INTERVIEW: MY DAY OUT WITH THE TRIPCITY CREW.

I couldn't guess what time it was really, my eyelids felt like they had lead weights hanging from them. There was just this constant buzz that continued to filter into my end of dreamland. It sounded like one of those grinding machines that are powered by petrol also known to Yoruba people as "PAPA PUPU". "Oh darnit"  I thought, it's a DE JAVU, a flashback from one of those days in my childhood when my mother would call me up right  when I'm about to see how VOLTRON defeats the ugly ROBEAST. Her voice would ring out loud and strong "SEUN!!! BA MI LO LOTA YII JO (seun go and grind this pepper). Suddenly I woke up and yeah...there was no grinding machine, it was just the vibration from my ringing phone amplified by the wooden headboard right above my head. "Na who be this I thought?" but when I saw the caller, it came to me in a rush..."Gosh!! my appointment with TRIPCITY was for noon and it was already 11:40 am. In a mad rush I got out of bed and got ready and by 12:50 pm I was at the gate of Ilaka street Ilupeju; the venue for the interview. By the way; in case you are wondering why I was still in bed that late in the morning, it's cos I didn't get any sleep the night before. So I found the venue: which turned out to be a recording studio: home to the widely acclaimed XO (another one of Naija's super producers). I met with the TRIPCITY Crew; Tasti and Sukiyaki. The discussion that ensued...is as below. Enjoy.

AJS: Did u always think it was going to be music?

Tasti: Nah… I never really thought it was gonna be music until I was in university, In my second year. Even though  I used to do it…since I was in primary school, my parents always used to rebuke me. You know, to them it was like music ke! (laughs). Well after I just felt like I could really do it u know..i have always wanted to so I just recorded my first song and things just kicked off from there.

AJS: Ok, so, on the real now, what was the immediate reaction of your friends when you told them you would be going into music professionally.

Tasti: (chuckles) Ah… they were like “GUY WETIN HAPPEN NA?” (laughs), but later sha, when they see you, they just start feeling your stuff now. Of course there will still be people that don’t like you (switches to pidgin) it’s a normal thing na.

AJS:  (to Sukiyaki who joins the discussion) so did you always think it would be music?

Sukiyaki: Yeah, since when I was young.

AJS: Oh so it’s different for you then?

Sukiyaki: Yeah, totally different.

AJS: So that means that the reaction would have been different when you told people that you had recorded.

Sukiyaki: People were actually expecting to hear something from me. I normally used to sing in school, I used to sing in church, until later I took it to the next stop.

SUKIYAKI & TASTI : XO's STUDIO ILUPEJU 1:17 PM

AJS: The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the two names: TASTI and SUKIYAKI I thought to myself; were these guys inspired by food, because I know that SUKIYAKI is Chinese sauce or soup.

SUK: (Cuts in) Beef soup.

 AJS: Oh, ok it means beef soup… and we all know what TASTI implies. So tell me, what were you guys thinking, when choosing those names?

TST: "TASTI".. well the name came from...eh..ok I guess it was a girl that started calling me that when she heard my music. It’s just the style of music really , you know I thought it was ok cos they used to call me Dosh before, so it’s just like different styles of music cos when I was growing up I used to listen to all kinds of music; from alternative to rock to Jazz and many others. So it’s just basically different tastes of music. It’s not just Tasti, but different tastes of different genres.

AJS: Alright, so Sukiyaki… that stemmed  from what?

SUK: First of all, my name is Sukanmi, from Sukanmi they used to call me Sukky. Now, with the kind of mischievous friends I had in school, they started calling me Sukiyaki.

AJS: So when they threw the name, it stuck?

SUK: It stuck. (laughs). Now, "SUKIYAKI" is a Japanese/Thai/Chinese dish and one thing about Chinese food is that, once you pop, you can’t stop. So once you hear my music you always want to hear more.

AJS: That’s an interesting way to look at it. Ok, moving on…is TRIPCITY a group?

TST: It’s not…it’s just a crew consisting of me and him.

AJS: Ok, since that is cleared up, tell me what’s new that you bring to the table? Nigerian music has ballooned and all kinds of acts are thriving. So what is the unique thing you are bringing in to the industry?

TST: when u listen to TripCity music, it’s quite different from other artistes out there; why? It’s cos we are versatile, we rap, we sing, we do pop, afropop, we could do Afrobeat even dance hall. So we try to fuse everything together and put it all on the same compilation. Something like the BLACK EYED PEAS.

AJS: So what you mean is that your music cannot be classified under a specific genre.

TST: Yeah that’s our plan you know, like maybe in a few years to come, when an album comes out and people listen and they hear a lot of stuff that appeals to different audiences.

AJS: From what I have heard…you know, your singles so far, what you do is rap. So you need to explain it to me, do you mean that your style of rap touches on other genres of music?

