Bosnian rapper Edo Maajka he pleased his fans after a long break with his new album "Močno", which can be listened to on the YouTube channel as well as on streaming platforms.
The new album brought a large number of collaborations, both with colleagues with whom he entered the studio together before, as well as with musicians who are a real surprise for hip hop fans, such as Dina Sarana from the group "Letu Stuke", through a Serbian musician Mark Louis, to the Croatian actor Rada Šerbedžija.
Edo Maajka told Magazin about how long he worked on the new material, how he collaborated with Šerbedžija for the song "My Put", marking two decades since the release of the album "Slušaj Mater", and when the Montenegrin audience will be able to hear "Moćno" live.
At the beginning of the interview, Edo Maajka, who has been involved in hip hop for more than two decades, referred to the fact that in less than half a year, after a long time, fans of "old school" rap received his and new albums Marcella i Frankie.
"I think all three of us had a long period without an album, this pandemic gave us all time to think and make good material. A lot has come out besides us, and even more artists have announced the release of albums by the end of the year, this will be a year full of music to listen to, birth after birth", said Edo Maajka with a smile.
Based on the lyrics of some songs, it can be concluded that they were written during the coronavirus pandemic. Was that the most productive period? How long did it generally take to work on the album?
Honestly, I didn't really feel productive for most of the pandemic, I was in some worries like most performers and people from the scene I know. When will this stop, when will there be work, then various intermediate jobs, then family, then isolation, then earthquakes, fear and insecurity, then hope, everything but productivity.
At the end of April last year, I rushed to Koolade without any intention of recording, after two hours I came out with two demo songs recorded and a plan to make a new album that he will produce. And it uncorked. I wrote most of the songs very quickly, we released some, wrote some new ones only in the fall, the guests recorded their parts a little bit, we worked with everyone remotely and in the conditions that restrictions and the pandemic allowed, we were in no hurry. We worked on the album in intervals, the first one in the spring of last year, a little in the fall and the rest finished around February. We did the mastering in April.
There are many guests on the album, and some of them are a real surprise. You also included colleagues from a completely different musical genre, as well as younger ones. How did you choose who will complete your songs?
That went a lot easier, those are sweet concerns, when I have a song, I just think about whether to invite someone, whether it's monotonous, how to improve it. Wikluh Đorđe Miljenović, Dino Saran, Alejuandro Buendia, these are people with whom I have already collaborated many times, they are performers and authors who do not fool around, regardless of whether he invited them to a rap, jazz, metal song... Tibor i Burky are genius Zagreb rappers from the TDK team and perhaps the most productive characters in the last two years, so that choice was also easy.
I immediately had Mark Louis in my head after the first listen to the song "Sunce", it's that soul, color and sensibility. The same goes for Filip Tkalčić, he is a young soul, funk singer, very musical and talented. Vojko V, I've been trying to record a song with him a couple of times now and I finally found a beat and a theme that we both hit on in the song “I Like To Dance”.
Buddha is a guy from Slovenia who sang for years in English in Elvis Jackson's band, he did amazing parts on this album. Ntoko is a rapper from Slovenia, one of my top 5 regional rappers and I've been wanting to have him on a song for a long time, the same goes for Magellan. Rade Šerbedžija was the icing on the cake and the perfect man to close the album, with a beautiful recital of the text Miljenko Jergović. Team to be desired! Thanks again everyone!
Perhaps the song "Moj put" attracted the most attention, with Sky Wikluh (Đorđa Miljenović) and Rada Šerbedžija as guests. How did the idea for this collaboration come about and was it difficult to persuade him?
I'm tired Danila, Radet's son, I was honored that he agreed. Then came writing, searching and digging through texts, luckily Miljenko ran into it. I recorded it during a rehearsal break for a film in Zagreb, I brought the equipment and recorded it in a quiet, closed part of the lobby of a hotel. Madness. When we edited everything, we realized that I had a terrible song.
This part, which Đorđe put together in parallel in Belgrade in his apartment, is also a miracle, from his lyrics and singing to his whole arrangement change, it lifted the song to another level. We got one of the better songs.
Several songs have already received a music video, such as "Zlatni Koker", "Svaki čovjek", the title track, are you planning to record another one?
I'm planning. I would love to have a music video for every song on the album, but we do as much as we can. I hope that we will realize two more videos in the fall, when we would also start with the concert promotion of the album.
So far, we have recorded the video for "Moćno", "Zlatni Koker" and "Everybody". These first two videos were made by radio Dino Hujić, the last one for the song "Every man" was radio Mario Ilić, both are young, talented and alchemists who know how to make a lot with a little.
Can your fans in Montenegro expect to hear "Mocno" live in the future?
I can not wait. I hope as soon as possible. This year I am celebrating the 20th anniversary of the album "Slušaj mater", so I am planning a concert where I rap those older songs, and a concert where I will promote "Močno"! See you twice!
Bonus video:
