KRAFTin' It like It's HOT! Voize Interview.

Sssup world, I am Kraft! The following is an interview I had with Voize recently. Checkitout!

Voize: So why choose the name ‘Kraft’?
Kraft: Well, an artwork is always some ones craft (‘Kraft’), and therefore music is an art. I would also think that ‘Kraft’ means something versatile and I would like to add that versatility to my music.

Voize: Do you plan to further your education?
Kraft: Well, I’m enrolling into independent music business, whereby there is a lot of independent views and in the independent business, a lot of the independent middle man get cut off, which applies to any other product out there. You get the technician, the vendors, and your creators to make the product...which in this case will be me, composers, co-producers or even producers. And if I’m not always fully involved in this independent music, I’ll always be around to insert my creative aspect to the business.

Voize: Tell us about your music.
Kraft: What I don’t ask for is Hip Hop music. I think I am an avid Hip Hop listener and Hip Hop music involves a lot of competition –for example the competition will involve comparisons such as ‘my style is better than your style, and your style is better than my style’ so therefore I don’t ask anyone on what they think of my music, because my style of music is my own and if a certain amount of people will not enjoy my music, then there’s bound to be another group of people out there who will enjoy my music regardless.

Voize: How to prevent your music from sounding similar with other indie artist out there who gives you music advices and are coming out with the type of music that you do?
Kraft: In terms of that, speaking of music on a whole it depends on the level you are doing it and as for myself, I’ve been ‘rhyming’ for a long time. However, I personally feel that Rhyming is Rhyming and song-writing is song-writing. Whenever I kick a freestyle, it’s just for that moment. As for song-writing, you could listen to it this year or even 5 years after. For example, Sir Paul McCartney has written songs so well that the listeners in this generation can still relate to his music and enjoy it. In the hip hop genre, Dr. Dre has managed to compose tunes that last forever and music videos that make it seem like it’s still up to date. For freestyle on the other hand, you engage into the moment. So sometimes there are methods and techniques when I inquire during discussions. But on a hip hop level in the music business I do come across people who tell me that ‘there is a certain way to do it’ and ‘there is a certain way NOT to do it’ or even the occasional ‘you could try if you want to do it,’ and the ‘if you want to do it that way, you can and I’m not trying to say you can’t do it that way because others have’ but it all boils down to what you want for your music and that it fits your needs and wants and then from there, you weigh your options.

Voize: Do you ever get frustrated trying to differ yourself from the rest of the other indie musicians and at the same time you want to be recognized by your listeners with your distinctive ideas?
Kraft: In this part I think I could partially speak on behalf of all the rappers and hip hop artist in Malaysia. More often than not, these rappers and hip hoppers write their own rhymes and they want to be heard. As for myself, I do have themes and concepts and I’ve been advised that if you’re going to make music that you think is good and you put it out in the open, not many people are going to respond to it –and in this part of the world you do not have a specific Hip Hop music station that purely just plays the hip hop music genre so your music is going to be channelled into the a mixture of music that plays in the radio. The hip hop community therefore will accept my music but another community of listeners will only half heartedly accept my music. But in the music business you want to hit at least 60% of their interest so in the long run, all of these variety of interests clashes with my own interest.

Voize: So how do you deal with this issue?
Kraft: At first, I did not know how to deal with this situation. I had my own fair arguments, but I feel that when you want to speak freely then you have to know what people want to hear and most of the time you don’t know what people are thinking. Tupac for example, spoke about the black culture but no one said or told him what people wanted to listen and this was during the hippie era so that’s when hip hop introduced itself to the world. Therefore you don’t know what people will want to hear. So eventually I learnt to ask myself what I wanted to do with my songs and I do have to compromise my music. I take insights from anyone to inspire my music and take a chance with it with hopes that it will have a fruitful outcome.

Voize: What do you do in terms of relaxation since you’ve been working so hard on your music?
Kraft: Basically I’m on a holiday while I’m working because I’m doing something that I get pleasure from. A senior hip hop artist called Altimet once told me “I do what I like and I like what I do” so basically it that sums up my work ethics. Performing is something I look forward doing every time and even if I’m not busy performing or at the recording studio, I’m contemplating what I should do next. In terms of hobbies, I basically like chilling out with my boys and do anything under the sun like an impromptu trip to Langkawi.

Voize: What’s the weirdest stunt you’ve ever pulled off?
Kraft: *Krafts pauses to think* Ok, when I was little, I wanted to paint the house but I wasn’t as tall as I am now. So when I painted the house, the outcome was that the house was in dual colours because I could only paint parts that I could reach, which is an arm length. When I was done, the house was in leave green and white and much later after that, I was thought a lesson.

Voize: That’s rather independent of you, wanting to paint the house at such a young age.
Kraft: Well, I wouldn’t say that I was independent, I was more curious as a child. I’ve done a lot of weird things and another one of them involved me running (on foot) into a motorbike and it hit me and the bike fell. So yeah, I ran into a bike driven by a cute Chinese girl (Kraft emphasises the word ‘cute Chinese girl’) so in my entire life, I’ve been accustomed to girls hitting me, not hitting ‘on’ me.

Voize: So any plans to further you education?
Kraft: Yes definitely but I would do it to better myself, not because it looks good on paper and to get better jobs. I don’t want to do it because I’m forced it because half the time the kids going to school don’t even know what they are doing. As for me, I learnt to be...let’s put it raw...fuckin independent. I learnt how to think. I don’t want to be told what to do. I think you’ve got good memory, not good brains. I see success in a different way and I’m the only one who pursues music and entertainment and I don’t have relatives who have been involved musically. I had to learn on my own –through bittersweet experiences, pure accident... so I make it a point to pursue knowledge. Besides, knowledge via experience is worth much more than college courses. But you definitely need to seek knowledge.

For more info, do visit www.voize.my for Kraft & also updates on AVIMA. Thanks! =)