"Where Do I Fit In?" | Celebrity Podcast with Asyraf Nasir EP1: Early Days & Hidden Dreams - video Dailymotion

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In this episode, Asyraf opens up about life in the spotlight, the challenges of navigating different social circles, and staying true to himself in the industry.

Transcript

00:00I don't think I've said this publicly, but yeah, I felt like I wanted to feel like I belong.

00:15Hello, what's popping? This is Ashraf Naseh. You are watching My Celebrity Podcast.

00:19Who are you?

00:49But that is one of my principles. I am a firm believer that you, five years ago,

00:57would not agree to a lot of things you do today. Or maybe you in future might not agree to the

01:02person five years from now. I don't think I've said this publicly, but yeah, I felt like I

01:10wanted to feel like I belonged in a group. You know, like your go-to people. Like this is your

01:19clique. Like when you think of or remember that group and then like you can name that person.

01:25But like when you think of a certain group, like yeah, I hang out a lot with these people,

01:29but you won't put my name in it because like I don't belong there. So me as a younger

01:38guy, I think I wanted to fit in a lot. I wanted to, I thought that the kind of people I should

01:47resonate with were my kind of people. In hindsight, now you see as an adult, it wasn't that important.

01:56That's why I feel like it's kind of embarrassing. It's like, you know, YouTuber, you try to be

02:00somebody, but then that's not who you are. But now you are certain in a sense of,

02:07you know what you like and what you appreciate and what you dislike. So specifically talking

02:14in the topic of friends and I think energy around you, I'm a bit more selective now.

02:19And not to say I close off from everybody, but there are certain types of energy you bring closer

02:27and some you just, what's up. I guess if we're talking in the obvious sense of before I got into

02:35music, I was, oof, I think at first I was uncertain what I wanted to do. My mom was a teacher. My mom

02:48was a headmistress and so was my grandfather. I looked up to them a lot because I think

02:55educating and education was like a primary thing in my family. And so I thought, you know, I want

03:01to be a teacher and I like the idea of inspiring other people, of like, you know, providing growth

03:09to other people. That was something I didn't realize what I actually wanted to do, but later

03:16on it just made sense. As we grow older, masuk high school, you go to high school and then you go into

03:22uni. I was almost in one pathway to be an engineer. Then I didn't. And then I went into business.

03:34I studied. I completed my studies, alhamdulillah, in marketing and management. And I think that was

03:41where my soul really resonated. That's where I knew I wanted to go, what I liked and enjoyed.

03:47But then, you know, I probably disappointed my Asian parents because I'm in entertainment.

03:53I'm in music specifically and it was a path that I did not expect. And the reason why I didn't expect

04:00was I thought I was going to commit to one thing and then other opportunities or you can say other

04:08signs opened up to make me realize what I wanted to do instead. In uni, I started being an emcee or

04:17being a host. So I hosted all of my university's events and also joined like a radio club,

04:24Radio Monash. That was my university back then. That was an interesting point of my life because

04:32I wanted to join uni and I wanted to just be low-key, you know. I didn't really want to

04:36involve myself in anything and focus on studies. But that's the thing, when the signs come and

04:44there's fate, it just pushes you towards something and you just can't resist it.

04:48So that's where I started getting into speaking out in public a bit more. And I wasn't a rapper.

04:55I feel like last time, calling myself a rapper was such a big title. You had to earn it, you know.

05:02You couldn't just simply like, sure, you sing covers on Instagram or whatever once, one, two

05:07times and then like call yourself a singer. I mean, you know, if you do, great for you. But I think for

05:12me, I felt like I couldn't be entitled to that because I enjoyed rap music. I loved hip-hop

05:22and I was always a fan first. That's why I say to people like, how did you get into music? I'm always

05:26a fan first. I listen to everything. I listen to a lot of local rappers and they inspired me. Those

05:31are all my abangs that I look up to. And then when the era of social media became more prominent,

05:39I just wanted to entertain. And I think this element of entertaining people was how it

05:49resonated to me as a kid where I just wanted to have a power or superpower to kind of like change

05:56someone's viewpoint or life. So in entertainment, I love the fact that I can make people's day or,

06:07you know, even through music, it's something that they could resonate to. And that translated to me

06:12when I started getting into being a songwriter. So I wanted to write things, this for myself,

06:19I wanted to write things that people can relate to or see it as a story. And when I'm on stage

06:25as well as a performer, it is that, it is sharing my energy and so that they could feel it too.

