Much like most hip-hop released in 2016, Jidenna isn’t easy to categorise. Despite a limited discography, the nomadic MC has shrugged off convention and trends in favour of a YOLO beat buffet, drawing as much inspiration from Afrobeat as it does contemporary hip-hop. Similarly, it’s as easy to hear the influence of KRS-One in Jidenna’s approach as it is Fela Kuti.
At his core, Jidenna is a throwback to an era long past, when Africa medallions and stoic black fists populated the rap landscape. An educated, eloquent and determined rapper delivering his message with no compromise. The message is nothing new, but in 2016 is most definitely different. In a crowd of Sad Boys and nihilistic rappers, Jidenna preaches ambition and education.
Despite having only a handful of singles and a Luke Cage cameo to his name, Jidenna has the life experience of a man decades-deep in the game. We took a few minutes of his time to get to better understand one of the most interesting a promising rappers from the class of 2016.
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As an artist who spent a significant portion of his upbringing in Nigeria, Jidenna is well aware of not only the diverse and exciting music scene in Africa, but the many cultural and economic opportunities on offer across the continent. During a recent interview with Hot 97’s Ebro, Jidenna commented on the African diaspora, stating “if we fully embrace it, we’ll be in a completely different situation than what we’re in now. And the music is the spearhead.”
Pressed on what exactly he believes would happen if there were stronger connections between countries across the diaspora, Jidenna is animated and optimistic.
“It’s infrastructure,” he says. “It can start with entertainment, it can start with publishing, it can start with streaming all across the African continent. And the artists are getting paid for those streams, and are getting paid for royalties on radio. Then it'll move into other industries, into health care, into roads. Then it'll go where the prices will drop, from the US cities direct to African cities, cos more people are going, and it's not just African people who are going, but African-Americans, Caribbean-Americans all the way to Central America.”
“What I'm telling you is not just what I want to happen, it's actually what is going to happen. If we can hear more voices, we're gonna see a change. When the flights become shorter and you can go to places in Australia, and you bring something from your American culture, and you meet somebody in Sydney that changes your life, that conversation then changes and informs the entire world. And it becomes a better world because of diversity. It's always better. I want the African diaspora to have a voice in the world. We need to so that the world is better. I just know that that's gonna happen.”
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Jidenna’s debut long player Long Live The Chief is yet to secure a concrete release date, but the album will include a BBC documentary, shot on location around Africa as the Nigerian-born artist tours the continent. The feature is the result of pioneering co-operation between Epic Records, Sony Music West Africa and Sony Music South Africa.
“One of the highlights is me going home, to Enugu Nigeria, seeing my house, where I come from.” Says Jidenna, offering a glimpse at what will likely be a very personal documentary. “When I went home I had kids at my primary school singing to me, they had flags everywhere in the town with my face on it, and the Nigerian flag. There's just so much pride, and it was such a royal welcome. And I'm not from high esteemed royalty. My father's from the bush, he went to MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] from the bush.”
“Going back to where we’re from, it's a humbling day and it centres the entire narrative," Jidenna explains. "So people don't just see me as a guy in a suit that's always been this, African James Bond or whatever [laughs].”