Jovan had the opportunity to catch up with The PropheC on his thoughts about his latest album and his career.

The PropheC is one of the top Canadian Punjabi artists in the industry and has released his new album titled 'The Lifestyle'. This album is huge and one of the best albums to be released in the past year with 11 great tracks.

How did you come up with the stage name ‘The PropheC’?

Basically just watching a lot of anime and The Matrix movies. Growing up I always wanted a cool DJ/producer name so it just kind of stuck when I started making my own tracks lol.

I first saw you perform in 2009 at Imran Khan’s Unforgettable tour show alongside Deep C, how was that experience to start off your career?

It was definitely a good experience and taught me a lot about how to carry myself as an artist. I’ve always had an introverted personality and was never the greatest performer in real life or in music videos (haha). However, after this and many other shows to come, I slowly learned how to gain confidence and perform openly.

This experience also taught me the value of my talent/passion. I feel its easy for an artist to fall into the trap of doing free performances for the exposure but I feel its important to set a value for yourself. Never work for free.

You have now made multiple albums including your debut ‘Forever’, ‘Futurerproof’ and ‘The Dream Room’ mixtape... what have you learnt from each of them?

The main lesson I’ve learnt from each project is to keep going and continuing to make music that comes from within. “Forever” had many technical flaws, mixing issues and vocals that weren’t fully refined. However, I think it connected with listeners at that time because people could hear the rawness and emotion I put in the record.

At that time I was never thinking about making a big record or being some big star but was just a kid in his basement who wanted to make music without compromising who he is. I’ve always tried to hold on to that with every record I make.

Where do you draw your inspiration from for your music?

A lot of people think I’m one of the most dukhi people in the world (haha). While some of my music is based on tough times I’ve had in my life a lot of it is inspired by an emotion I feel every human has experienced at one point in his/her life. We’ve all had that empty feeling inside that we can’t describe. All I’ve done is tried to do define it and fill that void with my music.

Where did you come up with the album name for your newest album ‘The Lifestyle’? Why do you think it was the perfect choice?

I came up with the idea of the album while I was touring in 2015. I hadn’t been home in almost 2 months and noticed I was missing out on a lot of what my friends and family were up to. I was losing touch with a lot of people to maintain and grow my music career. At that point I thought The Lifestyle would be a dope idea to convey my struggle of giving up a “normal” life to give it my all as an artist.

The album features 11 tracks, how do you decide on how many tracks you want to put on an album?

I think the core fans would love more tracks on the album. But from previous albums, I learnt that when you put too many tracks on an album, some of them get overshadowed by others. So basically I fought with my management to get at least 11 on there lol. The others we’ll drop as singles later on this year.

Tracklisting

1. Let Me Live (Intro)

2. Kina Chir

3. Rumors (FT Fateh & Jus Reign)

4. Hove Mera Naal (FT Ikka)

5. Think About You

6. Drama (Be Real)

7. All Night Long

8. Ki Chayeeda

9. Intezaar

10. Yaar Purane

11. Char Janda Cha

Whats your favourite track on the album and why?

Since its always hard to choose a favourite, right now I relate to Kina Chir, Drama and All Night Long. Drama has a lot of personal things in it that I was dealing with while making this album while All Night Long is one of my first attempts at doing more English in a song (something I’ve always wanted to do for a while).

As one of the top Canadian artists in the Punjabi music industry how does it feel to be one of the most recognizable names to come from the country?

It feels great but still a long way to go.

As we know you have also produced music for the likes of H Dhami on ‘Clap It’, did you produce this entire album as well?

No, just that track for now. But I’m sure we’ll do more work in the future.

You have had the rapper Fateh feature in many of your tracks, can you tells us about how you first met him and why he is always the best choice to feature in your music?

I first hit him up in 2014 and met him through Raxstar. I’ve been a fan of his work for years so it was really cool to get him on Chall Mere Naal. With Fateh its always really easy and open to make music. We’ve grown into really good friends so we can openly discuss and criticize each others work so we know we’re getting the best output every time.

We got a lot of music we’ve made together so I’m looking forward to finishing it and putting it out soon.

Your first single from this album was ‘Hove Mera Naal’ featuring Ikka and it received a huge response from your fans. Why was Ikka the right fit and why do you think the track was so successful?

I personally am a fan of Ikka and love the way he’s different from every Desi rapper. I feel he was completely different and unexpected to put on this type of love song so I just wanted to see what type of reaction it would get. I’m glad he was able to come through and be on the song. Looking forward to doing some more stuff with him.

As you may know there are now artists promoting their own music on illegally downloadable websites, what are your thoughts on this? Is creating Punjabi music a profitable business anymore?

I think its pretty useless as it doesn’t really reflect anything. I think people are starting to understand that views, likes and downloads can all be inflated so we really don’t know what real and what fake anymore. Anyone who uses these numbers to show their credibility as an artist is really missing the point of how the music business works.

I think being original, creating music that relates with listeners and connecting with your audience rather than just seeing them as numbers will always be profitable.

For me creating Punjabi music has been profitable so far. While it took a lot of time and patience, I have been able to maintain being an independent artist, owning my rights and making a living doing what I love.

How do you think the Punjabi music market is in Canada, is there enough talent in the country to put us on the map with the likes of artists in the UK and India? Do you think you are at any disadvantage of being a Punjabi artist in Canada, if so do you think there is any way to change this?

I think we are at a real advantage being in Canada. We have an opportunity to be disconnected from unnecessary politics and trends that I feel people in UK and India have fallen into. The market in Canada/USA is still growing. But even still, we have so many unique artists doing different types of music and succeeding in their respective areas.

The artists from Canada are all doing something different from each other. The market is big enough for everyone. I’m sure this will encourage more and more talented people to be leaders and push creative boundaries.

Is there anything else you would like to say to the SimplyBhangra.com readers?

Thank you SimplyBhangra for always supporting my music and all for the continued support, hope to keep giving you meaningful and senti music!

You can follow me at Follow @JovanHeer