06:31So yeah, that element is very similar from my childhood to now. But really,

06:40I think the biggest question was, where do I fit in with other people? Yeah.

06:46Wow. Igniting the passion for music. Okay. If I were to really recall why I got into in the first place,

07:08was a high school friend of mine, still one of my good friends, Nicholas Bong. We were in the

07:13same high school. So his class was just next to mine since we were in Form 1. And then,

07:21because we were ketua class, you know, we were the class monitors, and we always have meetings. And then

07:27we just clicked. And then I shared him a lot about like local music and also local clothing lines,

07:37because that was what I was a fan of, right? And then he really liked it. And then we shared a lot

07:43of the common interests there. And then fast forward, in high school, we did a few things

07:49musically. We wanted to start a band. You know, everybody wants to start a band. It's not like,

07:54it's not like I was musically inclined at the time, but you know, it was just a dream.

07:58So fast forward after high school, and this time I haven't connected with a lot of people from

08:04high school. I was studying out of state in Perak. And then I came back and I bumped into Nicholas

08:10at the Mamak one time. And then he was updating me what he's doing. And he's a videographer. He

08:15has his own film production. He has his own production house and everything. At the time,

08:20he was just starting. And I remember from school, he was really into video editing. And he showed

08:24me one of the latest videos. And he was shooting cars at the time. He was like a big, he's a big

08:28car fanatic. And I was like, yo, if you can really shoot like really good videos, there's like this

08:33competition. It was like on Instagram for a potato snack. All we had to do was just lip sync

08:40and shoot a music video. I'm like, yo, that sounds so cool. I feel like we could try this out.

08:45You know, there was a cash prize and, you know, young kids just wanted to do something. Long story

08:51short, we won. The jingle was actually by Sona One. And that was the first time I met him. I don't

08:57think he remembers. Who knows? But that was the first time I met him. And after that competition,

09:02I was like, really excited. Like this, this felt nice because creatively, I didn't have an outlet

09:08to express it anywhere. And then he said to me, yo, I'm still experimenting my film style. I want

09:14to shoot people more, you know, I think I want to try to shoot music videos more. So when we were

09:20shooting, as much as you were lip syncing, Ashraf, I felt like I could hear you actually rap. Why

09:26don't you try to write a few lines? And at this time, again, I didn't claim, I didn't even start

09:31writing much at that time. I wasn't sure of it. And then he was like, you just write any simple

09:37lines. And this was the era of like, on social media, you can only post like one minute, just

09:40write one minute, as much as you'd like. And I will shoot all of your music videos for free.

09:49And one, like my first two music videos, he was the guy who shot it. I still go to him for any of

09:55like my side projects. But that was, that was the biggest push. Because if not, I would have remained

10:01forever a fan. But like I said, the universe works in mysterious ways. And I didn't expect to see this

10:06guy at 2am at a mamak that I have not connected for so long. But he is one of the closest people

10:10in my life. And wow, moving to this phase of the question, maybe this is where I'm collecting my

10:15infinity stone slowly. Yeah. That is such an interesting question. Namblas Baris was crazy.

10:31And I love how this story is going. Because I continued to do short one minute, not even short

10:39one minute raps, not like the one you record the pun, you know, in your bedroom, and then straight

10:43up music videos. And it was all thematic with Nicholas. And when we put it out, somehow people

10:50within the underground community and the scene started noticing. And then people like started

10:54to invite me to perform. And I was like, Oh, I gotta actually write a song. And then but one of

11:00the freestyle videos that we did, was noticed by Joe Flizzo. And he didn't contact me directly.

11:08But I think one of the people in his team messaged me. And at that time, I didn't know about the

11:15message request thing in your DMs. So I ignored it for a good like one day and a half. And then

11:21just randomly and then like, what is this button? And I opened like, Hey Ashraf, Joe would like to

11:26invite you to be a part of Namblas Baris. I'm like, what in the world? I think I was, I was ecstatic

11:33because directly I didn't care what time I called Nicholas and like, yo, like this is happening.

