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Interview with Mista Silva
Tuesday 9th July 2013 | Noelle
Hi everybody, we are blessed to have Mista Silva in the building; an Afrobeat UK artist who has made quite a name for himself. He is the co-founder of ‘Fresh 2 Def UK´ alongside C-Don, A GUBA Award winner, and he has performed in Germany, Ghana, Cyprus and Berlin. Originally started as a Grime Mc and swiftly moved to Afrobeats. Oh and he has his E.P Full Vim out on iTunes make sure you check it out.
Mista Silva, How are you doing?
I’m good you know, not too bad. It’s been an okay day; the weather is nice so I can’t complain.
I hear you. I understand that your real name is Kwame, so how did the name ‘Mista Silva’ come about?
Well, “Mista Silva” and as you mentioned we have an entertainment called ‘Fresh 2 Def Entertainment UK’ and it came from there really and truly. We started this events and music company and we wanted to expand ourselves and get out there; so we started doing that.
In terms of that we wanted to have A-list upon our names and there was someone we were working with ‘Mikel Silva’. Where he was an older brother to us, we thought let me grab that name. So we grabbed the name and there’s me Mista Silva, C-Don Silva, there’s various different “Silva’s” around. But on my side of things, I added a little spin, so were the name is ‘Mista Silva’ the ‘SILVA’ stands for ‘Strong, Interactive, Lively, Versatile, Artist’. That’s how Mista Silva came about.
Wow, okay I didn’t know that. So in terms of music, when did you start rapping?
From an early age you know, erm.. I’d say I have been rapping since I was in primary school; we used to get into a circle people would make beats with their mouth. I would just come and spit little lyrics and people were really impressed with what I was doing. So that’s when I really started to take notice of that talent which I had, and I could say inspiration is from people like my older bro this is M.L, who really helped me on the pathway to continue the music thing.
Okay, right I understand you started music initially doing grime and funky where you gave us hit such as ‘If you’re on this let me know’ and '10 out of 10’. Why did you leave the grime and funky house scene?
Well, I started in grime used to go to like ‘you club radio’ on Top.fm all those kinds of things and erm, there was a period when I left the country and I went to Ghana for like a year. During that period when I left the country and I was in Ghana where I experienced the ‘Afro-sound’; I had already experienced it back home with my parents and that. But I got to get the in depth feeling for the sound. So when I was out there I heard ‘Afro-music’ and it made me think about my heritage, where I come from and it made me combine being from UK and Ghana. So I thought well I want to try something, I want to fuse something. I was born and grew up in the UK, but I have come to Ghana and I have people here who have love for me, let me do something for them as well. So that is when I really started thinking about that kind of sound.
But when I came back from Ghana, grime wasn’t how grime was when I left to be honest and I was like “whoa”, also all the people around me were not listening to it as much anymore;, so I was like “what’s going on here?” I mean, I loved the stuff and I still do love it. Then yeah, the merging of funky house came, we were doing events and then I said let me use my talent to get involved with the funky thing and we dropped ‘If you’re on this’ and it went crazy, everybody was feeling it; then we brought ’10 out of 10’ and that went off. We even went to Ayia Napa, lots of bookings for that it was crazy. But then the scene didn’t expand as well as it should have. So where I have the heritage and I loved ‘Afrobeats’ people always told me that I should ‘Afrobeats’ track, I used to par it off and then one day I thought let me just try it and then ‘Bo Won Sem Ma Mi’ came out’
Funny you mentioned that; that’s my next question. So on your arrival to the Afrobeats your first song was ‘Bo Won Sem ma mi’ which came out in 2011; a hit which received 40,000+ views on YouTube in the first month alone; the follow up which was ‘Wadi Mi Sika with VibeSquad & BoomBoomTah with Skob, Kwamz & Flava’ How does it feel to have your first Afrobeats song receive 40,000 views?
I didn’t expect that from ‘Bo won se ma mi’ I won’t lie, none of us expected that; we did it just to big up the fact of ‘Ghana Party In The Park’ which is an event that happens yearly for the Ghana community in London. We decided to make an anthem for it; because I always go to the event I love it, everyone comes together, we socialise you know, we be nice. It’s for the community for everyone to come and experience what Ghana is about. So it’s really nice; so I thought let’s try and do something for the people and we did it and the reception was absolutely crazy. The day we released it, twitter was going crazy; like #bowonsemami. I was like “whoa”, that’s when I realised that I have been doing funky for some much time but I come into ‘Afrobeats’ I do one tune and I get mad reception. It’s a sign isn’t it? Something is telling me “yo, this is you; this is something you need to be doing”. So from there I said ‘Afrobeats’ is the thing now.
