Abbas
Not only has he an obvious savvy of Hip hop and a clear sense of music and art, he is also amongst the artists who pioneered Rap music in the wider region of East Africa. Bet you didn’t know that among his musical heroes is Yousou Ndou, but still he needs no introduction. Anthony Nabiliki speaks to Abas a.k.a. Dobiez
Thanks man, I’ve been good. Right now I am basically concentrating on my music and then on the side on my art. I am currently working on a song called chapa, which is actually on its last editing phases of the video. I am also working on a song called Manoti, which features Sandra Sandals.
I started out back in 1994 during the famous Florida 2000 rap battles. That was the starting point of my music, which has grown and evolved steadily to be what it is right now. That is when we started out as K South Flava, which comprised of Bamboo, my brother KC and Myself
There in is both sides of me because everybody has two sides to them. So I go by those two names, Abas and Dobiez. Dobiez is basically the guy who Does Business and is always busy in town plying his trade while Abass is the guy who hits the studio and expresses himself musically.
Hip hop in rap music is like a sport and many people actually make an everyday living out of it. Beef is also like a sport, but beef has to be there for a reason otherwise it would not be sensible. It is important because in a way it helps to raise the standards in the music industry especially Rap Music. It is sort of like a platform where people express their right of freedom of speech. As they can say what they want and if anybody has anything to say against what they perceive as their opinion, they also have the right to front their own opinion and what they think which at the end of the day is translated as beef. So in its own way it brings out the creative juices in an artist.
I do art professionally. I am a painter and my painting encompasses brush painting, palette knife painting and I also do graffiti murals. Apart from music I take my art very seriously since that is how I earn my daily bread.
It has been fair and unfair at the same time. Fair in the sense that it is an avenue for musicians to gain good publicity but unfair when the media talk about an artist when they don’t have their facts right and go ahead to publish with their own selfish reason to get paid. See this affects the artist when whatever has been aired about him is untrue, he can’t stand and say no and even if he or she did it wont be printed or aired. I think some people in the media are trying to create their own patterns so they can run the industry but that is wrong since it is the musicians who run the industry and the people decide what they want to listen to.
Kenya ?
Hip hop has a future because people are beginning to understand it while more and more artists are coming up with better lyrics. People are gradually getting to the level of understanding the art aspect in it so the future is quite bright.
Firstly to myself. When I say looking up to myself it is to compete with myself and become better everytime I come out. Since I was young I have been listening to Youssou Ndou and Miriam Makeba. Youssou is very musical and he has greatly inspired me. This time when I some out with my other album I’ll be more musical towards that direction. He is one of the two artists who’ve ever inspired me once I started really understanding what music is. The other one being Bob Marley.
I want people to respect music and strive to fully understand it. To some people music is inborn and that is the only way they know to best express themselves. Imagine a world without music? Music will never die as long as we have breath in our lungs and we can speak out with our tongues and have voices in our souls, we shall always keep it alive because it is an integral part of mankind.
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