Seismic change rarely occurs in Afropop, but singer Khaid is proposing something approaching transcendence with his forthcoming album, ‘Rich & Wacko.’ But before ‘Rich & Wacko’ arrives, the singer is trying to prime his audience for the sound, an emotive blend of Fuji sonics and R&B’s candour that taps into his heritage and some of the sounds that shaped his artistic outlook. 

‘B4R&W,’ his four-track introduction to the  ‘Rich & Wacko’ world introduces a new edge to Khaid’s signature balmy style with particular highlights on songs like “Y26K” and “WACKO PLAY.” It is a deliberate gambit from the singer to prepare his audience for what is to come. “It is necessary for me to give them a preamble of what it’s going to sound like,” he told Apple Music’s Africa Now Radio.  “At the end of the day, it takes only understanding for them to accept the sound the way it is supposed to be taken. I don’t want people to stumble upon the album and start trying to understand the sound.”

This conversation has been edited for clarity. 

What artists inspire you?

When you listen to guys like Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, you listen to people like Michael Jackson, you listen to Prince, you can hear the vulnerability in their lyrics. Those are the people I listen to. Harry Styles and all those guys, those are the people I listen to, even if my songs don’t look like their songs. Because those guys are musically brilliant, they are not just musically good, they are musically brilliant. I feel like as an artist, that’s what you need. You need people to guide you, you need people to mentor you, people that are musically brilliant. Not just musically inclined or melodically good. 

Why are you dropping this project ahead of your album?

The world in general thrives off understanding, right? The world evolves because people understand how the world is. And for ‘Rich and Wacko,’ I didn’t just want to go too abstract into where my life, my sound, and my environment is. When you listen to ‘Rich and Wacko,’ it sounds like, “Okay, this is something I’ve almost never heard from a guy like this. And I don’t know how he was able to tap into that element.” It sounds different. So it is necessary for me to give them a preamble of what it’s going to sound like. At the end of the day, it takes only understanding for them to accept the sound the way it is supposed to be taken. I don’t want people to stumble upon the album and start trying to understand the sound. I want them to have a preamble before they listen to the song. So after that time, they’ve gathered a little understanding from the preamble, and it’s going to help them when they listen to the album. 

How do you approach putting music out?

I just do a lot myself. When I’m trying to put out music, I’m not just trying to put out music because it’s good. I try to see myself as the fans most times, because if I want to listen to an artist, I want to be able to understand that artist and his personality and where he’s coming from. It’s just like I’m trying to save the world. I’m trying to tell everybody I’m Jesus without proving miracles, or doing the necessary good deeds that Jesus did to show them that, okay, I’m this good guy, but I’m also the savior of the world, you feel me? So that’s all I’m just trying to do. I’m trying to let everybody know, you still got the old Khaid, but the old Khaid is evolving. I’m just trying to let the music take me. I don’t want to hold back and be like, “Oh, this is what I think people like about me.” I just want the music to speak for itself. The music in itself is like a statement. So, I got to make the human form of me become a statement. That’s why I have this preamble like, “Take this preamble so you can understand when the album comes.” That’s all I’m trying to do.

Where do you think you are at sonically?

Musically, with the tape, I’m trying to let people know that Wacko is almost everything. In my country, people take that as confusion. So, I’m trying to let people know that it’s not confusion, it’s just the ability to be versatile. When you are versatile, you can literally do anything, and don’t take it as confusion, like, oh, “I don’t know if this guy has a sound” or whatever. It’s music. Some people come like that, and by the grace of God, I come like that. The foundational Wacko sound is like a mix of Fuji and Hip-Hop. I like making love songs because it just takes away some trauma. So, I got to add that in whatever it is that I’m doing. It has to be a major component in whatever I’m doing. I’m super excited. I’m thrilled to see the misunderstanding before they understand. I’m thrilled to be in that moment of like people trying to understand. I’m super going to be happy when they finally understand. But I’m super excited for when they misunderstand it. Every great artist is misunderstood at first. So I’m just trying to see, and I’m super excited for how the outcome is going to be, because I got God guiding me. It’s like a vision. You know when these prophets see visions and they are like, “Yo, God says change your ways.” That’s how I see visions about the song too. I just let God do his thing. And that’s it.

How do you approach songwriting?

Everything comes from God, man. I never really try to put down lyrics or try to be the best lyrical writer. They keep saying I don’t got lyrics. So, I don’t even try to fight myself about it. Sometimes when I make some songs, it comes out like super not me. Like the lyrics come out super not me. That’s where I confirm that, “Okay, I think God is writing this song on my behalf.” So most of the songs are like that too.