Name: Yugen Blakrok
Nationality: South African, Marseille-based
Occupation: Rapper
Current release: Yugen Blakrok's new album The Illusion Of Being is out via I.O.T.
Shoutouts: Shoutout to the whole Iapetus Records squad for constantly taking hip-hop to higher levels in SA and beyond.
Shoutout to Little Simz and Sa-Roc for carving their paths into the future in the way that they do. It's inspiring.

If you enjoyed this Yugen Blakrok interview and would like to stay up to date with her music, visit her on Instagram, Soundcloud, Facebook, and bandcamp.



What were some of the musical experiences which planted a seed for your interest in hip hop?

I grew up in South Africa with bubblegum pop,  R&B and kwaito. Praise poetry and the sound of drums are an important part of my culture.

School taught me Shakespeare and the combination of all this informs my style of expression in hip-hop.

What does the term hip hop mean and stand for today, would you say?

Same as it always did - a vehicle of expression. Except now it's celebrated as a 50 year old genre and has grown worldwide beyond what anyone had ever expected.

Still, it is a music and culture born from necessity. It has its own Philosophy and Elements.

Hip hop has always been about a lot more than just music. For you personally, is hip hop a way of life – and if so, in which way?

You can tell I'm a hip-hop head by the way that I talk. By seeking wisdom. Believing that Knowledge is Power and living accordingly.

Skills over gimmicks, everyday.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to creativity?

Surrender. Formlessness. The ability to make something out of nothing. There are no mistakes.

Where do most of your inspirations to create come from – rather from internal  impulses or external ones?

My main inspiration comes from life as a subjective experience. Moments. Observing Time.

Everything is one, the external and the internal. My relationship with the world, with my community and with myself.

Which current social / political / ecological or other developments make you feel like you need to respond as an artist?

None, I react as a human being every time. Sometimes, it can be through art.

I feel like there's a lot going on but not much clarity. As though we're being pushed to disconnect, to be wary and distrustful of each other. In reality, the need for genuine connection has never been greater.

Hip hop has always had an interesting relationship between honouring its roots and pushing the music forward. What does the balance between these two poles look like in your music?

My style is very obviously rooted in the 90s - the Golden Era - it's quite lyric-heavy. I'm not afraid to get wordy.

Pushing me forward is the desire to continuously learn self, to evolve and manifest what is.

What role do electronic tools and instruments, including AI, play for your creative process?

For me, they're aids.

Usually, I write using pen and paper but I'll type on my laptop or scribble notes on the phone (on the go) if I need convenience. Recording demos, melodies to remember.

There's no AI presence in my process so far, I don't see a need for it.

I love synths and the idea of combining digital and analog, it's all about finding the right balance - figuring out what works for you.

Tell me a bit about the sounds & creative directions, artists & communities, as well as the colleagues & creative hotspots of your current hometown, please. How do they influence your music?

I have just one hometown, Queenstown. I haven't lived there in years

How do you see the role of sampling in hip hop today?

I appreciate a creative approach to sampling. I get annoyed at lazy methods - just straight-up lifting beats and adding a drum is boring.

I'm curious to see how AI fits here, in terms of "generating one's own samples" - does that even make sense? How do folks navigate that?

There has always been a close connection between hip hop and jazz. What role does improvisation play in your current creative process?

I change my mind often. And quicker than you might imagine, too.

We always leave a bit of space to move around (ideas, plans, etc)

It can sometimes seem as though, in hip hop, production is the main force of progress. Do you feel like there is still space for genuinely new ideas for lyrics and vocals as well? If so, what could these look like?

There is always space, I genuinely believe that hip-hop as a genre was made for this specifically. To express oneself in the most innovative and honest way.

We often say there is nothing new under the sun but that's just figuratively. Hip-hop is a reflection of the people in it and we're evolving as a species. Topics that used to be taboo are almost mainstream now. Our common language is changing.

As long as storytelling is important to human beings, there will always be something to convey and we will figure out new ways to convey it.

For many artists, life-changing musical experiences take place live. How do you see that yourself?

I agree with that. Being on stage is a moment. No second or third takes, you can't delete anything.

Live is the most honest and vulnerable interaction between artist and audience. It's more than a presentation, it is communion.

How, would you say are your live performances and your recording projects connected at the moment? How do they mutually influence and feed off each other?

Recording is great for getting the idea out of your head, shaping it and figuring out (technically) how to execute it.

It’s a different type of control to a live performance, which also needs a lot of preparation. It's a completely different way of breathing and of course the external energy of the audience is an influencing factor as well.

From Star Wars via The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to the Fifth Element, there have always been amusing sci fi ideas about how music could look like at some point. For a not too distant future, where do you personally see it going?

I think we're here. Holograms and AI artists.

We're in the future right now.