My thick skin and confidence keep me going – Xaven
BEING in the limelight is not the easiest thing, says Rachel Chakwa Mwewa alias Xaven the Kopala Queen.
When you hear “Kopala Queen Queening, I’m a Bitter Pill Pill Quinine”, all you can think of is this high spirited Kopala rap queen, assuming she is having it easy at the top.
Featuring on the second episode of In Da Streets, the award winning Kopala rapper said her drive for music, thick skin and confidence are what keep her going.
“What keeps me going, the drive I have for music keeps me going, the thick skin I have also, it’s not the easiest to be in the limelight, people are so opinionated and sometimes it just chips away from your confidence and all of that but I feel like even my confidence that I have built over the years is what keeps me going”, she said
She also spoke about how music saved her in her lowest moment after losing her sister. While some people sharply criticised her for performing at a show two weeks after her sister’s burial, she said that’s what saved her from drowning in her sorrows.
“The moment that made me feel so down and music saved me was when I lost my sister. At that point, a lot of people, I think I had a shoot, not a shoot, I had a show I think two weeks after her burial and people were wondering why I did that or take it up, why didn’t I give myself time, others were wondering why I had to do that or take it up, why didn’t I give myself time, others were criticising it but I did it because it is the only thing that could distract me, it’s the only thing I could feel connected to as much as I was connected to her that could keep me, you know, from drowning in my sorrows,” she said.
Reminiscing about her childhood, Xaven, who is the last born in a family of five, said her father was a deacon and the hymn Jesus Loves Me was her favourite song.
“I grew up in a family of five, I happen to be the fifth, ninebo last born. My father was a deacon so I used to sing in church, Jesus Loves Me was my favourite song, I would sing it every Sunday”, said Xaven.
