14 minute read
S.PRI NOIR // Interview
How can we best describe one of the most charismatic rappers in French Rap? At the same time, as an artist, fashion muse, artistic director and co-director, we must emphasize the fact that S.Pri Noir undoubtedly has more than one string to his bow.
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An artist of many talents, S.Pri Noir remains above all a humble, simple artist, with a lot of modesty regarding his career. The one who grew up in the district of Les Fougères in Paris, took the time to answer questions from A Rap & A Cup Of Tea with great sincerity and tact.
Always working on many projects, S.Pri remains vague about his age and first name, but has taken the time to talk about his last album État D'Esprit. Released last April, he worked hard on it in order to offer his fans an even more grandiose album than its predecessor, Masque Blanc. From marketing, to communication, and the choice of cover; nothing has been left to chance.
S.Pri Noir proves once again that he has a hand in everything he does, and reveals insights into his passion and true state of mind.
The French Rap scene knows you and worships you, the Francophones salute your talent without a doubt... But how can you describe your style in French Rap to an English-speaking audience who wants to know you?
I would say I’m involved. (laughs) Whether it’s visually or melodically speaking, I’m on all fronts. Even talking about fashion or business... I am everywhere. I work hard to be involved.
Your latest album, État D'Esprit, is a resounding hit. Everyone is unanimous; both at the networks and in the press. This project is lit, and you have left nothing to chance. Did you expect so much excitement from the audience?
No, not at all, it surprises me every time. Even if you work very hard on a project, you still have some humility, and you wonder about how the project will be perceived by people. You, as an artist - you worked hard on it, you went to the wall with your team, and the people around you who could listen to the album congratulate you... But will this opinion be shared by as many people as possible? That’s the real question. (laughs) You don’t know, maybe you’re completely off target... so you’re always surprised by people’s enthusiasm. Especially since it was complicated to release an album during quarantine.
Speaking of containment, I heard that you were even advised not to release your project because of Covid-19... What made you change your mind?
Precisely, I never changed my mind, and I wanted to release this album at all costs. (laughs) Already, I told myself that it was a rather complicated period to manage for people and I wanted to offer them some entertainment. In terms of marketing, I was able to seize the opportunity it would be for us. We live in a consumer society, where when your album comes out, there are 10 others released at the same time and there will be 10 more the following week. In the end, people don’t even really have time to listen to your project because there are so many. So, from an artistic and marketing point of view, I thought it was good to say to myself: “There's no more going out at the moment given the current climate, so people will have time to listen to it and savour the project properly.” For me, it was the 'right' time to release this project - even if the album might not be listened to as much as expected. At the moment, our way of consuming music has changed. For example, the fact that people no longer take public transport while listening to music is felt on the streaming services with a decrease of 30%. People may have enjoyed the album more than they would have done otherwise and that’s positive.
You think the way to present this new album was as an integral part of the project?
Yes, quite frankly! It’s completely part of the project. I got excited to create 3D animations with my avatar as if it were a video game. With my team, we also created a kind of application with questions/answers. For me, it’s important, it allows you to guide people on your project too. The promo around the release of an album is like a moving train that you guide, and you have to make people want to be part of the journey and get on board.
Satisfying your audience is something important to you or you don’t put too much pressure on this side in "I do what I like and we’ll see how it goes"?
Yes, satisfying my audience is important to me because I see it as an exchange. It’s like I’m a Formula One driver and they’re Formula One, if you know what I mean? I drive them where I want to drive them without overheating the machine by going too far or accelerating too hard... I also think that now people better understand my musical vision because this is not my first project and so they already know what I like to do with music.
In your interviews you often talk about the importance of defending a long-term project as an artist and you also advise listeners to listen to a project several times before they want to give their opinion... Can you tell me more about that?
