughs).

You have always bathed in the world of music, between musical theory, trumpet, drums, stage expression, etc. Have you always known from childhood that you wanted to stay in the world of music or at the time you saw things as a hobby? I’ve always enjoyed making music and I’ve never had any doubts about it. Music is my whole life and there’s nothing else I like to do as much. Music is an unlimited mission in my eyes - that’s what makes me the happiest.

I saw that you started making videos of beatmaking in 2015, then in 2016, you posted ‘Voyager’ that was an immediate success. How comes you want to move from composition to interpretation? I have always composed since adolescence and my problem is that I always kept my compositions for me without ever releasing them. And one day, a friend of mine decided to film me, but at the core it was just to release my work on social networks, so I started with ‘ORBEAT’. My entourage who always knew I was singing then really encouraged me to put my songs online to show what I was really capable of. It’s hard for an artist in 2018 to succeed in placing themselves in the music industry without going through a record company.

You make a reference about that in your last release ‘Zumba’ sound when you say ‘‘I want views’’. I think it’s like anything in life: yes it’s hard. (laughs). No matter what you do, if you want to prove that you are the best in your field, you have to hang on and always stay persevering. It’s important to do what you love in life.

How would you describe your music? Wow, that’s an impossible question! (laughs). Some people say I sing, others will say I rap. In urban music there is so much variety - nothing that Hip-Hop is as a musical style from different genres can describe my music. Let’s say that my music has a great Hip-Hop influence, mixed with Afro and Latin sounds for the rest, I let the listeners judge by themselves. (laughs).

Do the labels seek to change you as an artist? It is true that often we have this idea received, but in my case, it is not that. The truth is that young people today do not pay enough attention to what is written on the contract, they are not businessmen enough in their souls. (laughs). It is every kid’s dream to make money whilst making music. It’s easy money. So, the day the industry ask him to change some things, he’s a little lost and he doesn’t understand what’s going on. A contract is something to negotiate and we should not let someone want to change our image. But I think things have changed today. We all make songs on the internet trying to show what we are capable of and I think the labels are now there to give us the financial support we lacked.

'’ Music is an unlimited mission in my eyesthat’s what makes me the happiest. '’

How did you come up with the idea of making a song about Mbappé – a football player who won the 2018 football World Cup? On Instagram, I have launched a small series of video called ‘Inspiration of the Day’, where I show the evolution of a song: from its beginning until the moment I put my voice on it and it starts from there. In all honesty I don’t really know what made me do it. (laughs). I always do theme songs where I tell stories, and there I felt inspired by the person. It is as if I had found myself in him, in his perseverance and his mastery in what he likes to do. He has football and I have music.

You often talk about women in your songs... The question that all the girls ask themselves and to which none of the rappers ever really answer is: When you write a song that speaks to a love of seduction, do you have a woman or women in mind? It depends on the artist, I guess. (laughs). Personally, I am not a false storyteller, so when I talk about a woman, I really speak of her and not of another. When I write a text, I often put myself in the shoes of another so often it has nothing to do with my own story as well. (laughs).

Are you preparing an album at the moment? At the moment I focus on ‘Universe’, the project I launched a few months ago which featured my latest songs like ‘Kamikaze’ and ‘Dans 100 ans’ The album will come after I think.

Words © Fanny Hill Scott

Photography © Estelle Mithra