Cheikh the Message– Camden, New Jersey

It’s kind of a play-on words like “check the message”, though that’s not how it’s actually pronounced. What made me want to start making music was the people I listened to that spoke on social issues and had a meaningful message. I had a really big Tupac phase when I was younger, and as a kid playing saxophone in school band, I thought Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Alright’ with Terrance Martin on the background was one of the craziest things I ever heard.

I’ve been interested in writing and playing instruments since I was a kid, but I didn’t put those together until I was 18. My time playing in school band and studying jazz gave me a good foundation to start producing my own beats, and I had already listened to a lot of different hip-hop but at that point I intentionally dove in with the mindset of a student to learn how to rap myself. With where I am now, my songwriting at its core boils down to just speaking honestly about my perspective and experiences, even if it’s ugly, in the hopes that someone can relate to it and think “dang, it’s like I wrote this” because it applies so much to their life. I always get chills when I listen to stuff and that happens for me.

I think the last song ‘so free’ on my recent EP ‘breathe!’ unexpectedly turned out to be one of my favorite. I wrote the song in the middle of the night before the studio session that afternoon because I would be mad for wasting people’s time and my money if I showed up with some bullshit. I kinda paced around in my “office” of my apartment coming up with the lyrics; usually I like to do intricate rhyme schemes and spend a lot of time to put songs together like pieces of a puzzle, but with this one it kind just flowed logically with the time crunch in mind. After it was written, I barely figured out a flow to it so I was convinced it was gonna be ass when I pulled up to the studio. I’m an overthinker so I think being honest, open, and direct was fitting for a song called ‘so free’ and speaks to the point of what I’ve learned during the creation of the EP on the closing track. I’m actually really happy with how it came out.

I would describe a few different messages. I have a Black American father and West African mother, so I would describe myself as pro-Black. I touch on my experiences with racism a bit, and I would invite people to question things. Maybe you don’t think you’re racist, sexist, classist, etc., but question your own beliefs and be honest with yourself about them. Denying those things is why people don’t change. They refuse to accept them. Because it’s ugly. Apart from that, I want to convey that sometimes it gets really, really hard and you’re not gonna feel good all the time. But you also shouldn’t try to make it the cool thing to feel shitty and be negative all the time and make that your personality, you know? I was doing that for a while and eventually I reached a breaking point where that got old. Maybe some people are just naturally happy, but I’m trying to choose to be happy consciously now. Yeah I still be sad as hell lol but eventually that got old and I couldn’t do it anymore. It might be cliche, but try your best to do things and put yourself in environments that make you happy, and eventually things will get better. And it helps to believe in something, whether it’s a higher power or a cause that you believe in or whatever it may be.

I think the biggest challenge for me during this project was that I stopped making music for like 3 years because of some circumstances in my life. It felt like something was always happening to me, whether that was being homeless and living in my car (and eventually losing that), eventually getting a job but struggling to get by, always being ill from my own destructive behavior, really debilitating insomnia, losing a lot of friends and loved ones, it just felt like I couldn’t catch a break and I would find myself thinking “why me?”. During this time, the hating voice inside my head would tell me that I don’t know how to make beats or rap anymore after taking the hiatus, I’m too old, no one is going to listen to it if I do make it, etc. After a lot of meditating on things, healing from time, and probably most importantly moving to a new environment, I settled on the fact that I am going to be very unhappy with myself if I die from these self-destructive behaviors (that was the path I was on) and don’t put out at least one project. I set a goal that I was going to finish the songs, go to the studio and what was recorded is what was gonna be released. No going back and changing a million things and being indecisive.

I’ve looked up to Tyler, the Creator for a long time production wise. He draws a lot of inspiration from jazz music in the ways he uses chords to structure his songs, and that’s a world I’m familiar with. I also like how honest and direct he is about his emotions and it informed my approach to talking about how I feel in my music.

I see myself performing at a lot more local shows, and I hope it will be the thing that connects me to a lot of creatives near me who are doing amazing things. Apart from that, I really am a homebody and I like to kick it at home and play video games!

Releasing the longer album called ‘1585’ that I conceptualized in 2018 but have since been through multiple computers and hard drives and lost the files. I’m going to remake the whole thing, but better!

 

Spotify, Apple Music, etc. My EP called ‘breathe’! that came out yesterday under Cheikh the Message

cheikhthemessage@gmail.com, or on instagram @cheikhthemessage