Dounia recently released her third project, a four-track EP called Not Good for the Ego. The release of her EP coincided with a performance at the biggest Hip-Hop festival in North America. Dounia had the distinction of being the first vocalist on the main stage this past weekend at Minnesota’s 2019 Soundset festival. Her set oozed sex appeal and charisma to accompany her sultry vocal stylings.

What makes Dounia special is an intangible that can’t be quantified. Dounia is one of those special artists who not only want to entertain but wants to inspire. After her performance at Soundset, Dounia shared with Quip the lessons learned from her past and her vision of the future.

Sherron Shabazz: What does it mean to you to perform at Soundset?

Dounia: It truly feels blessed to finally be in these environments as an artist. Being able to hit a big stage, seeing that crowd, and being able to vibe out to my music. I’m getting more and more comfortable with these crazy blessed scenarios. It’s been honestly amazing.

SS: How do you feel your set went?

Dounia: I thought it was great! I had super-fun. People were feeling it. I got a lot of good reactions after the show. People came up to me and were like, “I never heard of you, but you just won me over.” I was like, “That’s the goal!!!” It was dope.

SS: Is there anyone on the bill that you’re excited to see just as a fan?

Dounia: Dude, Run the Jewels I’ve never seen live. They’re dope! I love them. I need to check them out. Obviously, Lil’ Wayne, SZA is my homegirl, so I’m very excited to see her. I was excited to see Doja Cat – I saw some of her. G-Eazy, of course. Literally everybody. I heard Lil’ Nas X is popping up. They have a great lineup. They didn’t miss. Everybody is fire.

SS: What’s the meaning behind the title of the new EP, Not Good for the Ego?

Dounia: It comes in two different avenues: 1, I preach being spiritually driven to my audience. As humans, our ego can get the best of us. We just want to be as still as possible. I preach meditation. The other avenue is when I wrote the lyrics for “Not Good for the Ego” it came from a place of arrogance like, “Bitch, you better humble yourself! Don’t act Hollywood around me! I’m not good for the ego. I’m toxic for the ego.”

SS: The line is taken from the single “Toxic,” what makes you toxic?

Dounia: Just toxic for the ego. In every other way, I’m definitely not toxic. I try to be a positive light and an asset to everybody around me.

SS: You released the song “Lowkey Girl” a few months ago, why didn’t that song make it to the Not Good for the Ego EP?

Dounia: It’s a taste pack. It doesn’t have the two singles but really what it is, is a taste of a full project. Everything is going to be on that bitch. You have to solidify the era. Those songs are important to me and they are going to be part of the bigger picture. I wanted to give people those four new songs they could digest and really get excited for something more.

SS: How would you compare “Not Good for the Ego” to your last project, The Avant Garden?

Dounia: The Avant Garden was just a different part of my life. I was 21, I’m 22 now. That was my party year so it had a lot of references to alcohol and substances and whatnot. At 22 I want to push a more mature narrative, especially for the kids. I don’t want to glamorize that lifestyle for my little brother. To each his own. I want to be a little more cautious in what I preach and glamorize. Not Good for the Ego is a complete honest expression of me in this part of my life. I have a lyric on the song “Up 4 Air” that says “I traded in thrill for chill and I haven’t looked back since,” which is just facts [laughs].

SS: Are you really done partying?

Dounia: I party now because I love social energy. I love being around people in those environments. I’m sober now. I don’t really be drinking like that anymore. I’m definitely off talking about it so much. It’s not like liquor or weed was paying me to talk about it in my songs. It just didn’t feel right for me anymore. Of course, music is expression, so to each his own, but it’s really just my personal mission and what I feel is right for me.

SS: Were you raised Muslim?

Dounia: Yes. I’m still Muslim. I’ve been fasting this entire Ramadan.

SS: How does your music and style conflict or blend with your faith?

Dounia: [Laughs] I just feel like it makes it a lot more scandalous when you realize I’m a Muslim girl. I just never let anything stop me from expressing myself and what feels right. I know I’m wholesome internally. I’m spiritually wholesome. I know that I strengthen my relationship with the universe and God every day. I’m not too pressed about skin showing or things that are traditionally deemed sinful. I know in my heart it’s not. I go based off intuition and all that good stuff. It’s funny because the Muslim community has really been super supportive. I’ve barely gotten haters. There are some haters, but at the end of the day I know they’ll find it in their hearts to be open-minded one day. They’ve all been very kind and supportive.

SS: I think it’s important for people who are afraid of Islam or aren’t familiar with it to know that we come in different forms. We’re all so different.