Those who criticize without having bothered to listen to it annoy me. (laughs) You can say that a project is bad only if you have listened to it from A to Z several times. If you allow yourself to criticize a project without having really listened to it, that's because you criticize to criticize. You clearly cannot have a constructive opinion on it. It's also important to listen to it under different conditions, it allows you to have a better understanding. Albums come out at 00:00am and at 00:10am people on Twitter are already talking about it... It's mad! Whether it’s positive or negative, you can’t judge an album that fast and say “it’s so lit” after 10 minutes.
At the same time, your album was barely out and fans were already asking for the album to be reissued. It must be a nice feeling to see that they're never satisfied and always ask for more?
Before, I thought to myself: “Bro, try to enjoy what has just come out, the rest can wait” but it's true that now I take a step back and I tell myself that it's nice to see that my music is constantly arousing interest. Before I had mixed feelings about it, because with the previous album, people had criticized me for making too many songs at once. With État D'Esprit I tried to change that, and now people are asking for more... (laughs)
We also see that on this album you worked really hard, and there's a whole storyline that's important... How did you come up with the idea?
Actually, it came with the songs. You realize that the more you evolve in the project creation, the more you notice that there are songs that respond to each other. For example, the songs “Pin Code 878” and “Pin Code 778” were not named like that at first, but after thinking about it, you find them a logical sequence. In fact, you just realize that there are three songs that speak of a chick, and that the story evolves, and you think that it would be nice to show it in the form of a storyline by adding interludes to get the message across. It allows you to maintain a common thread to your album too.
During the album promo you implied that you alredy got some lit songs in store for your fans... In your live with Fif from Booska-P, Still Fresh - a rapper and friend of yours - suggests that if he's not present on the first opus it's perhaps because he will be there after... And also, on the virtual experience of État D'Esprit, there's the question “Where's the feat with Nekfeu?” - because each time your shared projects turns into a real hit - and you answer by saying that all the secrets of this album haven't yet all been delivered ... What can we expect then?
There are things in the future for sure... After all, you know, it’s still art and it’s not Cartesian. Between us, we don’t say “We do a feat on this day and we launch it out on this day etc.”. There's a lot of chance and what we call “accidents” that can come and shake everything up. Sometimes you can end up in the studio with someone and all you’re gonna do is talk without recording anything. And the next session, because you’ve been talking a lot and listening to songs together, it’s going to give way to a lot of ideas to record something great.
Tell me more about the "accidents"!
To use the example of Nekfeu, in fact, all the songs we made together were “accidents” so only songs that supposedly shouldn't have taken place. Same thing for the song 'Mon Crew' with Nemir, I ask him to put his twist on the song to see what it gives, and in the end, I see that it was truly lit! I asked him to sing in Arabic on the song and he said something like “I never sang in Arabic like that, it’s not possible blablabla”. I tell him that I don’t have time to find someone else because I have to return my album the following week and in the end it’s one of the songs that worked best on my Masque Blanc album.
On Instagram, I saw names like Ninho, Dinos, Damso, Vald... fans can keep hope to see these feats come true?
As we say, God controls all of this... but yes, of course there’s always a way. Especially since some of them are people with whom I have already collaborated, or whom I know from near or far. And most importantly, I love what they do and their music.
The 'Salades' song is completely different from the rest of the album... How did you come up with such a piece?
It all started with Biggie-Jo, the beatmaker I work with most of the time. As soon as I heard the prod, I was like “Waaa it’s really heavy” and I started to lay my voice down on it, and the chorus came to me instinctively. Without lying to you, I just followed the vibe. In truth, on this piece, I wanted to have fun, whether technically or vocally, I wanted to do something different. I don’t know if you noticed, but I used three different types of voices and that’s something I'm not used to doing. It was sort of like a playground you know. (laughs)
On the album, we also find this idea of universality that seems to be close to your heart. In the form of a story or even through your experience, you manage to pass messages in which everyone can recognize themselves, as you did on Masque Blanc with “La Belle Est La Bête” or here with État D'Esprit. Once again, we can all find ourselves in few songs like “911” in feat with Dadju for example. Is it important for you to give your fans the chance to find themselves in your words?
