When a musician takes complete control over their career, the fundamentals of their music tends to be unstoppable. What happens when you focus all your energy on the music? Its been evident that self-realisation,”the fulfilment by oneself of the possibilities of one’s character or personality”, has always been the true key to opening “The Door” to endless possibilities. Believing in growth & maturity is what phenomenal artist Ex_Reps is all about, in other words, he’s on a mission to perfecting his craft. Ex_Reps who started off his career as a musician & a dancer, not to mention a well-known member of Soopastars, who opened up for the likes of Audio Push, AKA, Maggz and many more. Now focusing on his solo career, HYPE had a Q&A with the Cap City based artist which included discussions on his decision to go solo, an insight on how he got into rap & many more.
Let’s start this off by first clearing the air on why you decided on going solo right now. The Soopastars were a pretty successful group…Why take the solo route?
Myself taking the solo route was not an individual decision. Me & Ecco felt that we could do so much as individuals and be friends at the same time without holding each other back.
Who is Ex_Reps today as solo artists when compared to Ex_Reps that was part of the Soopastars?
Ex_Reps that was in Soopastars was not himself. I had to do certain music,feel-good’ type of music, whereas Ex_Reps today does what he feels. I could be be a bad boy talking about what goes down when I’m in the club & what I experience; that’s the kind of music I makes. Things that I goes through and also what people can relate to.
You started your solo journey with a major track called “Love These Girls”. What was the core inspiration behind the track?
Well if we go in depth the song is not really about loving these girls, it’s about the guys that are not treating these girls right. So now these girls go out here to try forget about that certain BF who is not treating her right and ends up cheating. That’s why I say “LoveTheseGirls”, because if you had loved her she wouldn’t have cheated.
How did you get into Hip Hop? How did it all start out for you?
Well I got into Hip Hop at a very young age, I was probably 10 or 12 years old. I started listening to Eminem, then from there on I started rapping, from rapping I started dancing. I felt like I never gave my rapping career a solid chance, so here I am back to rapping on a very focused level though.
The struggles of our Hip Hop industry have constantly been analysed in a negative light, initially its standard is considered unbalanced, unstable or even underrated. What are your views on this? More specifically, what are your views on the standards of SA Hip Hop?
Honestly I feel like SA Hip Hop is finally growing, there’s more music being produced now and there’s more competition. The only problem is that the radio stations & our TV channels need to start playing more local music rather than international that’s all.
You think the quality of Hip Hop in our country can finally be levelled equally with the quality of the international Hip Hop market?
Yes I think NOW it can be compared to the level of international Hip Hop, because I hear so many international songs that genuinely suck but get more international love & airplay which doesn’t make sense at all.
Who would you say is leading our local Hip Hop game right now?
AKA & DA LES,the rest can miss me.
What does Hip Hop mean to Ex_Reps?
Hip Hop to me means a form of expression, it could be any form of Hip Hop that you are talented in, it’s just a way of expressing yourself and if you can express yourself better, these lames will be left behind FAST!
What more can we expect from you for the rest of 2014?
From me trust that you will only be hearing hits, I will not be a lame or amongst lames who think they have bangers but are just tricking themselves. I want to release as many hits as possible and let that do the talking.
One word that best describes Ex_Reps?
GODLY.
@Ex_reps
*Download #LoveTheseGirls by Ex_Reps http://t.co/CW30COJs1O
Written By: Rudzani “@Roo_AT” Netshiheni