Dounia: Yes. We’re humans at the end of the day. A lot of people talk about Muslims like we’re a monolithic group. We’re not just one thing. We’re all human so we all have the extreme capacity to be open-minded and be empathetic. It’s pointless to generalize anybody on this planet. That’s why I’m very in tune with my culture and I preach it. The love that you give, you get back. It’s kind of impossible to be giving out positivity and light and not get that back. The people who need to be aligned with you are going to align with you, and I have great souls that are attracted to me. It’s lit.

SS: Your start was through Instagram; how would you describe your platform when you first started out?

Dounia: When I first started out I was more in the modeling/fashion scope. I was in that New York kind of scene and I was amassing followers through that. I was still posting on my Soundcloud, but for some reason, I didn’t think to merge it. It made so much sense. I was like, “You love to do music and you feel a little weird being in this modeling space.” One, I’m not even that type of person. I’m always preaching personality and not caring too much about your exterior. How do I look being simply in this industry and not letting my other creativity shine? That’s when I started taking music seriously and promoting it on my main channels.

SS: What’s next up for Dounia?

Dounia: My personal mission is to keep creatively evolving within myself and getting better and better at what I do. Yes, it’s about reaching people, but I want to be extremely proud of what I do when I reach them. When they listen to it I want to grab them. That’s really what I’m about.

photo credit: Miranda Barnes

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Born Emma Czerny in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Magic Island relocated to Berlin, Germany where her creativity blossomed and the “Magic Island” concept began to take shape.

Her music is described as “lo-fi dream pop” but has sprinklings of R&B, new age, and electronic music. Island’s unique vocals and eccentric lyrics perfectly complement her synth-heavy sound. Magic Island will soon return to North America to perform her new album at SXSW.

SS: For those that don’t know, who is Magic Island?

MI: Magic Island is something sensitive and honest. The name came from an old traditional Berlin bar called ‘Zauberinsel’ which means Magic Island in English. This place was a big part of my life when I first moved to Berlin. It was owned by two wonderful, open-minded Berliners in their sixties. One day I noticed they had a full PA/sound system so we asked them if we could do concerts there. They were totally into the idea, so we started a show series. GENTS played there, Jaako Eino Kalevi, Promise Keeper, Chikiss, Better Person, a lot has happened at this spot, its very special to me.

SS: Why did you title the new album Like Water?

MI: Like Water was first just the name of one of the tracks. But then as I wrote new pieces I found they all had a similarity, like water. Several of the songs even have direct references to water. There are many different textures but when all the tracks came together as the album I found they still flowed in a way, a natural progression and decline. Like water ebbs and flows.

SS: What led to you making the move from Toronto to Berlin?

MI: I actually first moved from Canada back to Poland, to a city where my family was from. Stayed there about a year before Berlin. Poland is beautiful but still quite repressed in its social structure and mentality. It’s still a country very controlled by the conservative, Catholic system. So naturally, when I visited Berlin for a weekend I was shocked and obsessed and never went back to Poland, well, eventually a few months later.

SS: What do you have in-store for fans at SXSW this year?

MI: Well, I’ll be performing the new album. I performed the release show with a choir of backing vocalists, would love to bring this tour to the U.S. but no chance at the moment. Maybe next year with a headlining tour!

SS: What do you hope to achieve with Like Water?

MI: I’m not trying to change the world, I’ve given up on that. But my music is therapeutic to me. It helps me to deal with anxieties, accept myself, and heal a broken heart. If anyone else feels the same therapy from experiencing my music, then that’s enough.

Photo courtesy of Moritz Freudenberg

The post Interview with Magic Island, a retrospective on “Like Water” appeared first on Quip Magazine.

One of the acts that kicked off the festival embodies electronic music, but with a hip-hop flavor. Toronto based trio, Keys ‘N Krates consists of David Matisse (keyboard player), Adam Tune (drummer), and Jr. Flo (turntablist). The group’s new EP Every Nite drops on September 23 and is spearheaded by the new single, “Are We Faded”. In support of their upcoming release, Keys ‘N Krates will hit the road this fall touring across North America alongside Gladiator and THUGLI.

Quip had a quick chat with Keys ‘N Krates about performing at the North Coast Music Festival, their upcoming tour, and their new EP, Every Nite.

Sherron Shabazz: What does it mean to you to perform at the North Coast Music Festival?

David Matisse: Man, we love North Coast. Played it a couple years back and it was one of our first big festival plays. Kids from Chicago always come out to party, so love being back this year.

SS: You guys are on the road for the next few months on the Every Nite tour. How will the tour dates be different from your North Coast performance?

Jr. Flo: Festival sets are usually limited to 45 minutes or an hour, so we try to bang out tunes and get the crowd super hyped from start to finish. On this tour, our set time will be a bit longer, so we can take the opportunity to be more musical and bring the crowd along on this ride that we’ll create.

SS: How’d the single “Are We Faded” come together?