What is the story behind ‘Bo Won Se Ma mi’, how did you guys get together?
Well, we were chilling in Luton with a friend called Greyman; we were spitting like we do, vibing having a bit of fun and I think I said “I’ve got an Afrobeats instrumental, let me fling it on and see who can rhyme on the instrumental”. So we got the instrumental and we rhymed then it sounded so live; I was like let’s do this for Ghana party in the park. That’s how it came about then we got into the studio and A-star, Flava and Kwamz came along and we made the track.
That song is a certified hit; Afrobeats in the UK didn’t take off before that song. Do you consider yourself as an Afro-beats artist or a grime and funky artist? What would you say?
I’d say I am within the Afro-beats genre, but I am a versatile artist like I said within my name. ‘Strong, Interactive, Lively, Versatile, Artist’. I am within the Afro-beats genre right now, that’s what I am projecting; so yeah I come under that bracket but I am also a versatile artist I am open to other sounds, as I have come from other sounds. Music is just not one lane for me, some people it’s one lane but for me it is not. If good music is good music I will take part in that and share my talent on that. That is how I move.
Indeed, you are a versatile artist; so who are you musical influences and did you come from a musical home?
Okay, musical influences people like ‘Michael Jackson’ as a kid growing up I was watching Michael Jackson’s movie; I was gassed like “WOW, leave it, ultimate”, he is definitely my biggest inspiration. Then normal modern day people like ‘Jay Z’; Jay Z is doing a lot right now, people say this and that but the guy is a business man plus an artist; his mind set it perfect, leave it. He is definitely an inspiration; I like his mindset, for his mindset that’s my kind of inspiration. That is some of the people you know, let me take it back home to the Afrobeats people like ‘Castro the destroyer’ definately, big artist in Ghana; from a young age I was interested in him, so yeah.
Sounds good, now you always say this on your tracks ‘eyybaabahh’, does it actually have a meaning?
erm, ‘Eyybaabahh’ is has a meaning. It basically means yeah I am feeling this thing, this thing is the thing, you know. It certifies the track, whatever you are doing. Let’s say you win the lottery, ‘Eyybaabahh’ I won the lottery, going crazy you know that feeling. That is what it means.
I know what you mean. Okay so for those of you who don’t know what it means now you know. In 2012, you won a GUBA Award for ‘Best Emerging Act’ how did that feel? You were going up against some very talented acts; so for you to win how did it feel?
I felt so happy, so privileged, it made me feel good about what I am doing it motivated me to continue going; because after all the years, like finally there’s some kind of recognition, you know it’s not easy. In an African household doing music, the parents were talking; but this awards kind of shows them that what I am doing is something really good. It was a good feeling and I look at it every day saying “I want more of these; I’m going to get more of these”.
So I understand, you have 2 singles out now ‘Now Wats Up’ and ’My Sweet Coco ft Afro B’. But before that you had the song ‘No.1”. Okay, ‘No.1’ is it about somebody or is it just a song?
Erm, it’s a song init, it’s a song for someone special out there you know what I’m saying, you know who you are. Get me (Mista Silva giggles).
You know who you are, let us know who you are..(giggles). So ’My Sweet Coco’ and ‘Now Wats Up’ what is the story behind both singles?
‘Now Wats Up’ was a track which was produced in Ghana by mix master Garzy TMG Entertainment, F2D collaboration. I went out to Ghana in December I had a show out there for ‘Ghana Rocks’ one of the biggest concerts out there, went over there and did that and the producer who made ‘Boom Boom Tah’ holler me again and I said yeah let’s get something new cracking. We got into the studio, discussed a few ideas and we thought we have to make something that appeals to Africans, Europeans, South Americans, everyone; just a nice mix and blend, but quite an Afrobeats sound. That’s how we went about it and that is what came out of it. ‘Now Wats Up’, what’s popping? You know.
‘My Sweet Coco’ is through a young a talented Dj coming up called ‘Dj Afro B’ and he is a good friend of mine, so he contacted me saying he’s got a track there; he’s coming up and I said let me get involved. I just basically inspired the track and laid out ideas, chorus, the hook and stuff and brought that out with him. It is more his single but we worked together, but I’d like to leave it as his single for him to do his thing. It is a joint enterprise but the main single for me is ‘Now Wats Up’. ‘My sweet coco’ is getting lovely reception it is not officially out there it is just on mixed cd’s and people are loving it. Look out for the video for that.