SUK: We won’t say “our own kind of rap”. We rap, sing, we do afropop, we do techno….its a fusion.

TST: Just focusing on the song itself u know, sometimes it’s not because you are a rap artiste now…if you want to achieve something on a song you might not need to rap. It’s just what you want to achieve really you know. What’s the ambience, how do you want the song to feel.

SUK: What we are just trying to do is be unpredictable.

AJS: 2011 is a fresh year, so what’s t he plan between now and Dec 2011?

SUK: We want to expand our horizon.

TST: We are looking at not just sticking to music, cos we do make good music. He (Sukiyaki) is a producer, I do a lot of art…you know, we can look at a creative way to fuse art and music together.

SUK: Also, before December we are looking at doing a few videos and a few collaborations with other artistes.

AJS: Can we get some names? The names always draw the flies…so to speak.

SUK: I don’t think we can disclose any information yet.

AJS: Where do you see Trip City in 5 years?

SUK: Tripcity Entertainment in 5 years….by God’s grace would be an entertainment Empire, we would have expanded, we would not only focus on music, we would have extended our tentacles into other sects of the entertainment industry, there’s sound production, there’s dance, there’s video production and there is graphics. Tasti does graphics…

TST: We would still be in the scope of entertainment basically. Our major aim is youths, we are looking for how we can make it…cos in the economy we are in now, there are a lot of people who don’t know what to do.

SUK: Yeah, there is no work out there right now for young people, you leave school and you are like what next?

AJS:  (to Sukiyaki) You just said that Tasti does graphics.

TST: Yeah.

AJS: Where you responsible for the promo material for Tripcity?

TST: yes

AJS: Who are you favorite foreign acts?

TST: Kanye West and Lil Wheezy.

SUK: Drake and Timbaland.

AJS: How about Naija here?

SUK: I respect EL DEE a lot. He has been in the game for a while, he sings, he raps and he has been consistent and he is producing.

AJS: (to Tasti) And you?

TST: EL DEE as well.

AJS: Wow..its EL DEE’S lucky day.

TST: I have been a Trybesmen fan for a long time.

AJS: On a lighter note..what’s your favorite movie cliché?

TST: For me I think it’s the BAD GUY fight at the end of the movie. When you just go (strikes a boxer’s pose) GEN GEN!!! (laughs), you know that part when the have beaten him down and he rises up from the ashes (laughs harder…actually we are all laughing at this point). Yeah, that’s something you  will always see in movies for years to come.

AJS: (to Skiyaki) How about you?

SUK: I’m not a movie person…I have no take on this subject.

THE TRIPCITY CREW ALONGSIDE YOURS TRULY 1:40 PM

AJS: So your song titled SHON SUN NI….where did that stem out from?

SUK: (in hush tone) SHON SUN....

TST: (suddenly bursts out loudly) ARE YOU SLEEPING!!!??? (general laughter).

AJS: Ok, now this question is gonna come out like an accusation; now its normal within our industry he comes out with his own slogan; like UTUNU, or short clichés like JOOOR OH, or with Da Grin it was that amazing laugh and with Dbanj I mean… I don’t need to say it….it was almost a national slogan. Did you guys have this at the back of your minds when you recorded that song?

TST: From my own point of view, it wasn’t really planned. We were in the studio and we were actually going to record another song, and one of our friends came in a told us; "meehn they just stole something from my car". So I was just like; guy are you serious, ah ahn, were you sleeping, SHON SUN NI? So the tune was playing and we were just like SHON SUN NI? (singing it on and on). In fact the way the first recording came out is very different from the song as it is now.

AJS: How about the other songs, what are their titles?

SUK: SHE WANNA and CATCH THE CRUISE.

AJS: So its three singles so far…are we expecting to hear more work from you guys individually?

SUK: Yeah.

TST: That’s even the plan, to have a Tripcity compilation that with the two of us cos we are a crew and not a group so after the compilation we release solo albums.

AJS: When are we expecting this compilation then?

SUK: We can’t pin it to a particular date but before the end of the year.

TST: Yeah before the end of the year, let’s just be realistic…cos before then we are doing the video you know so by God’s grace that will be out by this the end of this quarter.

AJS: What is the challenge of being an unsigned artiste?

TST: Lemme just give you a story: when I was coming here…I came all the way from the Island, I left my cash at home so I was basically stranded. I had to call Lanre (their manager) like “what will I do today?” I was there for about an hour and a half. So basically, financial constraints and a few other things.

SUK: Actually I would say it’s being recognized, there is a lot of disrespect…but the passion that we have keeps us going.

AJS: This has been fun….I would say..I wish you both the best…please say your last words to the peeps who would read this.

SUK: Watch out Tripcity, we coming soon.

TST: We’re gonna bring the shin shin to the building!!!

Discussion concluded at 1:51 pm 15^th Jan 2011.

Click  download and listen to  two TRIPCITY singles.

SHE WANNA

SHON SUN NI?