DM: I waved a magical wand and it kind of just appeared. Ha!

SS: Explain the title of the new EP, Every Nite.

JF: The EP has a dark vibey feel too it. Something that you can just throw on every night.

SS: What can fans expect to hear on the Every Nite EP?

Adam Tune: They can expect to hear a composition of work that blends together and not just individual songs. It’s probably our most musical work to date. We’re really stoked on it!

The post Quick chat with Keys N Krates appeared first on Quip Magazine.

I caught up with the rapping/singing duo during the Warped tour’s recent Chicago stop to discuss their participation on the Yo! Bring it Back Stage, their musical inspirations, and their plans to record a joint album.

Sherron Shabazz: What’s it mean to you to perform on the Warped tour?

Amplified: It means everything. It means the opportunity to connect with our generation straight forward and be who we are every single day as artists. There is no sugar coating. I don’t need to put on a different character to promote myself out here. I just need to be myself because I fit right in with everybody else.

Brandon Scott: For me it’s a privilege and an honor because we’re not known artists all over the country. We’re small town local performers from where we’re from so it’s a blessing and a gift to be out here. We’re using it to our full advantage and trying to create a fan base in every city.

SS: Have the audiences been receptive to you guys?

A: The audiences have been phenomenal. Like Brandon said, we are blessed to be out here. We connect so well with this audience and this generation of kids. A lot of these kids come from musical backgrounds of all sorts. Being this abstract act with Hip-Hop, Rock & Roll, Jazz and Blues makes us versatile and we fit right in with this versatile audience of people.

BS: We’ve gotten some really good feedback from crowds. Today we had a really big line of people buying our CD’s. It was the same in Portland and St. Louis – a lot of cities. We’ve been killing it pretty hard which is good. I’m glad people like our music – that’s what’s up.

SS: Why is it important to have the Yo! Bring it Back tent at a festival like this?

A: Because it gives you that grassroots feeling that you won’t get anywhere else. You’ll get the independent, “I started this from the ground up” feeling that is not anywhere else on the Warped tour and not at many other events. There is no connection that’s right on concrete. Everyone is elevated and it creates this ego of, “Oh, they’re musicians, they’re artists.” It dehumanizes them so for us to be on the ground level it shows that we’re people just like you, but we’re showcasing what we have to offer for the rest of society.

BS: For me it’s a platform. Shout out to Fritz, he’s been building this for years. He’s given kids all over the country a platform to show their talent, their skill, and their music and fans respond to it.

SS: Are there any acts that you’ve discovered on this tour that you’re a fan of now?

A: Oh yeah, definitely. Bad Rabbits, they’re awesome. They’re this neo-soul, funk, amazing band that really connects with the audience. They’re awesome to jam and vibe out to. It’s an honor to be on the same tour with them.

BS: Bad Rabbits is my number one band on Warped. I’m loving Air Dubai, I just found out about them. I’m a huge pop punk fan so The Story So Far. I’m into metal so I’ve been listening to Chelsea Grin, and Volumes and checking them out. There are so many talented musicians out here it’s crazy.

SS: Who inspired you to want to be an emcee?

A: It was really just the art of expression – there was nothing else like it. Hip-Hop was a counterculture to me. It was the only counterculture that I was ever introduced to. I was introduced to it in high school through a Hip-Hop club called “Strictly Outspoken.” My history teacher invited me to go in at the Hip-Hop club and it was the only art form that resonated with me. I was always good at writing and I just turned into rhyming every single day and it helped me express my thoughts. I adopted the characteristic that he showed me through history and documentaries. The way you can express yourself resonated with me. It’s so versatile that it hit me on all different functions of my brain.

BS: I never thought I was going to be an emcee. I’ve always been a producer. I got Pro Tools when I was 13 and started producing. I loved composing music. I would always freestyle with the homies. We would sit in the basement and freestyle and I’d make the beats. There was no one rapping over my beats so I started recording myself. Since then I’ve been doing it.

SS: What inspired the song “In My Own Words”?

A: It was a time in life where I just graduated high school, I just turned 18, and I had to grow up. I had to write everything that was on my mind in one giant three-minutes of a log. “In My Own Words” represents the soul being expressed to its full capacity. I’m Amplified and this is me amplifying my soul and it’s an expression. It’s the long way to express what that name really means, but “In My Own Words” was my way to grasp who I am as an artist and what I had to say and basically what I stand for and showcase it. It’s basically who am in my own words – no plagiarism, no copying anything, I’m just going to be me, be original, and be the best artist I can possibly be for myself and the rest of the world.

SS: What’s next up for you guys?

A: We’re trying to stay on tour. We’re going to make a project coming out together. We only released one single on tour and it was called “All Night” It’s kind of one of our biggest hits. It’s the first song that we perform in our set every day.

