Q&A with Lexicon

Lexicon — born Lex-Jordan Ibegbu in Raleigh, N.C. — translates his 20 years of life in the Research Triangle into sage rhymes and fresh beats.

Staff writer Austin Cooper talked with the rapper, producer and UNC senior about his poetic inspiration, favorite artists and newest records, Osili’s EP and The Osili Ibegbu LP: The Book of Jordan. The former dropped on Monday; the latter should arrive by late February.

Diversions: Can you explain the two records’ titles?

Lex-Jordan Ibegbu: “Osili” is Ibo. I’m actually Nigerian — my father’s from Nigeria — and “Osili” means “as it pleases god.” It’s also my name, since I was the first son. It was also my grandfather’s name, and it’s what my father calls me, what my mother calls me.

With this album I’m trying to become more personal. Before, a lot of times I would just be making records that were mostly me looking at stuff and solidifying my skills as far as music and rapping.

This is more introspective. The title of the LP, The Osili Ibegbu LP: The Book of Jordan, is just a clever way of working all my names — “Osili,” my first name, “Lex-Jordan”, and my last name “Ibegbu” — into a title.

Dive: What are you most proud of on Osili’s EP?

LI: I’m offering my listeners and my new fans a glimpse of what sort of stuff is even farther and greater to come essentially. I’m about to graduate. I’m the first of my siblings to graduate. When I go back to Raleigh and see what all I have come from, I can reflect on that. It puts me in a different place whereas when I was younger in college, it was like, “I’m in college; let’s have fun, let’s do everything, the most we can do.”

I feel like I’m in a different space in my life. I’m not the same person as when I was 18 or 17. You have to mature and learn how to deal with people in a more respectful manner. It’s just me growing and becoming a man.

I didn’t have anyone to teach me that; I just had my mother, who did a great job, but there’s a lot I’ve had to learn on my own through trial-and-error, and a lot of that is reflected in this EP.

Dive: So do you consider this a coming-of-age work?

LI: Yeah, exactly. That’s why I called it the “Book of Jordan.” I’m very personal in my music, but there’s some stuff I’ve never touched on. There’s a lot of stuff that happens to you in life, a lot of things you see, but I mean, you can’t let that keep hold on you.

But I never talked about that in my music because I wasn’t ready to. With this album and the EP, I am talking about some of this stuff that I’ve seen and that my family’s been through and that I’ve done.

­It’s like the record that I’m about to shoot a video for, “Playing Chicken.” The first verse talks about the environment that I come from. The second verse talks about how flawed my logic used to be — “I can be misogynistic, egotistic, too simplistic, but I’m trying to be better so I can gain bigger digits” — how I used to view women, how those around me used to view women and how we were sort of reckless about it.

It was by the grace of God that we didn’t fall into more unsavory circumstances. The third verse is about the negativity that I see around me and how I want to change that.

Dive: How does your connection to Africa mold your music?

LI: I grew up in South Raleigh and I was the only person on the block that had the last name “Ibegbu.” We were all black, but I had a funny last name. It gave me a sense of pride.

When my father was around and in my life during my younger years, we listened to a lot of Fela Kuti and Carribean music like salsa and dancehall. That broadened my view of the world and gave me a sense of roots and connectedness that some of the other people around me didn’t have.

I’ve always integrated that into my music; on my last mixtape, Outcast, I rapped over an afrobeat track. I integrate a lot of different language, a lot of Pidgin English, into my music. Raleigh has a big population of Nigerians and those people will catch it.
Even if you don’t, it adds a sense of authenticity and uniqueness to my music. I’ve never been ashamed of where I’m from. I wouldn’t be the man I am today if I didn’t have all these life experiences and this divergent background. I put that forth in my music and try to help people get a connection with themselves.