11:39And at that time, I rapped more, but I didn't call myself a rapper yet. Because, you know, I didn't

11:44have much songs. And I was like, yo, this is like, this is one of the biggest moments, you know,

11:50I didn't see how far I was going to go with this. Because I just wanted to entertain people online.

11:54That's why we did all those videos. And then I dragged him along during the shoot, we came by,

11:59it was so surreal. It was kind of scary. Because you met all of these people. I saw all these people

12:05that I grew up listening to. And then like, you know, meeting the Mr. President himself was like,

12:10whoa, this is this is legit. And I'm like, who am I? Legit? That's my question all the time. Like,

12:16who is this little boy from Kelana Jaya, who's here, you know, because you have all these people

12:20who are experienced. We went there, the shooting experience was really cool. I rehearsed like a

12:27bazillion times. I in fact, I had two different verses. In the end, I went with the other one.

12:32I still think about like, I should have done the other one. But you know, everything happens for

12:36a reason you shouldn't have regret. So when that time came, and when my episode aired,

12:42um, I think for our season, like that season was like one of the most viewed episode. And it was

12:50kind of overwhelming, because like, I think people kind of acknowledged me and knew that I was a

12:56rapper at a time. And I think because it, it was like a stamp of approval from people who are from

13:04the industry, people with credibility, that I was involved in something so big at the time,

13:09I felt like, you know what, yeah, I'm a rapper. I shall not say. That's my name.

13:17That's where I found my identity as an artist.

13:29So one of my things that I follow with my own personal branding now, is I'm the cleanest rapper

13:36in KL. In Malaysia, let's go, let's go Malaysia, let's go bigger. Because I don't curse in my

13:42lyrics. I don't smoke and I don't drink. So yeah, I'm the most commercial guy out there. You know,

13:49you can bring me home to your mom and like, ah, this guy good boy. He's a rapper, very ganas, but

13:54you know, he's cool. So I started out, and I think when I was on Namlas Baris, that was such a big

14:01platform, and I needed to set myself apart and like, set things straight. That I, I'm not maybe

14:12as experienced as you guys, but I feel I have something to bring to the table, and I think it's

14:15my own style. That's why I rap fully in English, as much as it's like a platform for also people

14:20who did Malay rap. So I was like, put me on a track, make you bop to all my verses. I rap in for the

14:25mass, write my lyrics with no curses. Started with the minute, make it clear, it's so explicit,

14:31even got your other girl asking for my digits. Yeah.

14:43I want, I want to answer that in a way that I feel like the younger self is telling me a lesson

14:50right now. This point of time, whenever you're watching this video, the Ashraf Nasir now is

14:56being reminded of the younger self, where it was so carefree, creating, being creative, writing

15:04whatever I wanted. At that time, I had no boundaries. I just, I was just, I think more honest,

15:10and I didn't think of like, what listenership I wanted to cater to, what market I wanted to cater

15:16to, you know. I just did music that I thought was nice, and I thought was dope, and I thought could

15:20relate to people. And I think along the way, now that, I guess, the reputation is a bit more

15:28established, I tend to be a bit more conscious. And you know, people say comparison is the thief

15:34of all evil, of all joy. And as much as I'm a guy who tries to feel like I got it all together to

15:42myself, it does affect me in some way. And that's why I start to lose myself. And I think this is

15:47the whole question of like, my identity. Who is Ashraf Nasir? So, that younger self, I kind of miss him.

15:55In fact, literally last night, before coming here, I was looking through my old hard disk with

16:02like old demos. And there were short, short demos, and there was so much, so much songs that I wrote, which

16:07wow, we sound so different. A bit more polished, a bit cringy. Everybody has that cringy first song.

16:13But the joy in that guy making it is so different today. So, I would like to remind myself to

16:19enjoy doing this, and remind myself why I'm doing this in the first place.

16:24Thank you for watching. Stay tuned to episode two with me, Ashraf Nasir.

16:42you

"Where Do I Fit In?" | Celebrity Podcast with Asyraf Nasir EP1: Early Days & Hidden Dreams

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