Yes, it's important, and especially I like to be able to transcribe different kinds of mood through my album. For example, there are sounds that you listen to during the day as opposed to songs which you’re more prone to listening to at night, or on certain occasions, you know... and I like to put that forward. Sometimes, you'll focus on some songs for days, weeks, or even months depending on your emotions and the period you are going through. And in my eyes, everyone travels among these different types of mood, whether you are sad or happy etc... As a listener myself, I follow that logic, so as an artist, I try to talk about myself whilst still keeping it much more general.
Speaking of universality, one thing that seems even more important to you is to show that the human being in himself is far more important than his skin color. Once again, you show it in the choice of your cover...
You see, the color is clearly a mixture of black, white and gray, so it’s not binary. I wanted to show that it was the same for life and human beings. Nothing is ever black or white, no color predominates over any other, life's a mixture of everything. You don’t judge a person by their skin colour, their origins or even their way of speaking; you judge a person by the beneficial things they do and nothing else.
We also see you as a guest in the series Validé and we also saw your spy skills in the clip ‘4 litres 2’. After music and fashion, would you like to be in a movie?
Yeah definitely, it will be a new experience to try and new things to discover. It would be a new challenge for me but I think it's a lot of work and investment too.
Speaking of fashion, it’s not a secret, you're a true fashion muse for brands such as Adidas or Cartier. I also heard that you have already created your own clothes for some of your clips... Is that something you would like to develop even more in the future?
Yes, of course, I’m totally interested! To tell you the truth, I hesitate between developing my own clothing brand or developing my merchandising... or both at the same time... It's clearly a project for sure! For example, with the album, we created a box in which there's a shirt, and it’s not much for sure, but at least it remains a first project. I think this one is different because there’s not a big logo on it that really makes it merchandising you know? It stays subtle, and you can wear it with everything. Anyone who buys my shirt remains a supporter because obviously my name is written on it, but can be worn every day without being seen as an hardcore fan, you know what I mean?
And between all these projects that you lead; whether it’s music, fashion, acting, the production of your clips on which you are co-director, etc. How do you find the balance between all?
You sleep little... (laughs) On average, I’d say it’s only 4 - 5 hours of sleep a day if you want to be active on all fronts. Every day I work on my projects, I take the time to refine them, to develop them... it’s a lot of appointments and obligations too. The secret's a lot of work and little sleep. (laughs)
How do you define your priorities?
I'd say that my priorities are defined by my personal development. I change my priorities according to where my happiness will be. The advantage of my current life is that I’m lucky enough to run my own boat as I see fit. For example, I can say “Today I’m going to make some songs” and I’m going to do that all day long, and then my priority will be music. Of course, I always have to make phone calls right to left or manage obligations, but it doesn't prevent me from having the opportunity to manage my projects quite freely.
Going back to your clips, they’re all amazing visually and we can see all the work behind them. From ‘Skylander’ to ‘Highlander’ and recently you went even further with ‘T'as Capté’. The clip is ultra-heavy with crazy landscapes... Are you the artistic director of all these?
Yes, I'm the artistic director, and sometimes even the co-director. It’s important for me to really get involved in everything I do. Often, I come up with my basic idea and I explain to the director what I'd like to do and we see what's possible or not. Of course, there's always a budget story that comes into play. In all my clips, I think there’s always this resourceful side of me coming out. I always try to hijack the thing to get the result I want without spending astronomical amounts, you know? A lot of times it’s the trickle-down, “You want a helicopter but it's not realistic with your budget? Well, this guy knows someone who can do this for you.” In the end, you have the impression that the clip is ultraexpensive, whereas it's not thanks to your resourceful side.
Instagram: @Sprinoir
Words © Fanny Hill Scott // Photography © Fifou
