By BRUCE DENNILL
Quincy Megas in an up-and-coming rapper originally from Johannesburg but now living in South Korea, where he is pursuing his music full-time as well as being a songwriter for other artists. Megas has a musical style that centers on his fondness for storytelling through the use of rhymes and witty exposition and his musical tastes and, subsequently, the styles of his own music, are multi-faceted.
He recently released the video for new track Did It Again.
“Influence” is a loaded, often misunderstood concept. An artist may sound similar to another but have no knowledge of them, or be a super-fan of someone whose output is completely different to their own. Who or what was the artist, album, song, era or scene that initially mapped out the road to you becoming a musician?
When I first started getting into music as a listener, I was captivated by late Nineties and early 2000s music. Although I’m a hip hop artist, it wasn’t just that genre that captivated me; I also listened to a lot of rock, R’nB and pop. It was the music from this era that initially mapped out the road to me becoming an artist, because I tried to emulate the storytelling aspects of it when I started writing.
Has that changed over the years? If so, how and why, and what are you currently exploring?
I don’t think that’s changed over the years, because I still draw inspiration from that era. If anything has changed, I guess it would be that I now draw inspiration from subsequent eras too, because I think drawing inspiration from multiple sources can result in some pretty great music.
Name one song you wish you’d written or one you’d like to be known as the definitive interpreter of. What makes that song so important?
This is something I’d imagine even before I started making music. I’d hear a song I love and pretend it was mine while performing it in the mirror. I wish I’d written Me, Myself And I by G-Eazy, featuring Bebe Rexha. For me, this was an important song because the sound of the genre was starting to change in favor of Trap music, but this song being a top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100 showed that there were still a lot of people who enjoyed other types of rap.
In production and arrangement terms, what are facets of your music and the music you love most by others that you feel are crucially important in terms of creating the mood you’re after or supporting the message of your song?
In terms of production, we always go for clarity over loudness. As someone who prioritises their lyrics, it really matters to me that everything sounds clear and well-polished. I also tend to go for a more minimalist style in terms of how I mix and arrange my music. Every song I make may have a different mood but there’s an overarching theme in all my songs and that’s the fact that I have a narrative to tell and want to take the listener on a journey with me.
Which aspects of your music do you prioritise? For you, would you rather have that your lyrics, your melodies, or your vocals or instrumental work are the most memorable parts of your songs?
Personally, I would prefer the lyrics to be the most memorable part of a song because that’s where we derive the narrative from. I think that having quotable lines in a song is really what leads to it staying in the memory of people long after its initial run.
What’s your favourite piece of gear?
I absolutely love my DJI Mavic Air! I’ve been able to get such great shots with it for my online content. Sometimes you aren’t able to set up a tripod in time or get someone to the exact spot that would make a shot look great. This has gotten me out of some tight spots and allowed me to get shots I otherwise would not have been able to get.
What is the story behind Did It Again – the genesis of the song, the people involved, the muse behind its creation?
I’d describe it as being a song showcasing my ambition to make more music and go even further with it. It came shortly after a single called Samurai and the basic premise was that I wasn’t making my audience wait too long before indulging them with more music. I’d say it’s like giving an encore before the crowd asks for it. I wrote the song myself and the instrumental was produced by Hutch, who is from a group of producers known as The Martianz. The song was mixed and mastered by Silas Beats who I have worked with on almost all of my previous singles.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”default_sidebar”][/vc_column][/vc_row]