Nahlidge Shares Insights on His Musical Journey

Sheer genius is demonstrated by the fascinating versatile artist and songwriter Nahlidge in his new single “Follow Me.” The impeccable track is creatively entertaining and captivates the audience with an immersive and catchy vibe.

We’re lucky enough to have sneaked in for an interview with a talented artist. He was generous enough to lend some of his precious moments as we gleefully stumbled deep into his personal and professional life. Here are some excerpts from the interview:

Thank you for your time. Thanks for speaking with us! How’s everything going?
I’m doing good, thank you for asking. Thank you for having me!

What sets your music apart? What is unique, or at least uncommon?
Me. My soul, lol. I feel, a lot of music nowadays lacks soul and individuality. We hear a lot of the same content over the same sounding production. Which is cool, but a lot of the content sucks. There’s access to maybe the most amount of talent there’s ever been, but the message is weak. Which in turn creates a culture of weak minded clones. I’ve been into Hip Hop culture and studied the game since I was a kid. I’ve always been around and loved different genres of music. I fell in love with Hip Hop though.

Growing up, I witnessed music transform from what it was in the late 80’s into what it’s become now. Over the years I’ve taken parts and pieces of artistry from the GOATs I admire and put together my own sound. My music is very heavy on lyrics with witty wordplay and versatile flows. I also like good vibes and party music. I’m not afraid to write complex rhymes people might not understand. But, I know simpler lyrics and vibes can hit people more. My goal is to find a way to connect with as many people as possible through my music. We all walk different lives. The steps we take all happen on the same rock though. As different as we are, we can find things in common with each other. If we look. Whether those are morals, emotions, feelings, experiences, thoughts, ideas, etc. When we find those similarities and connect with eachother, we give ourselves the chance to learn from our differences. And to me, that’s a beautiful thing. That is how a teenager in Asia is able to grow up listening to and loving Wu Tang. Or, how Wu Tang was able to take influence from old Kung Fu movies and inspire their sound. We are all unique and different. That is one of the beauties of life. We may meet, walk together for a while, eventually stray apart, then go off on our own paths. But the connections and memories we share during our time together will last for the rest of our lives. That is what I want to do with my music. Create timeless feelings, emotions and memories. Whether it’s a lyric, song, album, memory you hid away or happy feelings you bask in daily. I want to connect with listeners hearts and souls to make them feel something. We might have a great time, we might end up in a hole hiding from the world.

I create music to help people get through their worst days and enjoy the good ones. We might cry, but we’re gonna have fun doing it. Life has it’s ups and downs. I want listeners to walk away remembering life is beautiful while not shying away from it’s ugly spots. Music is life. Life is music. Sometimes it just loses rhythm. It’s about finding a balance. My goal is to help us find and maintain that balance through honest, thought prevoking lyrics crafted over dope beats. Dope rhymes and catchy flows, but with a message. There’s already too much dumbed down music out there.

Please tell us more about your single “Follow Me” How did this song first come together and what is the inspiration behind it?
I was coming out of a dark place when I started working on Follow Me. This past year (or more for some of us) has been crazy. I recently went through some personal shit that made me have a little breakdown. That along with other things I’ve kept bottled up for a while created the emotions for the song. I re-watched one of my favorite childhood movies, The Last Dragon (Leroy!, not Raya) not too long ago. If you haven’t seen it, the movie’s about a martial arts student on a journey to reach his final level. His highest potential. But, he faces roadblocks like we all do, in the form of a curly haired bad ass kung fu giant named Shogun. I won’t ruin the movie for you, go watch it. But on his journey Leroy is looking for the “glow”. So I took that and flipped it for the hook of the song. “I still need to find my glow”. Like Leroy in the movie or like “look at the glow on you!”.

