Noveliss is a hip-hop artist from Detroit, famous for his unique style. He sat down with rolling out to talk about how he integrated his love for martial arts into his hip-hop career.
You mix your hip-hop music with martial arts, tell us how you do that and why?
It took me a minute to kind of figure out exactly how to do that. But once I stopped thinking about it so much, it just kind of happened. The person I am just comes out in all my art. I always try to tell people, it’s important that you put yourself in your music and what you do, and that’s just kind of the byproduct of me doing that.
I’ve seen some music videos that you’ve done. What kind of martial arts do you do in them?
I’m really interested in like Chinese sword stuff. As far as formal training, I‘ve trained in Jiu-Jitsu, I took taekwondo many times, but I’m self-taught with swords. I’m a visual learner. If I see something or read about it in a book, I can pretty much teach myself how to do it over time. Then I try to put what I learn into my videos that I make.
Can you tell us any future plans?
I’m looking to go back on tour. I’ve been doing little one-off shows, but hopefully getting back on the road and getting out of the country for a little bit. I am working on a new project with my guy Hiro, he’s my right hand. He produces and mixes a lot of my stuff, he records me and remasters everything. We’re joined at the hip. We have a podcast called The SwordCast. Before we started, one of my friends Chris started telling me that I needed to do a podcast. I used to say “no, I don’t like talking at all,” and he would say “I know but I think it would really help you.” So I started doing a podcast, me and Hiro, and it really did [help me] I love it. It really helped me get more comfortable talking and speaking. We’re both nerds, so we talk about a lot of nerd things on there.
What advice would you give to that kid trying to become the man that you have?
I always tell kids, and this may sound cliché, but believing in yourself is so important. I coach my son’s basketball team and a lot of kids just don’t have any confidence. I think they have the skills but they can’t do things because they just don’t have the confidence. You have to really believe in yourself and you have to be yourself. It’s never about competing with others. It’s about trying to be the best version of yourself. I think that kids just need to understand, get a little better at being yourself every day, and eventually you’ll get to a place where you’re satisfied.
