{"id":116342,"date":"2022-12-06T11:39:13","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T09:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=116342"},"modified":"2022-12-07T11:02:19","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T09:02:19","slug":"psycho-yp-ypszn3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/psycho-yp-ypszn3\/","title":{"rendered":"PsychoYP, keeping the Nigerian rap dream alive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It\u2019s widely accepted that Nigeria pulses to the bewitching rhythm of the all-devouring afrobeats, with the likes of Burna Boy, Wizkid, Ayra Starr and Asake topping the charts. But PsychoYP\u2019s high-class, abrasive lyricism and game-changing approach to drill, trap and other rap subgenres just can\u2019t go unnoticed. Since 2016 and his very first EP <em>Lost in The Sauce<\/em> launching his Soundcloud career, the young Nicholas Ihua-Maduenyi has remained consistent. In Summer 2018, he put his name and his city &#8211; Nigeria\u2019s capital Abuja, on the rap map with his fourth release, the infamous <em>YPSZN<\/em>. A refreshing drop with tracks like \u201cOga\u201d. The single later remixed with Dremo, Ycee and Blaqbonez, blew up and showcased his undeniable potential to broader audiences. In Winter 2019, he delivered the successful follow-up <em>YPSZN2<\/em>. The project received praise and critical acclaim from fans, media and awards ceremonies alike. Surely he wouldn\u2019t be able to top it?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, PsychoYP is not only extremely prolific, but equally talented. His joint project with Apex Village signee Azanti brilliantly explored the singer\u2019s afro-fusion universe, and revealed the rapper&#8217;s softer side as the duo explored life, love and relationships on slow-tempo jams. Then his 2021 solo album <em>Euphoria<\/em> only confirmed what YP already knew, he\u2019s bringing +234 rap back, and there is no stopping him. A year later, the release of his latest opus <em>YPSZN3<\/em> marks both the end of an era and the beginning of something bigger. PsychoYP doesn\u2019t have anything else to prove. He is now aiming at international rap icon status.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We spoke with PsychoYP online while he was on the move. He detailed his world-domination plan as his chauffeur pierced through Lagos traffic, the sweet sounds of horns and driver feuds blaring in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"PsychoYP - Silent Mode [Explicit] (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b0zfGwsO9rc?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Albums and EPs included, YPSZN3 is your eighth project so far. If you look at the timeline of your career, where would you place the defining&nbsp; \u201cdamn, I&#8217;m really doing this\u201d moment?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the first <em>YPSZN<\/em>. I think there was an appeal. Everyone was waiting for a second one. The first project was just some random piece. It wasn&#8217;t like I had anyone besides me. It was just me making music, and people really liked it. But people were waiting for a second one from me. And I&#8217;m like, \u201c<em>if people are looking for me like this, then that means I\u2019m definitely doing something right<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Having established this high standard and anticipation for your projects, what was the process around <em>YPSZN3<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/onerpm.lnk.to\/YPSZN3\"><em>YPSZN3<\/em><\/a> is the one where I said \u201c<em>okay, I want to sit down and rap on this project<\/em>\u201d. <em>YPSZN2<\/em> was more of a trap project. I was trying to own this trap sound. But <em>YPSZN3<\/em> is more of a rap vibe. It\u2019s to show you that this kid is a rapper. He&#8217;s not a singer, a trapper, or whatever. He can make trap music but he&#8217;s a rapper. He can rap for you. I feel like that is what I showed people on <em>SZN3<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tell me about your single \u201cBando Diaries\u201d and the magic between you and Odumodublvck.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBando Diaries\u201d was meant to be a single off the project, like an official single. I went to the studio one day with Odumodu, and I sent him that song first. He liked the song and said, \u201clet\u2019s do a verse\u201d. So he took it home and sat down, and thought about it. But then we did a whole different song in the studio. And when he sent the song back, I was like \u201c<em>no, this can\u2019t be no remix. This has to be the official one<\/em>\u201d. We have so many songs, we have a project. I feel like the chemistry is just crazy and it&#8217;s a cool vibe. I think everyone enjoys listening to a YP and Odumodu track. Same as with an Azanti and YP album. I think it\u2019s just up there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"PsychoYP - Bando Diaries feat. Odumodublvck (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d26dz2Wp7zE?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why do you think it works so well?