Psycho YP

The room roared with the heavy-hitting log drums and bass lines from “Settle Us”, the Odumodu-blvck assisted duet off Psycho YP’s latest solo album, Osapa London. Somewhere around the corner, he sat arms outstretched, revealing a riveting tattoo of the album’s title that was still fresh with wet ink. His eyes remained glued to his MacBook, and when he looked up they flushed with a hot redness that signaled exhaustion. It was 10:35 pm on a busy weekday and he was swarmed with a pool of his teammates, recording equipment, and the multiple pressures that come with countdowns to album releases.
We sat in his studio apartment, somewhere in Osapa London, Lagos, the same bustling suburbs where he (Psycho YP), real name Nicholas Ihua-Maduenyi, created the 8-tracker project, during a recent sabbatical at his colleague and close friend’s King Perry’s house. The project, like the rapper’s previous records, continues in the trail of his poetic storytelling cloaked in mostly Hip Hop and a ting of RnB. It captures his ideas, experiences and feelings on survival, love, resilience, and similar themes which have trademarked his discography since his 2016 debut, Lost In The Sauce. And it has become another bright beacon of hope for rap’s renaissance in Nigeria’s music scene.
Interestingly, the 24-year-old rapper who sojourned into Rap music during his undergraduate years in London, continues to remain bohemian about his career, navigating life as a rap collective executive in his Abuja-based Apex Village. His latest opus, Osapa London, magnifies his relentlessness towards making relatable rap music, while staying true to his authentic voice which is a spliff of English and African rap influences.
With an immersive, experimental and innovative discography, including two new Headies nominations for his recently-released, YPSZN3 album, and a sweltering streak of performance shows across Nigeria and Europe, Psycho YP is fastening his name on the hall of fame of African Hip Hop.
He chops it up with Guardian Music, reflecting on his journey so far; his experiences with making Osapa London, his creative process, working with Ice Prince and Odumodublvck, as well as his role on the mission to restore the old glories of African Hip Hop.

How do you feel about coming out with this body of work at this time?
Well, I feel happy and I feel great. It’s like my most ‘afro project.’ It’s kind of technical, but I feel happy, I feel great. And I feel like people are getting to really resonate with this song.
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Why is it titled Osapa London?
Because Osapa London, currently, I am a London boy. So obviously, it only makes sense to be Osapa London.

How were you feeling when you were recording those songs?
At the time, I was trying to get in touch with my afro side. Like I’ve always known that I could do different genres but, trying to blend the Afro with my sound was what I was really focusing on for this project.

Okay. You had a couple of interesting collaborations. Walk us through them. 
I recorded this project in Perry’s house in Osapa. So, Perry definitely had to be on the project. Khaid pulled up to record the project. Piego from Ajebo pulled up to the yard as well. So, most of the songs were recorded at that house. So, yeah I think most of the features just came naturally. There were just people that are like I just want to pull up and they did pull up, and we made the record so yeah.

How intentional was your creative process for this album?
It was not intentional, because the venue, Osapa London, was not always intentional. It was from Twitter. A post that I asked for a retweet and stuff. I’m always working, you know. If I’m trying to get into a project mode, it’s just normal work for me.

How do you cope? 
I’m working. I just came from a shoot. I think your guy was there. I am editing the video as we are doing this interview. So, it’s like I am always working bro.

Take us back to when it all began for you.
I just started rapping. Then I moved to England for school. I was just wowed by the idea of Drill music. So, I started trying to make my own Drill music. My song, Foolish, is one of the first Drill songs that I ever made. I just liked the sound. It came easy to me, naturally.

So, who were you listening to when you started?
People who were popping at that time were Stormzy, Chip, Central Cee, and a lot of people who had beef with each other at that time. I was also listening to Headie One, Abracadabra, and many others. I still listen to them.

How did you come about the name Psycho YP?
At one point, people were calling me Young Psycho. So, I just put it together. It was a very unique name. It was Psycho at first, but the name was taken. So, I just added YP.

Drill is still a rising genre in Africa. What’s the pressure like, with you trying to make it a household sound?
Yeah. It comes with a whole lot of pressure. You just have to do it.

You come under a lot of criticism, for the type of music you do. How do you deal with it?
I don’t really care what they say; if they do not like it, they would probably listen to someone else that sounds similar. I know there are people out there that will invest in it. If you don’t like it, then that’s on you. You cannot just dislike my music, c’mon!

There is also backlash on how you reflect your perspectives on drugs and street life.
So, I see all these tweets. Bro, these people don’t understand. As a Nigerian kid, you go from school to home. When you go to University, you get to see life. I have seen a lot of things. I have slept in bandos in East London. I have had real life experiences, seen people get arrested. These stories just come out when I make music; I hardly write them. I don’t have time to explain myself to people. People could pretend to their parents, but at the end of the day it’s all pretence.

Hip hop is already the front line in Nigerian music. What are your expectations for the community in the coming years?
Hip hop is going well. I just feel like we just have to keep going. There’s a lot of new people out right now. Our work is pushing, doing a lot of hard work. So, it’s just to keep pushing.

Alright. What are your top three songs on Osapa London and why?
I’d say This Country because recording that song was like a new environment for me. I recorded that song in Amsterdam when I was in a whole new environment, a new work ethic. So, I really enjoyed making that project. Settle Us because it’s the song that I really sat down to say, okay let me try and get to this afro tone and give it my blend and it came out beautiful. It was a one thing type of song. Like a mistake. Most of the stuff I said on the song, I muted it. The producer, Mark opened the file like the next day and touched some things and when he sent it back, I was like yeah. I was even like snoring on the verse but I was like I am not going to retake this, this is great. So yeah, that’s number two. Then number three would be, Most Times because omo (boy), it’s not easy to feature Ice Prince. And Ice Prince is a legend.

What’s next for Psycho YP and what are we looking at for the rest of the year?
Osapa London visuals. After that, I think YP and Azanti volume 2. And then maybe the Apex project. So more projects. It’s just more work.
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