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Mr. Eazi on “Bankulize” Remix feat. Burna Boy:Video | Mr. Eazi on “Bankulize” Remix feat. Burna Boy:Mr. Eazi “That was actually my first proper record that I put out. Big up Juls. [Juls] hit me up on Twitter and basically took my vocals and made what it is right now and been instrumental in creating my sound. So I put out the record and the plan with us was, you know start with Ghana. Get really advanced in Ghana. Make music that could relate first to Africans and the diaspora and so in two months we were already doing shows in the UK and then from there was supposed to do Europe and then go to Nigeria, but as soon as we did London, Nigeria caught fire with the Mr. Eazi fever and then I had a lot of Nigerian artists reach out to me and say, “Yo I wanna walk with you.” One of them was Burna Boy. I don’t listen to Burna Boy because I feel his style is very infectious so if I feel like your style is infectious, I wont listen because I’m not trying to sound like you. I just said, “ Ok this will be the best guy to put on this record and since it seems like Nigeria just caught on let me give them the same recored with somebody they can relate to.”
Audio | Mr. Eazi on his music influences:
Mr. Eazi: For me, first of all I feel music is a product of your environment. Environment not only meaning where you stay, but meaning what you listen to, what you open yourself to. So you could be in Ghana and making Hip Hop because you’re immersed in that world. Growing up I was listening to music from everywhere. I was listening to a lot of Lagbaja, slight Fela, a lot Bob Marley because my dad, Highlife in Ghana and then I moved to Ghana and then I started listening to Ghanian Highlife, Ghanian Azuntu music. Azuntu music is heavy kicks. It’s just like Hip Hop with an African rhythm. So all those bass you hear. I’ve been listening to trap music a lot. So all those boom boom. Ya 808’s. Imagine putting African rhythm on them and it’s just dance filled. You hear that kind of music by the beach side in Accra.. Listen to that kind of music and then dance hall is really big in Ghana. So moving to Ghana in 2007 I started listening to a lot of dance hall. Vybz Kartel to most recently Popcaan. Everybody. Konshens, you know.Video | Mr. Eazi on Highlife vs. Kumasi music:
Mr. Eazi: Highlife was so influential that it got Fela. You know Fela went to Ghana and Fela fell in love with Highlife. In them times you had — yes the guitars. You see it has that beach groove. African beach groove. Eventually all the Nigerian artists started doing Highlife. Highlife is — Ghana loves Highlife. When you go to the pubs. Open-air pubs. Beer parlors on a Friday night. You will see bands there playing Highlife. You wont see them playing any other genre of music.