When and how did music start for you?
Music started for me from literature. It was a favorite subject in secondary school and I was really into poems and poetry. I wrote a lot of poems and loved to recite them. I was tending towards spoken word artistry but people always commented that it sounded like rap; so that was my cue to start writing with the intent of delivering as rap verses as opposed to the initial idea of just poems. I talked about this briefly on the song – Phoebus Origins from my sophomore album- PHOPUS (Phoebus’ Magnum Opus) By the time I got into university, I already had a sense of me being a rapper.
Concept and inspiration about the name, and your music?
The name Rheymophoebus denotes two words: Rhyme and Phoebus. When I started out, especially cos of my background in poetry, rhyming was my favorite figure of speech so I thought I’d inculcate it in my name. Phoebus on the other hand is god of the Sun in ancient Greek mythology – I happened to be reading some books on Greek mythology at the time and Phoebus particularly struck me; so I decided to adopt it as well. So Rheymophoebus literally means – (Rheymo representing rhymes and Phoebus representing god) rhyming god. The name holds a deeper symbolism- Rheymophoebus: Expressions that shed light. Rhyming is a form of expression and the sun is the brightest light known to man.
Highlights and low lights of your career?
Highlight early on would be when I got discovered and signed on to Coded Tunes Records by the legendary ID Cabasa. No specific low comes to mind at the moment, but I’ve always known to take the good and the bad in stride as life is never just as it seems to the naked eyes.
Favourite songs and lines from your work so far?
I can’t quite say I have a favorite song of mine, cos I truly don’t; but my Time Na Money – Mike Okri remake off my debut album: Rheymo Fit Bust, offered lines like: “pockets so heavy, my pants gatta sag” “once you lose time, it can never be found/unless na Breitling, Rolex or Movado”.
Future plans for doing music and your views of the Nigerian rap scene?
Aside being a recording artiste I see a lot of prospects for performing and touring across Africa and the world in general. I believe with the right frame work this is achievable. I’m starting small and working my way up. Small gigs, small shows, birthday parties, concerts- big and small ones alike etc, keeping busy basically and building the portfolio for bigger and more meaningful moves ahead. The Nigerian rap scene has come a long way, but we are still far behind. I feel like we rappers need to find the right balance between meeting the needs of “hiphop heads” and meeting pop needs- if not we’ll never be able to compete with the Davidos and Wizkids of our industry.
There is a lot of work to be done in getting the business side of the music right and creating more sellable rap brands, but thankfully I see a general sense of awareness regarding these crippling issues and I believe that’s a start. It gets better one day at a time. Many thanks for your time, I truly appreciate you having me. Blessings.
Rheymophobeus’ new EP with M-Trill, ‘CALIBRE’ is available here. You can also follow him on Twitter.
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