Tkay Maidza

"Silent Assassin" rapper Tkay Maidza discusses her Sweet Justice US tour, who she is as an artist, and how her Zimbabwean and Australian influences really give her a sound of her own

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Get your Girl Toy aka Chocolate Divinity, and welcome to talk to Me Toy
the interviews where we'll sit down fromtime to time with the highest up and
coming talent from around the world.I hope you enjoy talk to Me Toy
the interviews Ladies and gentlemen, boysand girls, we have TK on the

(00:24):
line. Thank you for joining loveBug. Thank you now. Now,
TK, I did not want tobutcher your last name, so could you
please give us the phonetic way ofhow you say your last name Sweetpea?
Oh? Yes, uh mads,my idza. I'm so glad I asked

(00:45):
that because I'm like May's duck.My yes. Well, thank you so
much for showing up to the showtoday. Okay, you are gearing up
for your concert at the Foundry onFebruary twenty fifth. Are you excited did
to come to Philly? I'm soexcited. I don't think I've ever been
there, so it's like gonna beso epic to experience the city and the

(01:07):
people. Oh this is beautiful.That's why I was going to ask you.
I wasn't sure if you've been toPhilly yet, so I cannot wait
to see you here. Hopefully Ihave the opportunity to meet you when you
get here. Yeah, yes,absolutely, Okay, So let's get into
this Sweet Justice Girl. I listenedto the album It is everything, But

(01:30):
let me tell you about the songthat's sitting right with me, Silent Assassin.
Let's go TK when I tell youthat song resonates with my life so
much right now. So thank youfor just popping that energy into like what
people really need. So let's getinto the theme of the album. What
was your in your mind? Themind when you When it came to the

(01:53):
creative process of this, I thinkI was at a point where I have
reached a lot of endings, andI'd come to a conclusion that Comma,
well, like what it's what's theweb? It's like it will avenge everything,
not some must like revenge, butlike Commo balance everything out. So
and I felt like I was agood person and I was like doing like

(02:15):
what I was supposed to do.So I put my focus more so in
the music and just like focusing onmanifesting, coming to conclusions, reflecting on
what happened. But I wanted itto come from an empowering point of view
as opposed to like h poor me, and that's exactly the vibe you get
from it. Yeah, it wasjust kind of like, Okay, I

(02:38):
am who I am, and we'regonna move forward. And you know the
thing I think I love sonically aboutthe album because even though you said it's
very empowering, but it's also verylike throw the top back, put it
on in the car, and let'sgo ride. It's just like listening music.
So I really enjoyed that. Solet's get into some of these questions.

(02:58):
Who are some of your music influencesand how would you say they shape
you as an artist. Definitely MissElliott Buster and Janet Jackson, Kendrick Lamar,
Kanye West, Rihanna. I lovetheir versatility. I love how they
always reinvent themselves. I love howthey're always looking. It sounds like they're

(03:20):
looking for something that they haven't heard. When they mix those songs, it's
always just like kind of like ashelf to your system. And I love
how they you can tell they're referencingsomething from the past or like their childhood
and making it like their So that'skind of what I take from their art.
And I also just love their visualrepresentation of themselves. Is very creative

(03:42):
and it brings you into the universeas well, so I love it refresh.
It's nice to have that point ofview. Like no, they actually
like to create, They don't liketo just put out the same sounding product
over and over again, and Ilike that. You model somewhat your career
out off of that. I knowyou won't be here to stay girl.

(04:03):
Okay, so I've noticed you areall over the album too. So you
write your own music, which Iabsolutely love that. And so for that,
do you feel as though that musicis more authentic when it's written by
the artists rather than having a teamof writers. I definitely think though,
because it just has like your ownessence. You're an energy. In some

(04:26):
ways, it's cool to have writersbecause they can help elevate you. But
then I think it starts to followlike a very certain you know, like
formula or the way people say,because it's like taking a lot of heads
to like say something, as opposedto if you listen to how I speak,
I don't speak like it like everyonegenerally, so it's more a bit
more unique if it's one person focusingon it, you know, absolutely,

(04:48):
I love that now because you're sucha strong writer, is it? Do
you find it difficult to write musicfor others? And most artists they tend
to have songs that they wish theynever gave up. I E. Neo
Irreplaceable. We all know he gavethat to Beyonce and then Ashanti she did
Ain't it funny? And we allknow j Lo got that hit? So

(05:09):
how does how do you handle thingslike that? I like to write for
other people in theory, but italways ends up being my song because everyone's
like, oh my god, itsounds really unique on your voice, and
I'm just like, Okay, Iguess it's fine. Now, like happy
accident, what can you say?I'm like, you can't help that,
you're this talented. Yeah, Ijust need you to have it. And

(05:31):
I'm like, okay, I lovethat. Okay. Now let's get into
a bit of your background and howyou were discovered, because you are a
zimbabwe and beauty outside of all byway of Australia. So give us about
your background, friend, how dowe get here today? So? I
moved from Zimbabwe to Australia when Iwas five and we lived in the country

(05:56):
generally, so I'm a country kiduntil we moved to Adelaide and we moved
there for tennis. I played tennisfor ten years and just like randomly,
I was like, oh my god, I don't really like tennis anymore.
I don't really like running the distressful. And that's how I got into music
because I could be alone and justdo whatever I wanted. And so I
was going to the studio, whichwas like an artist development thing when I

(06:18):
was sixteen, and that's where Iwrote my first song, and the guy
at the studio gave it to aDJ, and then a DJ put it
on this like video station and alot of labels were like who is this?
And it was kind of around thatera where it was a lot of
dance music mixed with rap, likeKanye was doing user those a Zelia Banks

(06:39):
and so I was like really uniqueat that time. And yeah, that
was kind of the beginning. AndI was trying to like do collaborations with
DJs for a few years until Irealized I really had to shape my owns
down and I had Last year wasweird. I did three EPs and then
Sweet Justice was the next thing.Beautiful. Now, what would you say

(06:59):
the type of artists you consider yourselfas a chameleon, but mostly like alternative
wrap R and B. M hmm, like TK, I'm not gonna hold
you. I was like listening tothe album, I was like, it's
definitely giving alternative hip hop vibes,And in my mind, I said,
when did this become a thing?And it's here, but I am here
for it. So, like,do you do you feel like you would

(07:23):
consider yourself one of the founders ofthis alt hip hop movement? I didn't
think so, because I think Andrethree thousand is like the earlier aspect of
that, okay, and then youhave Kendrick and I think it's been bubbling
underneath, and if anything, rapis just like a resurgence of like the
nineties and early two thousands in someways. Mm hmmm. Yep. You

(07:46):
hear them sounds coming back all thetime, even in the fashions. I
said, what's going on? Ihad that on twenty years ago. Let
me pull it out the closet.It's in fashion now exactly. I think
you can say, like bus rhymsfor all that's like base like what everyone's
muddeling it off of now. Soyeah, yes, absolutely, well TK,
this has been a beautiful experience.Thank you, so much for calling

(08:09):
in today. Let's do one morehit regarding your show TK February twenty fifth
at the Foundry. It's the SweetJustice Tour Philly. It will be her
first time here, so make sureyou do our girl right and hopefully I'll
get to see you on the twentyfifth. When you're here, friend,
we'll do something a little something funin person. Yes, yes, please,

(08:31):
thank you so much, Thank you, love you have a wonderful day too.