As with all purposeful ventures, King with his 90s baby movement is out to spread some good to all who come his way through his music and more.
Idris King started in 2014 with a song titled ‘90s baby’, and sold merchandise clothing to promote the song, after which the idea of a 90s baby brand started brewing.
He began partnering with organizations in London to promote himself, moved back to Lagos, partnered with some friends to start a 90s baby podcast and then a 90s baby visual show.
He talks about his goals through the eyes of the 90s baby brand, from events to media and merchandise clothing.
“The goal is to achieve all of this simultaneously,” Idris says about the individual elements making up 90s baby.
“You’re not just buying the cloth, you’re buying a piece of history, that you pass to your children,” he says about the 90s baby merchandise clothing brand.
He also clarifies that the 90s baby is for those that can resonate with the vision and brand.
On what 90s baby is about, Idris says 90s baby is about the people, everyone that is doing something for the brand is a 90s baby ambassador. He also tries to explain how the brand is different from any other brand, says he and his team are still in the process of mapping out exactly what the 90s baby brand will be known for.
He, however, gives some insight into the ideas such as a 90s baby Sound Off music event, themed events marked around special holidays such as Christmas and Easter.
About who a 90s baby artist is, King says the acts that have been performing at the Sound Off are not officially 90s baby signed artists so to speak, explaining that the platform just serves to support and give them some exposure. Idris who is an artist himself talked about how he started making music, making beats and standing out among his mates in high school in the music department.
The day he dropped ‘Squad’ sometime in March, was when he tells Pulse he decided to take the rap thing seriously. King credits his working relationship with Santi and Bankyondbeatz on the record as being inspirational.
Idris recounts as fate would have it meeting Bankyondbeatz at a boat party in London, and asking to organize a listening party for Bankyondbeatz’s project which he accepted and also in return had Bankyondbeatz work on the single Squad a song he had been working on for a year. That mutual working relationship paid off as the song and video to 'Squad' is out now as I type this.
Western Hip Hop and rap music Idris enthused, also had an influence on him, citing music from the likes of Asap Rocky and Skepta.
On how he’d describe his sound, King says “When the sound is dope, you know t hat it is King, but he also makes it clear he doesn’t want to be labelled as just a rapper, stating that he raps, sings, as well as produces.
Asked about what his biggest influence is, Idris opens up saying “The girl I like is my biggest influence,” he said, revealing that he is working on a song about her, which he was kind enough to drop some bars in the song which goes a little something like “She said she my biggest fan, Yeah I’m her biggest fan too, she makes dope shit I make dope shit too.”
He went on to talk about how grateful he is for her and the role she’s playing in his life as it were.
“I thank her for opening my mind on how things could be thought of, I think that in life, perspective plays a key part in your happiness or unhappiness, or in your success or lack of success, so she might not know but I’m really grateful for her, she’s also a visual artist and she’s amazing.”
On what he sees as differentiating the 90s era from other eras in terms of the music style and sound, King had kind words to say about the music era now and before the 90s but expressed fears of some artists in beginning to try to imitate other new wave artists’ sound
“Every era has had fantastic music, one of my hopes for Nigeria and this new wave is that no one tries to replicate what another man has done”.
Speaking of women in Nigerian music, Idris King is of the opinion that the women need to be more aggressive because the country is already unfair to them.
“Your work has to be 10 times what the man might put in just because of where they are,” he says about female Nigerian musicians.
On the future of 90s baby and other new wave brands alike, King believes they can’t do it all alone, saying they need mentorship and patrons that believe in what they are doing, to support and keep the movement alive.
He cites the likes of Pulse and PGM sessions for mentoring, supporting and exposing good initiatives like the 90s baby to the public, and calls out for more financial and moral support from such mentors.
He tells us about his first major stage performance back in French school during a music class, narrating how they were given an assignment to research about a song in French, and how that assignment has turned out to inspire his forthcoming EP “La Class” coming out in June which bothers on swag and class. He talks about feeling so free as he performed in front of his peers.
Idris once again reiterated as the interview went further that his purpose for making music is to have a positive influence on people, to show them the light and the way, hence he describes one of his characters as “Good arrogance”.
On what that point where he feels he has achieved all he wants with his music career and life, King said “It’s getting to perform in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro Brazil,” and also be celebrated for what he loves to do just like a Fela or Bob Marley although stressing that he wouldn’t want to end up tragically like those icons did.
from pulse.ng - Nigeria's entertainment & lifestyle platform online
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