Reason

The musician known for living a life in high definition shares the secrets to his longevity, why he’s wary of social media, and the power of being authentic

- Nkosiyati Khumalo

GQ: You’ve never been afraid to challenge trends – and haven’t been afraid of being seen as ‘failing to keep up’. Do you think musicians today, particularly in hip-hop, are focusing more on the competition than the artistry?

Reason: Today’s era is based on feeling in; there is a certain level of jewellery one needs to have, car one has to drive and clothes one has to wear to be considered a superstar. Even your videos has to look a certain way, in order for you to fit in. And unfortunately – or fortunately – for me I don’t come from that era, I come from an era that is purely based on you wanting to enhance the best sides of you as an individual.

There was a time where you could tell the difference between HHP, ProKid and ProVerb. Nowadays when you switch on the radio, you honestly don’t even know who you are listening to sometimes, you don’t even know who the artist is, everybody just sounds the same. You go on the internet and everybody just looks the same.

GQ: When you dropped ‘Wu Tang’, you tweeted about wanting it to trend naturally, as opposed to the social media promotional methods used today. How do yo approach social media and the need to be ‘seen’?

Reason: I think this question actually speaks to my career as a whole. There was once an era in American baseball where some of the players started taking steroids that made them stronger, faster and bigger and allowed those guys to get accolades and endorsement deals. And there were other guys who never used them, who always played with their natural strength. At the end of the day, you can choose to be the guy who takes steroids or the one who always fights with natural strength, and I have always kind of fought with my natural strength.