Didier Awadi, RFI world music trophée 2003

Senegalese Rapper Wins The 2003 Award.

Paris 

18/11/2003 - 

Didier Awadi is no newcomer to the hip hop world. Far from it, in fact. He was one of the pioneers of the African rap scene, forming one half of the duo Positive Black Soul with Doug E Tee in the 90s. After taking the Positive Black Soul experience all the way from Dakar to New York, Awadi has now branched out on his own as a solo artist. We catch up with the winner of the RFI World Music Award 2003:

RFI Musique: How do you feel about winning the RFI World Music Award?
Didier Awadi: Very happy and very honoured. I see it as a recognition of African rap which, it has to be said, has not been very highly regarded in the past. This could be a motivating force for other groups. Rap has always been seen as the "poor music" of Africa. There's no problem in terms of distribution, but rap's popularity isn't reflected in sales. Rap fans are young. They prefer to copy cassettes rather than go out and buy their own copy of an album. But there's no doubt about it, rap is the music that's most listened to by young music fans. It's the only sound that has a mass following all the way from Cairo to the Cape, from Dakar to Nairobi.

As one of the pioneers of African rap with Positive Black Soul how do you feel the scene has evolved over the past few years?
The development of home studios has led to a real improvement in production quality. These days youngsters can get out there and make their own music. They have no complexes whatsoever. They've mastered machines and have a real knowledge of the sound. Even five years ago if you wanted to make a record you had to call in outside help. But these days it's rappers themselves who are in charge of labels and they're developing an independent market in parallel to the mainstream. A whole network of contacts has also sprung up between artists themselves. I can go off and tour in Benin, for instance, without going through official cultural channels because I know the group RDS will look after me over there and help me organise everything.
The number of rap productions has tripled in recent years. These days even small, relatively unknown groups can bring out a cassette after being together only a year. We're certainly not rich, but we're independent and that's absolutely brilliant!

You've become something of a rap entrepreneur, I believe?
Yes, I have, but I'd say it's through force of circumstance. Right from the start of my career I've had to do other work to finance music projects. I worked in cigarettes for a while, you know, and believe me that really teaches you something about selling yourself in a wildcat way. I invested the money I earned in some basic equipment and we went on to set up our own studio where we also do advertising work, creating music for brands and helping them develop their image.
I guess I've always had a bit of a spark for business. At one point we even launched our own TV programme. It's something we did for fun but also because we were sick of seeing people who didn't know the first thing about rap making programmes about it. It's taken time, but we're gradually getting our own vision across. The hip hop vibe can penetrate everywhere and make a real difference because it's coming from the street and reflects what people on the streets want.

You've covered some real African classics on your album. What motivated this?
Well, I thought if there were going to be covers it made more sense for me to delve into African music heritage rather than anything else. I love guys like Alpha Blondy. I've been a big fan of his since I was a kid, in fact. I consider it a great honour to be a friend of his so it's natural, you know. When I listen to a song by Blondy it fits with what I'm trying to say about the African debt, so it's natural to use a bit of the chorus.
Don't get me wrong, though. Strictly speaking what I'm doing is not covers. I use things differently. I take a bit of a chorus and develop it in my own style. I'd say it's more a question of tributes than covers. I'm a rapper, they're singers, and the lyrics are very different. But I felt I needed to pay some kind of tribute to these guys somewhere down the line because this is the music I grew up listening to as a kid. American rappers have sampled James Brown, so there's no reason I shouldn't delve into my own music heritage at some point!

Do you think your next album will be as militant as the first?
I think it will be a lot more militant. There's been a lot of upheaval in Senegal and African politics in general. And no-one can remain indifferent to the fall-out from 11 September. The music on the next album's going to be a lot more acoustic. There'll be a lot of guitar and kora and right now we're really learning to work on percussion… It's going to be a bit of a “back to the roots” trip. I thought about using that as a title for the album, in fact. It's going to be roots in terms of the instruments and roots in terms of the fighting spirit of rap. I'm intending the next album to be fairly melodic on the whole, but the lyrics will be socially and politically committed. There'll be raps about ethnic problems and leaders who act as dictators and raps about politicians and journalists who get beaten up for daring to oppose governments… And let's not forget the issue of the African debt and the gestures we want to see made by the world's leaders... The next album will have a bit of humour, a bit of love, a bit of everything, in fact!

Interview: Jean-Eric Perrin