Joe Flizzow is not the kind of artist you forget, making a lasting impression the moment he enters a room.

For over two decades, the Malaysian rap icon has created ripples in the regional hip-hop scene, cultivating and inspiring a whole generation of emerging artists. Considered one of the influential rappers in the region, you can't mention Asian hip-hop without bringing up Joe Flizzow. 

After taking over the stage with fellow Def Jam artists, SonaOne and ALYPH at the first-ever Asian edition of the US-based hip-hop festival, Rolling Loud in Pattaya, Thailand, Bandwagon had a chat with the 'KUASA' rapper. Read on as Joe Flizzow talks about inspiring the next generation, what makes Asian hip-hop special, and the Malaysian artists the world should watch out for.

You’ve always been the type of artist that lives on stage, you even said it in a previous interview with us. So, how was the crowd out there?

We went on pretty early, it was hot but big love to everybody that was standing out there under the hot sun. You know, I saw a lot of fans from Singapore, from Malaysia, thank you very much. It was an honour for us to be able to represent and put on the show.

What was it like preparing for this performance?

It was kind of different because it was a shared set, with ALYPH and SonaOne. I ain't gonna lie, Sona did a lot of the heavy lifting—I just showed up.

What was different about this show is we did a brand new song, '501'. I don't usually perform songs that are not out yet but at the very last minute, I just thought it'd be nice to do something new, you know, for the fans out here [and] for the people that made this happen—shout out to my brothers: DJ ONO, DJAYBUDDAH, and of course, Rolling Loud. I know for a fact that they've been working really, really hard. 

And much love to Thailand. For me, this is full circle because my first show in Thailand was in Pattaya a long time ago. Ever since then, we just kept on building—I just feel like Thailand has done so much for Asian hip-hop. This is just the beginning of bigger, better things. 

 

 

 

 

 

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What do you think makes Asian hip-hop so special?

Although we have differences in language, I feel like there's so much in common that we have—like, looking at the food, you know, somebody will try to introduce me to a Thai delicacy and we'd have a variant of that in Malaysia, or in Singapore and Brunei or in Indonesia, but maybe different names. It's kind of the same—also in terms of culture, our traditions.

But I think what makes Asian emcees, producers, or anybody that's doing hip-hop in Asia, we've got a lot of people that are hungry. Some places have it tougher than others, not everybody is born with a silver spoon. So, it's amazing to be able to listen to stories from rappers rapping from [places like] Tondo, the slums of the Philippines—I've been there, trust me, life is tough in certain places, even in Malaysia. Every nation might have a different set of problems but it's beautiful to see how music can cure, you know what I mean, and just keep on spreading positivity and good energy.

When making music, what's the most important thing for you?

Right now, I like to use the word 'curate' because I curate [everything] even down to who's who's gonna be in the studio. Sometimes it could be your best friend, but that kind of energy—you don't want that you know? I like to get the setting right, sometimes we book out the whole studio for the whole day and we just listen to music listen to records and basically don't do anything until the last hour. Sometimes we just start dropping ideas, freestyling, inviting people from different genres or even different musicians sometimes—I'd have my homeboy Q Sound on the trumpet and he'll come through and then bless us with his presence, bless us with his mastery.

So, for me, it's important that you get a controlled environment and then in the minute you start feeling the love—a lot of things can inspire you, like it could be a joke and then suddenly you're like 'yo, that's a bar' and then from that one, it starts growing into an idea.

Who are some Malaysian artists you think the world should watch out for?

Of course, you got our boy, SonaOne. Sona has been working with us for a long time, I've seen him grow from a beatmaker on Fruitty Loops to just be one of the most complete, well-rounded artist-producers.

We got the Def Jam stable out in Malaysia, we got some pretty fire artists. Gard—shout out to Gard, the whole Slatan crew, they're doing a lot of exciting things. 53, this Melawati crew—Melawati is a hood in KL, not too far from the city centre but they got their own flavour, got something to offer, something to bring to the table. The list is very very long—check out 16Baris, we put on a lot of artists on 16Baris.

What's next for you?

I got my album coming out, Johan is coming out in two months. I've been working a long time to finish this album. Johan is my name given to me by my family, it also means champions in Malay. I hope that this album will inspire the next generation of, you know, scientists, professors, doctors, architects, engineers—hip-hop should be for everybody and that's how I hope to present this album. Not that I lie, I never lie my raps but this album is a bit more... you can say, vulnerable, you know, you can see different sides of me.

I got a [new] song out, it's called 'SUNYI'. It means lonely, some people listen to the song and are like 'Yo Joe, are you? You feeling okay?' but yeah, I mean I'm good. I'm fine, sometimes music helps—for me, I express myself the best through my lyrics, my melodies, through my words.

Listen to Joe Flizzow's 'SUNYI' here.