One of the shorter interviews I’ve ever done was this one with Riky Rick about the music video for “Fuseg” for Noisey in October 2015.
I checked my old emails and here’s the full interview:
Bob: Would you consider Fuseg to be a follow up to Nafukwa since both are essentially telling people to fuck off?
Riky: Na, it’s not a follow-up but I’m always people to fuck off. Guess I’m not interested in BS.
Bob: You won a MAMA with Adriaan Louw for Nafuka but went with Kyle Lewis this time, what was the reasoning? Also, how much of a say do you have in the directing process? There seem to be visual elements that carry through your videos like the usage of smoke and black and white.
Riky: Adriaan and Kyle are amazing directors. I went with Kyle Lewis this time coz its always good to get a fresh perspective on your visuals.
Bob: Who exactly are you telling to voetsek/fuseg? There’s obvious speculation on twitter is that it’s AKA because of the recent drama, but you’ve tried to be a peacemaker through all of it and I can’t hear any lines that actually target anyone directly.
Riky: It’s just a song.
Bob: Since this is going to an international audience, what do you want people outside of SA to take from this song and video?
Riky: The most important thing for me is teaching African kids that we can have the resources to create. I don’t want people to judge our work based on where you are from, we are high quality and can be out of the box visually and sonically.
Bob: And lastly, how do you see the current state of SA hip-hop and what’s your place in it?
Riky: I’ve never cared for the state of hip hop. Hip hop is the pop music now so I’m just hoping there are still people who understand the culture beyond what they see on social media.
“Wanna learn how South Africans tell each other to fuck off? This menacing rap song by Boyznbucks Riky Rick, international collaborator Cassper Nyovest (he’s worked with Casey Veggies and Talib Kweli) and producer/hook-provider Anatii will teach you. “Fuseg” or “voetsek” is an impolite Afrikaans word for “go away.” And by impolite, I mean if someone tells you to voetsek, you’d best be fucking off.”
Read more here.
