The first time I heard Falaq Amin, it was when two of my favourite femcees were performing for me. She somehow managed to blend Nicki Minaj‘s aggressive shifts between her Barbie and Roman personalities mid-flow with Eva‘s fluid yet steady bounce, all while maintaining both their playfulness.
Born Falaq Al-Amin on the 15th May, the Agriculture graduate of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, the Northern femcee and humanitarian, chats with Rhyme & Reason® about humble beginnings, her drive, and plans for the future.
Background
Being born and raised in Northern Nigeria, naturally my interest in performance began with Bollywood but something about it didn’t feel real enough for me (even as a child). My Dad though had a rich taste in western music and we would sing along on long drives or while doing chores. Those were mostly pop and soul songs with deep, deep lyrics. I had to go live with my Grandma for some years in Minna where my uncle’s outgoing nature and love for Hip hop would seal my fate (hahaha). I followed my little uncle everywhere (he is only about 6 years older than me and we were both still children).
My uncle would play a variety of music genres across different generations. He would teach me to do splits, I’ll pretend to be on stage and mimic Chilli from TLC or Aaliyah. We watched lots of music videos and he “made a star out of me” in our make believe world.
First Encounter with Hip-Hop
On my way home on a random day towards the end of primary school in Azare, Bauchi state, I heard a song blasting from a house, the type akin to single, young and wild boys, lol. The beat, the lyrics, the voice texture… everything came together to give me this strange feeling that just made me slow down. “and if you ask me to daddy’s gonna buy you a mockingbird…” Bro, I was being raised by a single dad who I love so much. Too young at the time to understand the full lyrics of that song but I made it mine.
Before that day, there wasn’t much music anymore in my life, so much religion had taken over, music being forbidden in Islam, and all the experience with my uncle was left behind. But on that day, it all came back to me. I asked questions and found that it was a song called Mockingbird by Eminem. Oh wow… Now, rap had my attention.
Writing Hip-Hop
I began writing poetry/soft rhymes when I was eight just for fun. That was kept hidden up until I was in university. Introvert and deeply religious with just a few friends, all of whom were massive Hiphop heads (winks), making music would have gotten my family very worried.
My friendship with my best friend Salma began over hip hop music and she has influenced me greatly.
I don’t know how it happened but I became friends with a guy in my faculty nicknamed Young Blayne who was a freestyle rapper at the time. He introduced me to the Friday Night Cypher – Sculpture Garden. Folks found it interesting that a Hijabi knew that many rap songs word for word. After a few weeks, Blayne began getting me to tap into freestyle and eventually he said “why not write your own songs, you can do it”.
I had been writing, privately, not confident, and he became the first person I would show my “RapPad”. He encouraged me, and then I showed my best friend, who was excited about it. My writings were amateur, inexperienced and shallow, still, I was encouraged to keep writing.
Thank God for good friends.
Hip-Hop Head to Emcee
My early recordings had Jesse Jagz, Nicki Minaj and Eva Alordiah vibes (influences) because these were artists I listened to a lot and wanted to be like. At some point I had to stop listening to Nicki for a while because my delivery was too much in her image. That was when I began listening to more Kanye West, Drake, 2pac Shakur, Lil Wayne and a lot of J. Cole.
The first time I performed my own song in public was 2018. It’s clear the audience was intrigued to hear a north side girl rap like that. The reaction was positive and loud but I knew I could be better and I have been learning and improving since then.
Most Underrated Song/Verse
The Streets. It’s the first track off my second EP, Relentless. I am surprised that song receives more accolades from other countries than here in Nigeria. Its lyrics are very real, and my producer, Amude Booth, pushed me out of my comfort zone with voice control on that whole EP. The Streets has great metaphors in both languages, it’s real and just so poetic.
Worst Song/Verse
Boogie, ironically, is the last song on Relentless. First flaw is in the spelling, “Bougie“, which was pointed out by someone while we were still recording in the studio, but it never got fixed.
The first verse of this song was a freestyle that got good engagement and reviews on social media because of its playful delivery, the seamless blend in language and the styling in the video – My best friend styled me for that video and it was shot on her balcony. It’s sad that what could have been the best track on that EP turned out the worst.
Plans
I am learning new skills, and my team have been discussing a rebrand. There are also talks about a possible short hiatus to get some things in order. Nothing has been finalised yet, and I am not so good at sharing my plans anyway. So, that’s enough for now.
Thanks for having me on this awesome publication.
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1 Comment
I love Falaq Amin’s musical vibes.