YV Media Catches Up with Canada's Afropop Artist ZOCHI

YV Media: How did you come up with the name ZOCHI?

ZOCHI: My Legal name is Uzochi meaning the way of God, so I just took out the U and kept the Z O C H I, that’s how I came up with ZOCHI.  

YVM: How has your journey as a Nigerian-born Canadian Queer Woman impacted your lifestyle and music?  

ZOCHI: Has made me stronger, I’m surer of who I am and where I am going, a lot of that has come from the freedom to express self that Canada offers. My lifestyle has changed a lot I intentionally live for me; I don’t bend to please the religious beliefs of my family or old friends from high school in Nigeria. It’s aligned me with the people I am supposed to be on this journey with. And we all uplift each other. My music is getting better the more I love myself and sing and write in my purpose. And I found God here in Canada and my relationship with him is intertwined in every song whether faith based like my new single “Beside Me” or just writing about the authenticity of love in my life like my debut EP “Afrikaanman Fairytale”.

YVM: Who or what inspired you to become a rapper?

ZOCHI: I think music in general just calls me, I’ve always been inspired just by the art itself.  But the artists I used to watch that imparted something in me to write melodies and make me want to live the lifestyle of a musician and see myself as someone who can one day be great in music were: Celine Dion, Phil Collins, Sade, Lionel Richie, Backstreet Boys, Luther Vandross, Usher, Lauryn Hill, etc.

YVM: What was your last regular job before you blew up?

ZOCHI: I was working as a job coach with people with intellectual disabilities  

YVM: If you had to collaborate with three artists, who would it be and why?

ZOCHI: REMA because he’s super experimental with his music and I think we can go crazy for crazy on a track lol which is what I like to do with Afrobeat.

Another artist is Frank Ocean—his music is very soulful, and it calms me a lot would be cool to make a queer song with him that’s heavy on story telling about love and the perspective of being openly unapologetically gay as an artist.  

And Kehlani for the culture exclusively for the Lesbian culture ahahah I think she’s gorgeous, her voice is amazing.

YVM: What’s your go-to home-cooked meal ?

ZOCHI: I love me some ground beef with some eggs, some avocado and some brown rice. That’s currently my go-to home cooked meal. It changes from time to time lol

YVM: What was your most memorable or funny fan moment?

ZOCHI: Meeting a fan for the first time who knows all the lyrics to my songs is amazing.

YVM: If rap didn’t work out, what career path would you have chosen?  

ZOCHI: Might be too late right now lol but I was great at soccer in school. I would have gotten into some type of sport or work in a sport related job.

YVM: What is something about being an artist that scares you or challenges you?

ZOCHI: Knowing that you’re destined for greatness but not knowing what it would look like or the struggles that are ahead of you and so just being prepared every single day for greatness and the negative side of it.

YVM: What legacy would you like to leave behind?

ZOCHI: The deprogramming of the hateful religious teachings and ideas that queer people are born sinners. Nah we are born to show the world the height depth width and unfathomable length of Gods love for all of mankind.