On the horizon of releasing her new album, Every Opposite, Zaki Ibrahim proves how aptly titled it is through our conversation. It began with a reflection upon the previous night’s Eclectica In Purple EP release party and concert, yet twisted and turned itself to bring out her perspective on growing up through the South African Apartheid and how that negative childhood experience has affected her character and music in a positive way. An old soul breaking new ground in Toronto’s hip hop scene, Ms. Ibrahim redefines perfection in her music with characteristic imperfections and true personality – which I sincerely applaud. Popular music in the last decade or so has seemingly lacked this attribute, and is one of the reasons I have given up on radio and cannot tell the difference from one tween tart to another. Zaki stands alone in style, sound and even appearance – her curls and the spaces in her teeth accentuate her beauty and personality.
Here is what she had to say, starting with how the EP release was a definite success based upon the energy of the people.
Zaki Ibrahim: I didn’t have a setlist in front of me, we planned to freestyle parts of the show so I literally had no idea what we were doing next after each song. But the energy of the crowd was unbelievable and made me feel like the show was both beautiful and success-ful. My friends collaborated on the visual aspect of the show. My best friend Heather did the artwork, Charles Officer did the film vignettes, and Carlos, who works for Project Three Media, organized the visuals for the show. Initially, the visuals were to be much more elaborate, but I kept them simplified because I didn’t have the time I needed being on the road to make it all come together as planned. I wanted the first song to be very Midsummer Night’s Dream watery, and there was a lighting list. Also, I worked with DJ Loqenz’s mom on the creative theme; she dressed the entire band and I in costume, and I dressed the backup singers.
Pop Zap: With an EP release, that means you have a new full-length on the way. Do you have a release date yet?
Zaki Ibrahim: No, I don’t have a release date yet, but I do have a goal. I don’t want to put it out there because I could release it at any time but there are some other things I want to do with the album. I don’t want it to be perfect, because I love imperfections, mistakes and raw stuff, sometimes I don’t want to mess with songs that are unpolished and imperfect. With this EP, Eclectica In Purple, I hid some scratch versions of songs which was questioned by my peers and people on my team. They were wondering, “Why do you want to put out songs with so many mistakes?” I want to tell a story with the raw beat, goofy and off-key parts. Those songs will, in some way, carry onto the full-length album. It’s not going to be another year before the album is released, but I’m going to save the date so there are no restrictions or pressure on when it should be coming out.
PZ: The name for your upcoming album, Every Opposite, what was the inspi-ration for it?
ZI: There is a theme, with lyrical content and the actual way the songs are recorded. I’ve combined heavy beats with organic sounds, made beats with a wall and a waterpipe, and added some synthesizer stuff underneath. Lyrically, I wrote one and a half books on the topic of looking at things from all angles, as many angles as possible. For example, if you are angry about a subject, imagine flipping it and you’re in someone else’s shoes, or you’re on the other side of it. You can see the happiness, the sadness, the anger, the joy out of whatever the situation is. I like the idea of not everything being exactly what it seems. So Every Opposite is exactly that, also everything being a part of everything else.
PZ: This brings forward a question I wanted to ask you about the Apartheid: Would you consider living through that era an unusual blessing in terms of how your cha-racter has been built and the purpose in your work? It was a terrible thing to experience, but did something good come out of it?
ZI: Yeah, if I felt like I was completely wholesome, completely issueless, and hadn’t gone through that, I don’t know who I would be. Yes, I do feel like it’s a strange bless-ing. All of the good and bad have been blessings, but that in particular I think, when I did return to Canada, I began to appreciate things in a different way compared to a lot of people around me. There were some very good things that I realized were privileges; it’s a privilege to be able to go to school -- to speak whatever language you want to speak. But I also wouldn’t wish it upon anyone else, [but] I do feel that people need to see things like that in their lifetime. I was there off and on from the age of three to nine to eleven to thirteen. It was a tug of war between parents and grandparents for me, the youngest grandchild. My mom is Scottish, and comes from a whole different world culture, and looking how I looked in that era was a trip, because even within my family there was a slight idea of separation. There was shadism in society that affected my family as a result of the Apartheid, and although my father suffered through it on a much harsher level, as a young child I was still observing the resonance of those ideas.
PZ: What do you mean by “shadism?”
ZI: The psychological warfare was deep during the Apartheid, and the after-effects left scars on the entire nation. As a person of color, if you have curly hair or straight hair, there was a false sense that you were a little bit better off than if you have an afro. There was a “pencil test” to see how African you are, if the pencil stayed in your hair, you were definitely African. As a South African citizen, you had to carry a pass with you stating what ethnic category you were, and my family members would tell me of the ridiculous, separating labels they would have to wear and present themselves as. No child should have to go through that because it would damage what you know, your idea of who you are as an individual. It’s all about your bloodline, color and appearance. If it stated on your card that you are Japanese, you’re a little bit “better” than Chinese. The Chinese population was considered colored, or black, and for the lablels of black, colored, Chinese or Indian, it was the same separation. “Whites only” were whites only, and if you are of mixed descent -- for instance my grandfather is considered Cape Malay, my grandmother African -- whatever it is, you’re still black. Yet, within that same neighborhood, if your card is a little different from your neighbor, or if you are little bit lighter, there was still an underlying animosity between groups of people, even though each had the same restrictions and was in a sense “imprisoned” in the same system. It’s not logical, but it left serious psychological damage on a country. What that system did to a lot of people is a deep, messed up issue. The time that I spent in South Africa was amazing, but having your own cousins and friends say, “You think you’re so great because you are so light,” and, “Look at you, you can easily go back to Canada,” was confusing and hurtful. During that time, I didn’t know if it was a blessing or not. I suppose, in some way, the nightmare of the struggle of my father’s country has helped shape my attitude towards not wanting to categorize myself and my music.
PZ: Do you think that if you aren't able to escape the immediate psychological stronghold to gain a better perspective as to what happened (or is still happening), you end up staying in that psychological rut?
ZI: Maybe, maybe not. I have sisters and good childhood friends that still live there, and they’re pretty healthy. We can see eye to eye and understand what we’ve been through and what we’ve been able to overcome. My traveling back and forth created this funny internal guilt thing where I wished that I could have stayed close to all of my fami-ly in Canada and South Africa, yet I realize I was pretty privileged being able to leave a country and its state of disrepair. Chalk it up to experience. I think it was almost harder to go back and forth, than to stay in once place, like staying here.
PZ: Why do you think that?
ZI: I think it’s harder because no matter where I am there is always good and bad, hard and pleasant experiences; but the perception of friends and family, to go back and forth and be in this tug of war, I question where I am supposed to be and where I want to be, and for what reasons. Some of the hardest things I have experienced were in South Africa, and yet that’s my home. I love it. I’ve come to accept it, and be able to express how I feel about certain things and how I’ve taken from it.
PZ: Speaking of love and expression -- on completely different terms -- I was happy your last song at your EP release was “Take A Stand”, because it is now on my lifetime playlist; and I did a reflection on the lyrics “Baby, you inspire sound to flow.” If you could stimulate only one expression of sound from others, what kind of sound would you inspire others to make?
ZI: Laughter and laughing in that good, full-bodied laughter, where there is joy in your eyes as you laugh.
Through the brief glimpses into her mind, Zaki has allowed us to see just how she has embodied the idea of Every Opposite – stay tuned for further information about this beautifully complex artist and her works.