When someone’s in a good place in life, they “glow”. So the concept for the song was like, come with me on this journey. I’m not perfect, so keep the bad vibes away. I have enough of my own shit I’m going through. AND, I’m still trying to get to where we’re going myself. So if you’re coming, don’t fuck that up!, lol. Let’s get there together! The beat was produced by my brother Colorz who I’ve been collaborating with for years. He is also featured on the last verse of the song. If you like it, you can find more music from us by throwing our names into Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, Soundcloud, Google, etc.

Which release of yours has had a large impact on your life, whether the storyline was based on a life experience or the process of putting the song together helped you approach music production differently?
All of my music has had an impact on my life at different stages of it. Whatever I’m going through at the time, however I’m living. That’s what I put into my music. My life experiences or things I’ve seen people close to me go through. My latest release, “Hope 4 The Best, Expect The Worst”, is my most deep and impactful body of work though. While creating the project, the writing process helped me get a lot of stuff off of my chest that’s been keeping me in a hole. Recording the songs helped me release negative energies I’ve been holding in for a while. Mixing and mastering it let me go back through those feelings and emotions to digest it as a listener. Making the project was therapy for me. The music is dark with a few sprinkles of raw Hip Hop and good vibes. Going into making the music, I was in a very dark place with very few rays of light. Making the project helped me get out of that place and onto a better path. Listening to it brings me back but doesn’t keep me there. Maybe it can do the same for someone who has gone through similar experiences. It’s okay to get knocked down and feel like you’ll never get back up. But with the right thoughts, goals and vibes around us, we can and will get back up. We can get through the obstacles holding us back. We can become our better selves. And once we become the person we need to be, we can then help others still on their journey. Making my recent project reminded me of that.

What’s something most people don’t know about you?
It doesn’t take me long to write. On average it takes me maybe 30 minutes to finish writing a song. That can be a good or bad thing, lol. I’ll go back and tweak a few words when I’m recording. But I write fast. There’s so much music y’all will never hear! I only put out my favorites!! But yea, as lyrical as I am, it comes together quick. What do they say? If you put 10,000 hours of practice into something you become a pro? Me and this rap shit are wayyyyy past that.

Are you working independently or with any production house or recording label?
I’m still an indie artist. I record and mix most of my music myself. I colloborate with Colorz, my cousin Dre Kno, my dude Messiah Kaeto and a few other artists often. I’m always looking to create with other people. Sooooo, if one of you labels out there wanna offer me a GREAT DEAL that pays A LOT OF MONEY for me to DO MY THING with YOUR backing, slide up in my DMs!!!, lol. I’m joking, I’m joking!! I’m for real about the “a lot of money” part though!

If you had one message to give your fans, what would it be?
Be you. Not everybody has to like you. Love yourself. That’s the only time you’ll be able to fully love someone else. The world needs more love. And more Nahlidge!, lol.

Do you have any dream collaborations? Who are they?
Of course. If I named them all we’d probably use up your monthly bandwidth lol. But to name a few… Andre 3000, Kanye, Kevin Gates, Common, Kendrick, Soulo ho3!, Nas, Big K.R.I.T, Young Thug, Big Sean, Wale, one of the Marleys, Wizkid, Adekunle Gold, Collie Buddz, Bad Bunny, Sizzla, Trey Songz, Justin, Timbaland! I could keep going, lol. But until I get deeper pockets, I’ll keep collaborating with the people I’ve been working with and anybody else who reaches out until we get there!

For our final question, is there anything else you would like to add?
Thank you again, African Hype, for having me! Readers, if you’re still here, thank you for rocking with us! I hope you checked out my single, Follow Me, by now! If not, go check it out!! Stream it on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Soundcloud. Search for me on Google. Add me on Facebook. Follow me on Instagram @NahlidgeEIE. If you’re a fan, let me know! Check out my latest project, “Hope 4 The Best, Expect The Worst”, on Soundcloud. If you’re supporting me or a fan in any way, I appreciate tf out of you! Keep an eye out for my debut album, The War Inside, dropping this Summer. Stay blessed and be safe!

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