I had the opportunity to speak with Xavier Sharif
a budding Atlanta Hip-Hop.
In the transcript below is a just a FRACTION
of what we actually covered but I wanted
to keep it strictly about the music.
I would strongly urge everyone to check the backstory
behind each song available at
Also below you can find and listen to
his Joyride EP.
Oh yeah...don't forget to follow him at @XavierSharif
Q: How did you get into rapping?
Xavier: Originally I was more interested in being a
singer. I wrote my first song when I was
six years old and my first musical influence was R. Kelly and my parents put me
onto him really early. When I started
middle school I started getting interested into rapping and my friends and I would
pass around a rhyme book but mine were more poetry because I was more
interested in poetry. One of my first
favorite rap albums was 50 Cent’s Get
Rich or Die Tryin’. So all of those
components were like my first introduction to rap.
Q: So can you sing?
Xavier: [Laughter] Here’s how I describe it. I don’t have
any type of vocal training in how to sing.
I call it more of “crooning” but singing from the more technical
background I would say no, I am trying to learn though you see what’s happening
in the industry a lot of rappers and singers are doing the same thing.
Q: So you just released an EP The Joyride, talk about how the story came about.
Xavier: The night Joyride
speaks about is really two nights into one. It was in October 2015. Those two in itself were crazy and just full
of temptation. My girlfriend and I at
the time had a small break but we were still together but during that time I
was very tempted looking at other women, and drinking trying to fill a void
with what was happening in my relationship. But as the weeks went by it was
very symbolic where my was soul and I started relating that night with my
relationship God. So The Joyride is just a metaphor. I wanted to use my music as a journal and be
really transparent.
Q: When did you feel the conviction from God?
Xavier: It was the next morning. I actually woke up on one of my homie’s couch
the next day. I saw all the missed calls
and I was thinking “I really fucked up” and I thought I was going to lose
everything that I had. That’s when I
started being more reflective and started soul searching. I didn’t start
writing that EP till December. I used
all of November reflecting.
Q: So what did your Girlfriend think?
Xavier: [Laughter} She was actually in some of the recording
sessions. I told her “this is real” and
“I am not going to lie”
Q: So that next morning did you tell her everything that
happened?
Xavier: Nah, all I told her was waking up on the couch and
not doing that again and that’s all she knew until I started recording the EP.
Q: Then what was the
conversation after that?
Xavier: She was a
little upset that she had to find out on the phone. That’s why I wanted her to be in the some of
the recording sessions and some more personal things I rather not share.
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