Rapper Altimet tells Loong Wai Ting his latest album is his best effort yet
LOCAL rapper and hip hop artiste Altimet stands out amongst his peers. There’s a raw and authentic quality to the 38-year-old artiste, who got into hip hop after listening to Bring The Noise by Anthrax and Public Enemy at 11.
More than two decades later, Altimet (whose real name is Ahmad Abdul Rahman) is crafting his own success story and inspiring others with his music, thanks to his sharp observational skills.
“You cannot call yourself a rapper if you don’t write your own material. If you perform rap songs, you may call yourself a rap vocalist but never a true rapper.” says Altimet who has a successful career spanning 16 years and counting.
He has been called the father of Malaysian hip hop and one of Malaysia’s leading pioneers of the genre by his contemporaries.
The winner of Best Hip Hop Solo Act at the Voize Independent Music Awards (Vima 2008) is staying true to his craft.
“As a rapper you have to write lyrics that matter. You have to come up with sincere material that’s also uniquely you,” says the artiste, who also won Song Of The Year for his track Chantek at Vima 2008.
RAPPING OBSERVATIONS
Not surprisingly, Altimet named the late singer Datuk Sudirman Arshad as “the first hip hop artiste in Malaysia”. While you may raise an eyebrow over this remark, Altimet says: “Sudirman was a hip hop artiste as all his songs are relatable and were mostly based on his social observation. His songs sounded like ‘cerita rakyat’ (folktales), which is quite similar to what rappers rap about in our songs,” he says.
To date, Altimet has remade three of Sudirman’s songs, including Kulit, taken off his latest album Amboi. His previous songs are Punch Card and Syukur, the latter is based on the late singer’s Nilai Cintamu.
Amboi consists of nine self-written tracks and features a list of music producers including SonaOne, Navigator, DJ Fuzz, Noh Salleh, Emir Hermono, Switch and Fauzi Marzuki.
He also collaborates with The Kawan Band, Aman RA, Diadra Arjunaidi, Adeep Nahar and Amir Jahari, among other artistes. It took Altimet a month to write, record and produce the album, a record of sorts for the Kalau Aku Kaya singer. It was a challenge that Altimet set for himself when he decided to work on a new album.
“It was a spontaneous decision to work on the album because I had lots of ideas at that time. I wrote 12 songs but only nine were picked for the album. So far, everything has worked well,” he says, before adding, “the three excluded songs are basically ‘rubbish’. I felt they weren’t up to the standard I’d set for myself. I’d feel bad to included them and have people buy bad music,” he says.
YOU PEEL, YOU FEEL
Experience, according to Altimet, helped a lot in shaping an album. “The album is much more focused this time. Some of it (the songs) are my best material to date. Without life experiences, I wouldn’t have been able to write these songs and I’m satisfied with the outcome,” he says.
Amboi is an album based on his observations of everything around him, especially on social media. The as-it-is lyrics are a jab at society and negative attitudes on social media. “Some complain about how employees don’t do their jobs properly but spend their time on Facebook. And then there’s the keyboard warrior who wants to have a say in everything. The social media trend in Malaysia has come to a point where everyone wants to put something up just for the sake of attention,” he says.
Is he worried about drawing criticism to himself? “Not at all. It’s all based on personal observations and not targeted at anyone in particular. Just like the Malay proverb ‘siapa makan cili dia terasa pedasnya’ (no one is as angry as the person who is wrong),” he says.
Asked if it’s easier to rap than to sing, he says it’s unfair to compare. “It’s like comparing apples to oranges. Each has its own forte and requires different skills. Rapping, for example, takes a lot of practice and the right breathing techniques,” says Altimet, who reveals that he jogs routinely to maintain his stamina.
The music industry is being flooded by quantity but is lacking significantly in quality. As a seasoned rapper, Altimet welcomes competition, the more the better. “I don’t see competition as a bad thing. In fact, that’s what I want because then it will benefit the industry as a whole.
“What I stand for these days? I stand for good music,” he concludes, a smile on his face.