Berhana Opens up About His 'HAN' Project's Cohesiveness, Inspirations & the Confines of Genre
“I don’t feel responsible to put out music that’s genre-bending.”
For the previous iteration of our Conversations With interview series, we sat down with fast-rising rapper Lil Tjay to learn more about the Bronx native’s influences, his experiences with the criminal justice system and the significance of self-respect. Now, for the final Conversations With of 2019, Berhana stops by our office to open up about the cohesive structure of his recently-released HAN project, the concept of genre and finding inspiration while overseas in Japan.
“In terms of the culture, there’s a lot I appreciate about their ideas of respect and how they treat one another — little things like that remind me of my home and my family,” Berhana shares with us while speaking on his time in Japan. “If you ever recorded in a different space, it’s always like this breath of fresh air. Being able to record in Japan, which is like a different world completely, was really tight. It was just something I always wanted to do, and it was super inspiring.”
“I don’t feel responsible to put out music that’s genre-bending,” Berhana concludes. “I made what I made; you listen to it, say what you want to say, and then that’s it.”
You can check out our Conversations With interview with Berhana above, and stream his HAN LP below.
For more, revisit our Conversations With interview with Denzel Curry.
