WHY I CHOSE TO BECOME A STREET RAPPER

Infidelix rapping in Zagreb, Croatia

This is a question I have asked myself many times but now after 6 years of travelling and making music on the street I think I know the answer to this question. My original plan when I first started my long journey of self discovery and inspiration was to sell my cd’s by hand to people however I quickly realized that was not as easy as I made it sound. Long story short, once I went broke I asked some street musicians who were performing in the Netherlands if I could use their street performing equipment to try to make some cash to get on my feet. They said yes and a few weeks later I had saved up enough money to get my own equipment and continue on my journey.

I guess you could say that street performing happened because of survival but the reason I decided to stick with it and continue this journey is because I started to fall in love with the whole process of performing on the street. To me it was the realist thing I could do for myself and for my music. Even today, everytime I perform I go through an entire range of emotions while performing. In fact the feelings I feel start the second I find my spot and start setting up my equipment.

Infidelix rapping in Budapest, Hungary

I somewhat compare the feeling of making street music to the feeling someone gets when they are spraying graffiti on a wall. Street music is illegal with amplification and although you would not think that from seeing my videos and seeing other performers on the street, do not be fooled. You are only seeing the good sides of things but many times I deal with the police and get told to get up and get to moving. There is a thrill I feel knowing that I am doing something illegal but for me it is art and nobody will ever have the right to tell me what art is or where I am able to make my art.

I guess also I am just a realist. I have been to many many shows and observed what goes on. Friends come to see their friends perform, then they go outside and smoke during the other acts. Or they can smoke inside so they sit there and listen but they really are not engaged in music they do not know. So to me it is a fake audience. When you are performing on the street the people have the option to stay or go. There are no walls forcing them to listen to your music. In fact, when you are street performing you have to put on a good enough performance to stop a person walking by who originally did not have that planned in their day. You have to convince someone with your music that their partner, or job, or whatever plan they had does not matter because now they are stopping to listen to your art. It is not an easy thing to do but when you are sitting their rapping and you see the people engaged in your music and you know that you just stopped them from their original plans, well that is such a humbling feeling knowing that your music and performance did that to someone .I would challenge any musician to try their music on the street. It is a great way to gage what is good and what is not and it is a great way to gain connections that otherwise may have been missed. Very rarely do my emails get a response. The biggest opportunities that I have gotten have been from dj’s, magazine bloggers, and other influential people who have walked by me while I was performing and said that I was worth it then chose to drop a business card or contact me on my social accounts later in the day.

Infidelix rapping in Berlin, Germany

Sometimes when I am performing I cry and get goose bumps that flood my entire body. I feel like I have almost reached enlightenment. Seeing people standing together who may never had stood together. Millionaires next to poor people, racists next to refugees, its amazing what the power of music can do to people. The emails I receive from fans and people who I have effected flood my inboxes daily and it is all from performing on the streets.

So to answer the question, I became a street rapper because it makes me fucking happy. That’s why.

Infidelix is Europe’s #1 Street Rapper and has spent the past 6 years traveling the world, inspiring and motivating culture through music