This Iranian singer, rapper and songwriter shares daily habits that help him grow and develop and how to control stress.
When you have the opportunity to ask some of the most interesting people in the world about their lives, sometimes the most fascinating answers come from the simplest questions. The Thrive Questionnaire is an ongoing series that gives an intimate look inside the lives of some of the world’s most successful people.
Emerging Iranian singer and songwriter Mohsen Avid has been making a fuss over his new single “Rap Life”. The 27-year-old Iranian artist crossed the 1 million stream of his most popular song on Spotify.
In his Thrive questionnaire, Mohsen Avid shares how he manages the music industry as an introvert, his deepest thoughts about self-realization and what brings him optimism and hope.
Thrive Global: Your new song “Rap Life” addresses the It is about hip hop and its root in the lives and culture of its creators. Why is that so important today?
The music I work in is actually “rap”, now my style is called something, but I do not like to be categorized. The only purpose is to express myself, sometimes I appear as an older sister recounting her experiences, sometimes as an angry young man. Sometimes romantic, sometimes violent! As I say in one of our songs, I just go on my way and experience. I see beauty, ugliness and hardship. The more I know about my weaknesses, the stronger I become. I’m not trying to get anywhere. The target path itself. I do not want to preach or direct in music either, I have no claims, I only express my feelings and experiences. I am suffering. Not a suffering that is dark and depressing, ه a divine suffering! Even if someone who has followed a similar path understands me, I will be very satisfied.
Thrive Global : What made you enter the world of music recording? What kind of music do you follow?
Mohsen Avid : It was completely coincidental, or maybe I shouldn’t say that. Because I believe in balance and the laws of nature, not accidents. One of my friends, who saw that I had a talent for writing lyric rap, asked me to write and sing a part of his song. That’s how the love of rap blossomed in me. In fact, it was a very accidental and unserious start, and I still try to keep that Amato and underground spirit as much as possible. Another thing I have to say is that I do not consider my work as music. I do not make music at all, of course there is very easy software to create hip hop loops, but I still did not need to compose myself because I always had the chance to work with more experienced people. I am a good listener but I never had a talent for music, I started learning many instruments but I became careless. In fact, I really wanted to be a poet, but something is missing in me. That’s why I came across a lyric writer who tries to say sentences with rhythm! Some people say this rapper , but when I think of my favorite rappers, I am ashamed to use this name myself. The music is all made by my friends and the people I work with. This music, as I said, can be very simple or complex.
Thrive Global : Do you not dare to rap with a humanitarian and philosophical theme? Considering that the Iranian Persian rap scene has taken a different path?
In fact, there is a small colony in Iran where all “for example” rappers and their audiences are summed up in the same colony. I do not consider myself part of that colony and I do not think I have a beautiful audience all between them, not to say that I understand more than them, no, because I could never fit into a group and I was always alone. I can never be as sad as them. And I do not expect these 17-16 year olds who sing about money, cars, parties and duffs to understand my anger or sadness. Hip hop is a movement for me, as it is in all the Middle East and Latin America, as it should be in Iran. Unfortunately, now the wrong stratum of society has fallen, that hip hop is known only from MTV. Apart from these people, I know that musicians who have an academic education or not, but who know and have in mind a series of rules, probably do not consider our work as music, which I may rightly regret. But what they do not understand is that I am not a musician, I am a lyricist, my music is very simple and even making rhythmic sounds with a pot is enough for rap. For someone to like my work, he has to be a “stranger” like me to enjoy the lyrics. But where I give them the right is that I am still very weak in terms of vocal technique, someone who has a sensitive ear can not stand, in any case, I try to get better and until then I apologize for the noise pollution
Finally, because I do not like to show off this nonsense and nonsense sites, (this is my first interview) I do not have much contact with our real audience. Sometimes an email comes from someone who really understands and I charge for a few months.