Eyirap – Interview

This year has been a very active music season for the Eyirap as she keeps dropping singles after singles… This time around, she actually went hard on it with a heavy based instrumentals laced by 3D Pyramid’s Hype Lyrix… The most exciting thing about this music is, we were there right from its nursery stages up to the finishing point… EyiRap once again defined her versatility and her skilful way of putting lyrics together in different languages… This has never happened in the history of Ghanaian rap! EyiRap is really an outstanding and talented artiste who is ready to shake up the Ghanaian Femcee world!

What is your name?   My name is Antoinette Eyiram Awumey but I am known in the music scene as Eyirap. I am a female rap/Afrobeat/Afrodancehall artiste.

Where are you from?   I come from West Africa, Ghana to be precise. I was born and grew up in Accra which is the capital of Ghana.

How long have you been making music?   I have been making music commercially for the past 6 years; but the early stages were singing hooks and choruses for other artistes on their songs until I started making my own songs to date.

Can you tell us about your latest release and the background and inspirations behind it?   My latest release is an Afro Dancehall song titled “Step To The Floor” which features one of the finest dancehall artistes in Ghana who is known as Natural Face. I do rap music as well but since I have the singing talent inside me since I was young, I decided to do something that can rock the dancefloors and get people dancing with it. There are very few female artistes doing what I do in Ghana and to stay unique, I had to put out this song which surprisingly got loads of applauds from industry professionals.

How have you ended up in the music industry?  Well, Music is my life and I cant do without it. My passion and love for music keeps growing as time goes on and I don’t see myself as stepping out of it anytime soon.

What do you think of the music industry in 2014?  In other parts of the world, music industry is very different from what we experience in Ghana. Its very difficult to get your voice out there even if you are very good at what you do. But we have a couple of successful artistes in Ghana who are making it to the big platforms and grabbing international awards; so I believe its all about appearing at the right spots and making the right moves.

Who do you think is the most influential artist?  To me the most influential artist’s that have a couple of influence on the kind of music I do are Efya from Ghana and Tiwa Savage from Nigeria. I was featured on an Album by a Reggae artiste called Ras Kuuku, also collaborated with Dancehall artiste Natural Face. Those are the major artistes I have collaborated with so far. With the upcoming artistes, they are uncountable!

Dead or alive, who would be your dream collaboration?   It has always been my dream to collaborate with Edem, Tiwa Savage, Efya, Sarkodie, Fuse ODG, Missy Elliot, Mc Lyte, Eve, Lil Kim, Brandy, Kendrick Lamar, and NAS.

What was the first album you bought? I remember I bought the album “The Boy Is Mine” by Brandy and Monica back then…

What’s your favourite song at the moment?   My all time favourite music at this moment is John Legend’s “Best You Ever Had”

Who is the most influential artist now, and 10 years ago?  I have a very tall list when it comes to most influential artistes. I do respect what they do and from time to time, and I pick something from what they do but I don’t think they have so much influence on me as an artiste now… Probably because I’m doing something which is a bit different from those I used to look up to in the past and now. But I do pick up few tips from them once in a while.

If you had to sell your music collection tomorrow, what album would you leave in your draw?   I will keep Brandy and Monica’s “The Boy Is Mine” forever…

How do you think you differ from other artists?  I differ from other artistes because I am good in both worlds… That is the rap world and the Afrobeat or Afrodancehall world. Most artistes can either do one better than the other or can only do one genre at a time. My case is different and all I need is the beat and the rest will be taken care of naturally…

What is your favourite saying?   My Favourite saying is “You Dont Want These Problems”

What other hobbies or interests do you have?   My hobbies are writing music, Watching Movies, listening to music, cooking and reading…

Do you have any tattoos or piercings?   I don’t have any Tattoos and I only have extra piercings on my ears aside the usual female piercing. I may have some other piercing in the future. Dont know where it will be yet… (Laughs)

Tell us more about this new project?    I am currently working on an album and I have not decided the title for it yet. I am trying as much as I can to get some of the main stream artistes on it. This album might be released late 2015 but I will be releasing singles in between just to catch up with my fans.

What’s in the pipeline after this project?  What follows after this project will be a huge surprise. All I ask my dear fans to do is keep their eyes on this girl and I will blow their mind! There are a lot of things on the schedules which I am not allowed to reveal for now. But I promise they are all sweet surprises.

Thank you for your time and may you carry on making dope, fresh music.

Thank you for the interview, make sure you purchase “Step To The Floor” on iTunes

 

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