‘Rihanna thinks I’m weird’: Msaki on Diplo pitching her music

Not every artist can boast about US singer Rihanna knowing their name or listening to their music, but for South African musician Msaki, this is her lived experience.

The Ubomi Abumanga hitmaker not only pitches her music to the Lift Me Up singer, she also has pitched for Justin Bieber and collaborated with Dj and producer Diplo on over 15 tracks — she told MacG and Sol Phenduka on Podcast and Chill on Thursday 19 January.

ALSO READ: ‘It’s a violation of privacy’: Msaki on Smash Afrika cheating claims

MSAKI ON WORKING WITH DIPLO

The mom-of-three revealed that her collaboration with Diplo came about a year after the DJ had sent her a direct message (DM) on Instagram — which she completely missed, leaving him on read.

In fact, it wasn’t until her friend sent her a screenshot of Diplo’s comment on one of her Instagram posts about going to Los Angeles (LA) that she responded to the Elastic Heart DJ.

ALSO READ: Msaki’s cryptic tweets leave fans worried

Msaki revealed that she had had no idea that the producer of LSD, a collaborative effort he released in 2019 with Labrinth and Sia, was in her DMs trying to get her into studio.

“I think I missed it for a year and then… I think I posted something about coming to LA and then he wrote on the actual post, and then a friend of mine screenshot that and sent it to me and said, like, ‘are you doing a song with Diplo?’, and I was, like, ‘who’s that?’…

“I realised he’s been trying to reach out and I messaged him back and I told him I’m coming to LA and we just hung out in Malibu,” she said.

The Fetch Your Life hitmaker said that she and Diplo have about 15 or 20 songs.

ALSO READ: Smash Afrika accused of cheating on his wife with singer Msaki

Msaki praised Diplo for being a great producer and for having a good ear. She also added that he pitches her music to other well-known artists.

“But he’s also great ’cause he will check stuff out and he’s like he will pitch it to Justin Bieber to Rihanna, and there’s been a few songs where I’ve heard them back, some of the demos and their voices, just encouraging as well. Like, he’s real about the art,” she added.

THIS IS WHAT RIHANNA SAID ABOUT HER MUSIC

Speaking about Diplo getting Rihanna to listen to her music, Msaki said that the Love On The Brain singer said that her music was “weird”.

“Dude, Rihanna apparently thought my s**t was weird. She’s like, ‘I like this but this girl is weird. What was that lyric?’,” Msaki shared.

During her interview, Msaki also praised local producers she’s worked with such as her best friend Sun-EL Musician, Grammy award-winning DJ Black Coffee and amapiano King Kabza de Small.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW IN THE VIDEO BELOW