What makes some of these local or global creatives tick? In this weekly column, hip hop artist ABANGSAPAU shares his many inspirations and obsessions.
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1. His Sony Headphones: My favourite gadget has got to be my Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones. I was never too fussy on audio growing up, but after getting into music, I’ve begun to pay more attention to detail.
When the Circuit Breaker was first implemented, I decided to invest a sum of money into these headphones as I foresaw that I would be stuck at home writing and listening to music a lot.
Putting them on the first time made me feel like I was in my own world. I haven’t looked back since.
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2. The Pursuit of Happyness: No movie makes me cry the way this movie does. The storyline, writing and performance of everyone involved — especially Will and Jaden Smith — shook something in me as a kid that I feel to this day every time I rewatch it.
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3. Philip Defranco: My favourite Youtuber is Philip Defranco. He covers the news on current events in a curious yet unbiased way, and it helps me stay in tuned with the current affairs of the world — something I feel is important for everyone to keep up with.
I haven’t missed one video of his since 2017.
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4. Forest Hills Drive by J Cole: This was the first Hip Hop album I listened to in its entirety, and J Cole was the first rapper I could feel a genuine connection with based only on his words.
As someone who barely listened to Hip Hop growing up, this was the album that kickstarted my deep dive into embracing Hip Hop.
One of my earliest freestyle videos which shot me into the scene, “A Conversation With the Mirror” was a remix from a J Cole original.
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5. His Favourite Sarung: My favourite sarung has got to be the blue and black checkered one I wore on my 2020 New Year’s Eve performance. Besides its soft yet secure material, the sarung belonged to my late Grandfather, who passed away in 2013.
I’ve been wearing the Sarung on the daily since I was a kid, and decided to first wear it publicly on the music video to my breakout single “BUAT APE?”.
I’ve since made it a quintessential part of the ABANGSAPAU style.
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6. Adidas Stan Smiths: My favourite shoes have got to be my Green Adidas Stan Smiths. I bought them in 2018 and it is the only pair of shoes I own. I used that same pair of shoes for most of my shows in 2019.
The Stan Smiths are still my go-to daily pair of shoes to this day because it has the 4 Cs I look out for when buying shoes — comfort, cutting, colourway and construction.
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7. Favourite Lyric: “Beauty in the struggle, ugliness in the success” – J Cole on Love Yourz.
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one big lie. this jabber fella nak tak nak tell the truth all because he dont want to kalah. ape sia Lol https://t.co/hh430kgqlb
— shaz (@ABANGSAPAU_) July 11, 2020
8. Fifa: I’m down for a challenge anytime. It’s not easy to play against me, just ask Fariz Jabba.
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