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don&#8217;t know. I feel like there are just some certain people I make very good music with, Azanti being number one. With Odumodu, we have songs I didn&#8217;t even think I was gonna be doing. We have some crazy ass music that people don&#8217;t really expect to hear, but it&#8217;s gonna come out soon. I don&#8217;t know. It\u2019s just God. He just brings certain people together, and we just make magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The strength of this project is also how diverse it is in terms of production. \u201cNigerian man\u201d has this really cool Tokyo drift sample, for example.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was intentional. That&#8217;s mainly on the producer Sphero. He&#8217;s this kid from England. He\u2019s trying to put out this afro-trap, hip-hop type of sound. He puts his elements on beats that nobody really uses. So I fuck with the sound. And the whole Tokyo Drift sample is just an afro beat mixed with this sound, and I don\u2019t think anybody would give you that. That&#8217;s why he&#8217;s on my project, on like four different songs. I feel there&#8217;s more coming from him and I&#8217;m definitely gonna help him. Watch out for that producer!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do you have an interest in producing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I engineer myself, so I mix my own stuff. But I have a whole bunch of producers sending a whole bunch of beats. I have a whole group of people I initially put in a chat when I started music. We all started music together. So it&#8217;s like 12 producers just in one group chat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1010\" height=\"850\" src=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PsychoYP-New-004-2-2-1010x850.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-116347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PsychoYP-New-004-2-2-1010x850.jpeg 1010w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PsychoYP-New-004-2-2-759x639.jpeg 759w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PsychoYP-New-004-2-2-661x556.jpeg 661w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PsychoYP-New-004-2-2-465x391.jpeg 465w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PsychoYP-New-004-2-2-375x316.jpeg 375w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PsychoYP-New-004-2-2.jpeg 1400w\" sizes=\"(min-width:1010px) 759px,100vw\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>\u00a9 Iyare Eghiaruwa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You toured with Rema in North America this year. What were your best experiences there?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think it was when I went on stage in Dallas. The crowd was crazy, man. I feel like they didn&#8217;t even know me, but the music I was performing was the stuff they fuck with. In Dallas and ATL, it was their type of music. So from the jump, I really enjoyed those two performances. I went to Philly and I played some unreleased music on a street, after one of the shows. And it was just mad people dancing. I think I played track three on a project. So it wasn&#8217;t even out yet, but people were just on the street dancing and I was just like \u201c<em>wow, that&#8217;s crazy<\/em>\u201d. Cause I don&#8217;t really see people do that here.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Coming back to Nigeria, the country is dominated by afrobeats. But how do you go against the \u201cafrobeats monster\u201d when it comes to labels, radio play, etc?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I could drop \u201cBando Diaries\u201d with Odumodublvck and it could take a couple of months to get, let&#8217;s say half a million streams on Apple music. But I could drop \u201cStronger\u201d and it\u2019s gonna be up, DJs playing it and all of that just because it\u2019s afrobeats. But at the end of the day, it is what it is. I&#8217;m in Nigeria, so I can&#8217;t really complain. I\u2019ll be focusing on pushing it where people are gonna listen to it. If I drop an afro track, it&#8217;s gonna go off easy cause it&#8217;s me. But then, you just have to put in that work for the rap. You have to keep rapping, just keep feeding them the rap. And that&#8217;s why right now, I feel like if there&#8217;s a rap conversation, my name has to come up, whether you like it or not.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What advice do you have for upcoming rappers on the Nigerian scene?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don&#8217;t try to be what you&#8217;re not. It&#8217;s still gonna catch up to you when you are outside. And the industry is crazy. So just be original and do what you know you can handle. The pressure is a lot, bro. People are putting in hours. So just do what you can handle and just leave the rest to God.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"PsychoYP - IC3 (feat. Zilla Oaks &amp; BackRoad Gee) [Official Audio]\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o9duupAjO_c?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Le\u2019s talk about Apex Village. You\u2019ve told PAM you grew up listening to Young Money artists. Do you feel like you&#8217;re building an empire with Apex, the way Lil Wayne did with Young Money?