BS: We’re open to anything right now. We’re trying to plan tours, we’re trying to get producers to work with us we’re trying to get funding on Kickstarter or indiegogo to raise some money so we have a budget to work with good producers. The music is going to come easy for us. We work so well together writing and making music. It’s getting the money and the right producer to work with us.

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The band recently released a five-song EP titled Anatidaephobia. The three members of Watch the Duck, Jesse Rankins (lead vocals), Eddie Smith III (bass), and Jonathan Wells (keyboards) took time out of their two-night tour stop in Chicago to chat with Quip.

Sherron Shabazz: Explain the name of the band.

Jonathan Wells: Watch the Duck started as an inside joke. It’s something that we say when we’re in an uncomfortable industry situation. Everybody is floating on top of the water but their feet are kicking like hell to stay afloat. We’re all the ducks at the end of the day, so Watch the Duck started as an inside joke between us.

SS: How did you guys come together to form the band?

Eddie Smith III: We grew up together in the same neighborhood but we weren’t best friends. We just knew each other. What really kicked it off is we ended up at the same college and started throwing parties together. From there we started working on music and shit together, and working on other people’s records made us want to do our own thing.

SS: How would you classify the Watch the Duck sound?

ES: Oh, that’s a good question! It’s hard for us. There are so many genres of music that we’re influenced by. We’ll classify it as evolution to be honest with you. I don’t even want to call it one particular genre because as soon as I say it, I’ll play you a track that don’t fit in that. For me, I like leaving it up to the people that are listening to it. They’ll put it where they want to put it.

SS: Lets talk about the new EP, Anatidaephobia.

JW: Anatidaephobia is the fear that a duck is watching you. It’s an actual, real fear. Over 190,000 people have it. Being that we’re Watch the Duck, we felt like the music that we were doing for this EP was coming to get you. This is Anatidaephobia: you’re either going to fear the duck or feel this and get over your fear.

ES: Man we thought that shit was funny as hell when we heard that name. Somebody told us, “You know Anatidaephobia is the fear that a duck is always watching you,” and we laughed our asses off.

https://youtu.be/M-1Qt-7_xq0

SS: Your videos kind of mirror your music. How do you come up with the concepts for the videos?

JR: We got this ritual where we light a fire, get in a circle, and hold hands.

SS: Seriously?

JR: We light a fire and then we start chanting. It’s like Game of Thrones. We start concentrating and a voice from the fire speaks to us and tells us what we should do.

ES: It’s dark and the night is full of terrors [laughs].

SS: When are we going to hear a full-length Watch the Duck album?

JR: When the voice from the fire tells us to do it. Nah, I’m just playing on that one, but on the last one I was dead serious. It’s a voice in the fire. I wish I knew where it came from. It’s kind of creepy when we do it but it works. Anyway, we’re going to put out an album soon.

ES: What’s cool about it is the album is coming from the stage. We play music and the stuff that makes people go crazy we keep. The stuff that people look at us weird while we’re playing it — we gotta cut those. We’re going to Europe next, so hopefully by the time we come back from there, it’ll pretty much be done. We want the album to reflect that journey, so we’ll be working on it while touring.

SS: What do you guys hope to accomplish in the music business?

JR: World domination. Total domination. We want the whole world to think like we do. We’re tired of walls, limitations, and fear. We’re tired of everybody saying, “You can’t do this, you can’t do that. White people listen to this, black people listen to that.” Fuck all that! Everybody listens to everything. We all party together. That’s the point of Watch the Duck. We’re going to take over the world and turn it into a party!

The post A beat away from “world domination” – Interview with Watch the Duck appeared first on Quip Magazine.

The 31-year-old singer played guitar herself throughout the set. No occasion was more memorable than her performance of the opening track Lucifer from her Soul is Heavy album. With conviction Nneka sang, “I am loving you more than I love myself. With your mouth you stole my soul so I cannot love myself.”

A political artist by nature, Nneka spoke to the audience in between songs about political corruption.

“Corruption has leaked into our bones,” said Nneka.

The highlight of the evening was Nneka’s cover of afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti’s “V.I.P.” (Vagabonds in Power). Covers can go awry, especially when interpreting the music of a legend, but Nneka and her band delivered.

Nneka and company briefly left the stage only to return for an encore that included a rendition of “Happy Birthday:” for her soundman of five years and her hit single “Heartbeat.”

Nneka put on a multi-faceted performance in Chicago. Her show was a mix of reggae, soul, and hip hop that clocked in at just over 60 minutes. She stopped at random moments to playfully interact with the audience or sensually sway her hips to the music to remind us that music isn’t just about social change; it can be fun, too.

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