So, where do you see the afrobeats scene going, in five to ten years time?
I see Afrobeats remaining top ten in the UK charts, it expanding to other places like you already said I have been too many places to perform like Austria, you know. Afrobeats is out there and it is going to get established as well. I see it getting bigger, beginning a very powerful genre within the music industry.
I understand you have an E.P out right now called ‘Full Vim’. Tell us a little bit about your ‘Full Vim Ep.’ what should we expect?
Full Vim was like the introduction, Boom Boom Tah was a single off Full vim, so it was the introduction of me into this Afrobeats scene. Full vim has a blend of sounds and Azonto music, slow music even some spiritual touching music as well. So we have blended it up and mixed up the sounds; brought a bit of the UK element and African element into the sound. So it is an EXPLOSIVE E.P really and truly. You’ve got ‘No,1’,‘Boom boom tah’, ‘Azonto party featuring stay jay’, Keche is also featuring. It is a very powerful E.P. It is doing well, I’ve been getting alot of sales; it’s been out for also a year now, just recently it’s been a year. It’s out o iTunes so you can buy that for now.
Make sure you by Full Vim on iTunes from Mista Silva, it’s been a wonderful journey for you so far; What is your fondest memory?
Erm, my fondest memory; I would say there’s a couple; I’ll say about 3. 1) Wizkid UK concert, I got to be the main supporting act for that and that was really crazy to have the opportunity to perform at HMV Apollo. To see the crowd receive what I am doing and make me believe that one day I am going to do that as well; so that was great. 2) Ghana Party In The Park last year was ultimate. It was so crazy the footage is on YouTube; type in Ghana party in the park Mista Silva. I was performing, the crowd was going wild and then they pulled me into the crowd, you know, so I was like “WHOA”; that day I feel I had was absolutely unbelievable and I can’t explain it. I just hope to do that again and continue doing that and give that kind of feeling to people who enjoy my music. 3) Receiving my GUBA Award and the GMA Awards; those two awards they cherish me and also getting playlisted as well, so there is quite a few things that really keep me going.
It’s been a wonderful journey so far, which is good. So if it wasn’t music; what would it be?
If it wasn’t music I would be doing programming or being a footballer.
Who would you want to collaborate with and why?
If I could collaborate with anyone in the world, Michael Jackson, but you see the legend is gone. RIP. I would have love to have done a tune with him; are you crazy? It’s definately Michael Jackson and then hmm.. I am open to everyone; but the ultimate is Michael Jackson.
What’s next for Mista Silva?
Look out for the sounds that I am bringing and will continue to bring, look out for my bangers, singles, I will constantly be dropping bangers, playlist music, radio 1xtra, BBC one hopefully; I will be hitting up the screens more, the national and international scene as well. Just expanding and blowing up so look out for that.
So how do people keep in contact with you; what’s your Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and all of that?
You can get hold of me on Twitter – MistaF2DSilva, Instagram – MistaSilvaOffical, Website – www.mistasilva..co.uk, Keek – Mista Silva. I’m around, most of the social networks. Facebook – Sounds of da Silva. I am around; I am accessible if you hit Google you will a lot of ways to get a hold of me. I am there, the music is there and I am sure you will love it. So come follow me.
We can’t let you go unless you give us a quick freestyle.
‘Make you no dey front, Make you no dey front, when I come around bring shots of the henny, Asem aba, so I’m gonna hit the belly, Amanfuo si, shreh ye ni ba, mi number one amanfuo ka, In the club Azonto na y3 sah, y3 sam mo wosu, you can’t really touch like, every day we dey go ham, no body go mess with the progamme, so go hard, yeah you know my slogan, take the microphone, beats get broken, ah they can feel my emotion, and the flow can never be stolen, so it’s best you know that I’m chosen, ripping it up, ripping it up, hulk hogan’.
Whooo, I like that sound of that; is that going to be on a track soon?
It’s out there; look out for the new tracks, coming soon you might here that, so yeah, look out.
If you are enjoying the freestyle like I did make sure you look out for Mista Silva, all too soon this interview has come to an end. Guestlist Network has had Mista Silva and it has been a pleasure interviewing you. I am very honoured to have interviewed you.
We hope to see you soon, Any last words for your fans?
Everyone who is hearing and loving what I am doing; continue supporting what I do, because I have a lot to give you. I just want to big you all up peace. ’Eyybaabahh’
We wish you all the best of success.
Interviewer – Exclusive Noelz / @Missndott
