Interview: Mazbou Q On His New EP ‘AFROTERNITY’ , What It's Like Creating With Different Artists & More

Hey Mazbou Q, Thanks for taking time out to speak with us. First off, congrats on the EP. How does it feel knowing that ‘AFROTERNITY’ is finally out?

More than anything, I feel relieved. I’m hyper-productive with little patience when it comes to music, so the length of time the release process takes can be difficult for me to handle sometimes. I’ve been sitting on this music for a minute now, waiting for my team to give it the green light. But I trust they know what they’re doing. I’m hoping that everyone enjoys what they hear.

How did you come up with the name?

I like neologisms. I wanted something in line with the theme of Afro-futurism and figured an amalgamation of ‘Afro’ and ‘Eternity’ would be cool.

‘Bad Energy’ is a tune. The lyrics are hard and they fit perfectly with the beat. What’s the story behind the track, and who produced it? 

Thank you! I produced this one. This track actually went through a couple of iterations - the beat you’re hearing isn’t the original idea, nor is Kevin’s verse his first one. The original beat wasn’t sitting well no matter how much I tried to play around with it, so I ended up scrapping it and starting again. I kept my own lyrics the same but changed the delivery, whereas Kevin switched up his entire verse. We finally settled on something that we were both happy with.

For this track, I was inspired by Stormzy’s track Vossi Bop. I felt like creating something a silky and dripping with attitude. I also wanted it to be a bit more stripped back than my usual stuff, to make the lyrics pop. I want the messages in my lyrics to ultimately be positive, so I thought it would be a cool concept to write something that aggressively attacks “bad energy”. A double negative, so to speak.

You call out Candace Owens for being a sucker. Do you follow what’s happening in America? If yes, how has that shaped your music?

It’s hard not to, when you’re on twitter. Her nonsense always seems to find its way to my feed, as does American politics in general. But as a Pan-African, I take interest in the black struggle everywhere.

What made you decide to take music seriously?

I’ve taken music seriously my whole life, I’d say. I’ve been doing it in various forms since I was four years old - through school, church, bands and solo projects. But in terms of making it a career focus - a couple of years ago I had a “do or die” moment. My family encouraged me to make the jump out of full-time work in IT and at least give it a try, knowing that if it should fail I could always go back to IT (heaven forbid, though). It was a good decision, though. I have no regrets.

What influences you?

In terms of artists, currently, there’s much about Tobe Nwigwe, Oddisee and Kojey Radical I seek to emulate. In terms of my musical philosophy, my belief in God, the global liberation of African people and the need for more positive, meaningful and inspiring music to exist on the market are what motivate the Mazbou Q project.

You have a number of features on ‘AFROTERNITY.’’ What’s it like creating with different artists?

I love it, and I feel blessed to be on this journey at a time when it’s so easy to make international connections and collaborate with artists on the literal other side of the planet. Skunkadelic and Magugu are up in Cardiff (Wales), and Jaye Moni is in London. I haven’t even met her before.

Every collaboration is exciting for me. The voice is an instrument and everyone has a unique timbre. The combination of those timbres on a single track, especially rap, always give it a shine it wouldn’t otherwise have (if those voices are good, of course!).

Now with the EP out, what’s next? What do you want your supporters to know?

I have so much more stuff on the horizon and I’m getting better every time I sit down in my studio. Can’t wait for y’all to hear what I’ve been up to. Please enjoy AFROTERNITY and continue to support other artists in Aotearoa!

All the best with everything and I can’t wait to hear these tracks live once we can have live shows again.