Hong Kong’s Hip Hop scene has a few different crews that are well-known and respected. One of the most acclaimed is the loosely linked Novel trio, Novel Fergus, Novel Flash, and finally our July cover star, Novel Friday.

Of the three, Novel Friday is probably the most unusual and innovative. Friday’s sound centers around trippy, Auto-Tuned vocals and tight, ethereal Trap beats. He also is capable of ripping off crazy Hyphy bars like on Y5’s ‘Neo Punk’ from a few years back. He also won R&B song of the year at the Hong Kong Whatsgood Music Awards for his sexy smooth track, ‘On My Bed’.

Recently, he released a track with Hong Kong bad boy Tximiyama called ‘Youngsta’ that’s a straight-up Trap banger. Recently, we got a chance to catch him live with Bohan Phoenix at the first LiFTED Lounge party in Hong Kong, and he was cheered on by his legions of fans as he debuted many of the new tracks from his recent self-released album, Like Jade. So who is Novel Friday? We decided to sit down with the enigma himself and find out.

Hi, LiFTED and readers! It was a great show. Thank you for having me!

When I was growing up, I mainly lived in Tai Kok Tsui with my Thai mother and a group of Thai people as neighbors. My mother’s mother tongue is Cantonese and I am basically born and raised here. When I communicate with my mother, I also communicate in three languages: Cantonese, English, and Thai.

我在成長時期主要與泰藉的母親居住在大角嘴，以及身邊一群泰國社群作鄰居。而我主母語是廣東話，基本上是土生土長，與媽媽溝通時也是廣東話，英語，泰語三種語言溝通

I like to listen to Thai Hip Hop, including artists YOUNGOHM and Diamond MQT from Alreadydead Records. Last month I performed for the first time at Spacecraft in Bangkok.

The crowd in Thailand is amazing and their energy and enthusiasm for the music fills me with love. During the process, I realized that there are local underground rappers that I have a great potential to work with. I look forward to continuing to develop this Thailand connection.

我喜歡聽泰國的hiphop, 其中是alreadydead records的藝人YOUNGOHM, Diamond MQT,

上個月第一次在曼谷spaceship演出, 泰國的群眾太棒了，他們的能量和對音樂的狂熱

讓我充滿了愛。過程中認識到當地的underground rapper，很有潛力和他們一起合作，期待一直發展泰國的路線

Fergus and Flash were my best friends growing up. But we are also very different in our respective paths. I happened to name them when they first started creating. So Novel is not a crew. But our growth has subconsciously affected this environment. I want to eventually make an album together because it feels like fate. But making this album is on indefinite hiatus for now, but I think it’s possible one day.

Fergus和Flash是我成長時的好友

我們在各自的道路也很不同

我是剛好在他們開始創作是為他們取名的

所以Novel它不是一個Crew

但我們的成長 默然間影響了這個環境

我想為這個緣份做一張專輯

但暫時是無了期的 但我有這個想法

Greytone was the first music company I signed with. Shout out to KENI, because he helped me a lot. I met him at different music events when I first started making music. JB was very popular at the time and he was also a big brother that I respected a lot. It was an honor to join Graytone together with BMW, and it was a milestone that recorded our vision for the future.

Greytone是我第一間簽的音樂公司

Shout out to KENI, 他幫助了我很多

他在我剛做音樂2年左右，在不同的音樂活動場合認識的，而JB當時很火熱，也是我很敬重的前輩

當時和BMW一起加入greytone，是一個榮幸，一個里程碑紀錄我們對未來的憧憬

Shout out to What’sGood, I’m not too attached to fame and status, but I respect the older generation for holding a Hip Hop awards ceremony. It was unprecedented and let the public know more about the world outside of mainstream music.

My personal wish is that I’m able to write more and better songs than before. I love to create, and I hope to create until the day I die, when I finally put down my pen. Let future generations define my music and creations.

Shout out to What’sGood, 我對名譽地位不太執着

但很敬重一眾前輩去舉辦hiphop頒獎禮 這是史無前例的

讓大眾更了解主流音樂以外的世界

而從我個人的心願

我寧願寫更多比以前更好的作品。我喜歡創作，

我希望創作到死那天，終於放低筆時，

讓後世人去定義我的創作，我的音樂

Greytone is now in a few different forms. Some of my brothers have signed on with Sony music, and I am waiting to see. But our connection no longer needs to be defined by any identity because we take care of, and love each other.

Greytone正在以不同形式進行中

有一些兄弟簽進了Sony music, 我在觀望中

但我們的連繫已不需再用甚麼身份去界定

我哋彼此照顧 彼此相愛

The producers on the tracks this time include mikeygoincrazy and Alexmalism. The genre elements revolve around new sounds such as Plug&B, New Jazz, X8, and others. I’ve been inspired to try different things in my own sound and hoped to provide listeners with mad energy on this album.

今次參與製作的producer有 mikeygoincrazy & Alexmalism , 曲風元素圍繞plugnb, new jazz, x8之類的聲音, 他們很啟發我在自己的聲音上不同的嘗試

我期望在這專輯為聽眾提供活力充沛的能量

Thank you! Yes I will always keep creating new sounding music. Every time the unknown makes me feel alive! I want to maintain this feeling and extend it to my music, combined with my understanding of art, fashion, and diverse creativity.
Thank you! 是的我會一直保持創作新音樂

每次的未知讓我感到活著!! 我想維持這種感覺伸延到以我的音樂，結合對藝術,時裝,多元創意的理解

On July 26, I have a new 10-track album with Rae Law and Alexmalism called lovestruck100%. Check it out soon!

Love y’all!