I AM THE BIGEST FEMALE ARTIST IN ZAMBIA, ON MY NEW SONG, I ADVISE THESE WOMEN TO GIVE THEIR ALL TO THESE MEN, XAVEN TOLD BBC – THIS IS AFRICA
PLEASE NOTE: This is a continuation of This Is Africa: Special edition focused on Zambia tittled “Zambia Ku Chalo,” part two.
After talking to Chanda na Kay, the BBC’s DJ Edu went ahead to have a conversation with Xaven, the Kopala Queen.
DJ Edu opened this segment of the interview with, “You are tuned in to This Is Africa from the BBC World Service and today we are delving into Zambian music and Kopala, the sound of the Copperbelt. As Kay said, the Copperbelt artists stick together, and not only that, a lot of them are family. Three of Zambia’s biggest names, Macky 2, Chef 187, and Towela, who come from the Copperbelt region, are siblings. And self-styled Kopala Queen is cousin of Y Celeb, another extremely popular Copperbelt artist.”
He continued, “And here she is Xaven, styling it out in front of the cameras for our TIA spotlight video which you’ll be able to see in the coming weeks on the socials at BBC Africa.”
Xaven, on the spotlight video, said, “Hi world, it’s your girl Xaven the Kopala Queen, I come from Zambia, the Copperbelt Province. I’m a rapper, the biggest female artist in Zambia because I mean, who else.”
Xaven told the BBC, “I’m super excited to be on This Is Africa, BBC – I go by the name XAVEN (spells it out), and you can check me out on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, the world is not ready for me. I have a new song out, the title is Kuifililwa fye and on this one I get to advise the ladies to give their all to these men but also you need to know, you need to read the room, you can’t just give yourself to just anybody. You need to see that this one is worth it and then you give yourself so we are giving out all the love on this one.”
She continued, “So, I know you men have always been attacking me about how I am making your women leave you. On this one don’t worry about it, I’m on your side, I’m not criticising any of you so yeah kuifililwa fye is where they give you all their love, then iwe wala ifililwa fwe.”
Xaven continued in her talk to the BBC as she went on to explain what her brand stands for.
She said, “The Kopala Queen brand is one that speaks for women, the Kopala Queen brand always wants to remind women that they can do as much as men can do and even better sometimes in the industry and in any aspect of work.”
The rapper then went ahead to explain the Kopala sound. Xaven told the BBC that, “The Kopala sound is one of a kind, we have a sound called ‘dunka’ music, so everything from the Copperbelt will make you want to dance.”
The rapper then entered into a brief chat about her musical inspiration and her rise to prominent fame, giving the juice on her exponential growth.
“I listen to Nicki Minaj all the time. From the time I was growing up, she’s always been my inspiration, Miss Eliot. How I found out I could rap was when I could always mimic Nicki Minaj’s songs. I always loved the flow, I’d try to sing solo, but then I was more lenient to the raping side side of things. I can rap in Bemba, I can rap in English, and I another language as long as I know how to pronounce words. I feel like one of the reasons I’m doing music is so I can show people that what a man can do music wise, a female can do and even better sometimes so I feel like that’s why I pursued rapping.”
DJ Edu asked Xaven, “And what song is the one that put Xaven on the map? The one that said Xaven has arrived. ”
Xaven responded, ” Its titled ‘They Lie,’ I did it with my brother Y Celeb, and everybody went crazy. So the first song I ever jumped on was on the biggest album in the country at the time ‘Bon Apetit – Chef 187’ and actually that verse that I put in opened doors for me being signed under a certain record label at the time.”
DJ Edu, “Obviously you are one amongst many, you must know other female artists who are doing their thing, can you drop us some names?” Xaven responded, mentioned Mampi, Towela, and Kanina Kandalama.
When asked why there are a few women in the Zambian music industry. Xaven told DJ Edu that they lack “thick skin” to withstand criticism, further stating that her boldness has helped her come this far.
DJ Edu then went ahead and asked her if she has penetrated other markets apart from Zambia to which the singer responded that, the fact that she has over 700 thousand TikTok followers means she has reached other audiences. The rapper added that she had seen a Cameroonian vibe to her song “Love Me,” giving her confidence in her reach.
The Xaven interview ended as DJ Edu’s next mission was to meet up with rapper Chef 187, gospel artiste Pompi, and Producer Mag 44. Click here to read the next article.