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s what I&#8217;m trying to do. But you know, being in Nigeria, a place where afrobeats is leading everything, you\u2019re better off doing a whole afrobeats crew. But people have been asking for a new project. I just think letting everyone just grow on their own for a minute is the best thing for the group. Because once everyone has their own body of work out, like Azanti &#8211; he is already up there, signing with a label in America, once everyone has their own ground and it&#8217;s time to do the next project, I think it&#8217;s just gonna be bigger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What&#8217;s Apex\u2019s motto as a collective?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, we just trying to make it out of the trenches, bro. We&#8217;re still trying to do a lot for ourselves. Everybody knows there&#8217;s still a lot to do to be a big artist from Nigeria. You have to go through a lot to get on that level, you have to go through so much. So we just wanna put in work now and have this powerhouse at the back, which is Apex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You call Azanti your biological son. But using the term the way it\u2019s meant in rap music, do you feel like you have sons in the industry?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh yeah. I do have sons in this industry. But that\u2019s my real biological son, come on. That&#8217;s someone that I started working with when he was a kid. He couldn&#8217;t even mix his stuff properly, bro. So I just helped. Then, I told you I had a group chat with like 12 producers. I took him, put him in there to work with all my producers to help build his sound, for engineering and everything. So yeah, that&#8217;s my boy and it\u2019s still going. I saw a bit of myself in him, like being so young and being able to do all of that, the way he writes, and his ethic. People talk about how fast I send back my verses, but when we started music together, it was just back and forth, easy. I would ask him to calm down at some point. He was recording a lot. So yeah, Azanti is my son, man. We\u2019re literally the same. He&#8217;s just younger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What would like to be remembered for?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A person that brought rap back. I think 10, 20 years from now when people look back, they\u2019re going to say \u201cYP was the one that kept the rap lights on\u201d. That\u2019s if I don\u2019t stop, but I\u2019ll probably never stop. I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s anybody else out there really pushing people to keep rapping and keep doing what they want to do like I&#8217;m doing right now. I&#8217;m still signing artists. Nobody\u2019s trying to sign an artist right now. Buju is not trying to sign any artists and put them on right now. Victony is not trying to sign anybody right now. Who else is big? Ladipoe isn\u2019t signing anybody to put them on right now. Rema isn\u2019t trying to do that right now. I\u2019ve done it, I\u2019m doing it, and I\u2019m in the process of doing it some more. I\u2019m just trying to push the culture. I\u2019m just here rapping. I\u2019m not even trying to make the same music as the people I\u2019m signing, or taking any of their sounds. I\u2019m just doing me and allowing them to get whatever they deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/onerpm.lnk.to\/YPSZN3\"><em>YPSZN3<\/em><\/a> is out now via Apex Village. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1010\" height=\"1010\" src=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/YPSNZ3-PsychoYP-1010x1010.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-116083\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/YPSNZ3-PsychoYP-1010x1010.jpeg 1010w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/YPSNZ3-PsychoYP-759x759.jpeg 759w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/YPSNZ3-PsychoYP-100x100.jpeg 100w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/YPSNZ3-PsychoYP-661x661.jpeg 661w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/YPSNZ3-PsychoYP-465x465.jpeg 465w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/YPSNZ3-PsychoYP-375x375.jpeg 375w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/YPSNZ3-PsychoYP-200x200.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/YPSNZ3-PsychoYP-85x85.jpeg 85w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/YPSNZ3-PsychoYP-73x73.jpeg 73w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/YPSNZ3-PsychoYP.jpeg 1200w\" sizes=\"(min-width:1010px) 759px,100vw\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>YPSZN3, the final installment of the 24-year-old rapper&#8217;s outstanding trilogy, is proof that Nigerian rap is alive and well. Like Lil Wayne in &#8217;07, PsychoYP is building an empire, and a dream team to go with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":116347,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7833,7835],"tags":[40771,23741],"location":[8172],"yst_prominent_words":[8403,25915,25910,11368,8933,8618,15681,8402,20928,8543,11053,11340,8545],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116342"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116342"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=116342"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=116342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}