Conversation with Da Xhaka Nakot: I'm not retiring, only the alias is going into legend

After 21 years of work as a solo artist and with more than 12 releases, Da Jaka Nakot ends his story with the album "Live on, no evil", conceptually conceived as a set of palindromes.

We hadn't heard from Xhaka Nakot for a long time until he sent me the invitation for the promotion of the latest album "Live on, no evil". I knew he was somewhere out of the country, but I didn't know that he had been living in Wroclaw, Poland for a year and a half after five years in Germany. "I came for a couple of months from Berlin, due to the covid situation, to spend a season from winter to spring, I fell in love with a local girl, and I stayed. When a person plans, God laughs", told me the rapper who left a strong mark in the Macedonian hip-hop scene not only with his solo albums, but also with the vital energy he brought to the group "Legiata".

After a long time, Vladimir Djokic alias Da Xaka Nakot is present in Skopje and on September 30, at 20 pm in MKC, there will be a promotion of his new album.

How long has the album been in preparation and why are you announcing it as the last one?

– I started the album with a thought that metastasized into an idea, which gave me the concept for the whole project. I haven't released a solo album since 2015 because I wanted to do a complete detox of my art. Meanwhile, in 2019, I changed the way I work – from PC to Akai MPC Live, a stand-alone machine/sampler/music station that is an essential tool for every hip-hop producer in the digital age. Considering that it takes time to learn a new tool from scratch, I invested time in perfecting the craft.

The writing itself has never been a problem for me, but to get the sound you're looking for you need to know what you want to hear. as someone who has released more than 400 studio songs, I wanted a challenge because after all, the only person I'm competing with is myself, and I'm also my own biggest critic. I wanted to bring something fresh to the table, I didn't want to play in the comfort zone, which knows how to catch even the best rappers in their jaws. The challenge came in the form of limitation. I wanted to make a project consisting of works that are palindromes, and since there is very little room for maneuver in the Macedonian lyrical literary sphere for that problem, I had to work even harder to get the song titles first, and then fill with text and music.

I worked on the album for a year. The plan was to be published much earlier, on 22.2.2022, but due to a family tragedy I had to postpone it to September 30. Da Jaka Nakot's last album, because I want that legacy and that idea to be closed, after a solo cycle of 21 years and more than 12 solo projects under that name. I'm not retiring, just the alias is going into legend. Xhaka Nakot has done his job. I will still perform and the album will have a concert promotion in the spring, but Jaka Nakot's catalog closes with this project.

Writing itself has never been a problem for me, but to get the sound you're looking for you need to know what you want to hear

A diverse team has been assembled on the album, and it was recorded and mastered far from here. How did you manage to get in touch with everyone and for what purpose?

– The album was recorded at the Dobre Ucho studio in Wroclaw, Poland, by the Polish producer Voskovy, while we did the mastering in Heppenheim, Germany, at the Schwarztone studio, with my producer Tobias Schwarz, who is the second half of our metal-cyber-punk project "GL!TCH". My vocals were recorded in two sessions of three hours each, while I did the post-production and arrangements myself at Shuriken Records in Wrocław (my studio moves with me, always), until the day before the mastering.

The guests on my album are people I respect, who have a relevant voice in hip-hop music, but also with whom I have great relationships, both personally and professionally. From the Macedonian scene, Alfa, Maximus Vandal, Kiskinov, LD Pistolero, Soulmental (Baje DSC and Dare DT), Duhot od DOM, Philip Fundament and Bruce (from "Legiata" / "Fulish Green") signed the album. From Europe we have Jabba from France, Bwana from Lagune from Serbia, DJ Ice from BiH, while the narrator, i.e. the guide of the album, is Terence McKenna, a shaman and authority in the field of psychonautics and mind-expanding substances, on one song we have ODB from "Wu-Tang Clan", the legendary actor Robin Williams, MF DUM, to whom I have dedicated a song, and the most eccentric artist of today - Kanye West.

Da Xhaka Nakot's new album brings a modern sound intertwined with great sonics and the ambience of a Tarantino meets Morricone film

What does the expression "conceptually conceived as a set of palindromes" mean?

– The album carries an idea – a palindrome. "Live on, no evil" – it is an expression that is read the same from the right and from the left. The album title is a palindrome, as is the album's running time (1 hour, 16 minutes and 11 seconds) and track count, 22+2 bonus tracks. Modern sound intertwined with excellent sonics and the ambience of a Tarantino meets Morricone film.

The group "Legion" is also present on the last album. How do you look at the phenomenon of youthful rebellion expressed through "Legion" from the position of a man in full maturity?

– "Legion" was an idea to unite the style of several teams in one sound. We started a whole movement that is a benchmark for all generations of hip-hop. Until the appearance of "Legion", there had never been such a willing hip-hop group with more than eight members. I doubt we will ever again have such quality gathered in one place, at one moment, with one purpose. By the way, we are working on a new project that should be released in 2024 (following the cycle of eight years in which we release an album, symbolized by the number of members and the symbol for infinity - an inverted eight) and taking into account that we are adults with families , obligations and with thousands of kilometers between us, it should be an event of cosmic proportions that will affect time and space.

(The conversation was published in "Cultural Press" No. 147, in the print edition of the newspaper "Free Press" on September 24-25, 2022)

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