The producer told what he does abroad and how he helps Ukraine.
Ukrainian rapper and producer Alexey Potapenkoknown as Potapwith the outbreak of a full-scale war, rarely gives interviews.
However, Potap’s fans have accumulated a lot of questions for him during this time. In particular, where is he now, what does he do, does he help Ukraine and, finally, what is his scandalous track about “Volunteer“.
In an interview with the site TSN.ua the singer and producer answered questions that have worried Ukrainians for a long time.
– Potap, a lot of hate in your direction. In particular, because it is not known where you are.
I don’t stay in one place. This is due to the specifics of my work now. I mean auctions, charity concerts, army fundraisers, humanitarian aid. I have very big connections that I have created in my entire life. Therefore, now I receive money and assistance from abroad. And I am where at this moment I can be most useful – it can be in Ukraine, and in Europe, and in America.
– So your volunteering requires you to be physically outside of Ukraine?
– Well, when I go abroad to perform as an artist, then, of course, I cannot do this remotely. When I go as a businessman – to negotiate for the dispatch of 15 ambulances or 25 containers of humanitarian aid or medical aid, I must also be there in person. Because I personally take it all under my guarantee and my business reputation. Now there are a lot of fakes, no matter how sad it may sound, but many take the opportunity to write off money, so it is important to control everything personally and be the guarantor of all the humanitarian activities that we conduct. And we have already done a lot.
– What are you doing now? How do you help Ukraine? How much money was collected to help Ukraine and what they are used for.
“I do the same thing that I did. I work on big projects. Six months ago, we raised UAH 80 million with my wife, whom I am very proud of. I also built the Help UA NFT platform with my partner from San Francisco, which helps people affected by the war on a daily basis.
It is difficult to calculate exactly how much money we accumulated and what exactly we did. But the most important thing is that we can convey information about Ukraine abroad. We are heard. We are being listened to. They see us. We need to constantly update information so that the world does not have time to forget about Ukraine. So that he doesn’t get tired of helping. Because without the world’s help, we will not stand. It is important to continue to organize concerts, TV and radio performances. Get humanitarian aid and help to the fighters. Recently there was an auction in Illinois. We planned to help 11 Ukrainian soldiers, but we were able to help 25 Ukrainian soldiers undergo rehabilitation in America and get prosthetic limbs at the highest level. I am very happy that this has been achieved. Now I personally communicate with potential investors in order to involve them in the restoration of a large infrastructure facility. There are also several other projects in the works. But I don’t like to tell. I prefer not to talk, but to do. As soon as there is official up-to-date information, you will know about it.
I am also a media ambassador of the Dobrobat battalion, a battalion that is engaged in the restoration of housing damaged by shelling. Recently, the volunteers of the Dobrobat battalion began restoring the house of Nadezhda Ivanovna from Gostomel, her grandson serves in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and defends our country. I financed this construction. I am already looking forward to when Nadezhda Ivanovna will be able to return to the restored housing!
– There was a hatred towards your song “Volunteer”. How do you personally explain these lines that caused outrage:
“Oh mom, don’t ask
Who was she with?
And where she spent the night
I was with the boys
Fighters
I volunteered
– I write different songs, with different messages and different moods. For example, I also wrote Nastya Kamensky’s song “I am Ukraine”, and people really like it. I see how people at Nastya’s concerts stand up to this song, many consider it an unofficial anthem of this difficult period of our life. With the song “Volunteer” I definitely did not want to offend anyone. Therefore, I take this opportunity to once again apologize to those who are outraged by this. If someone did not like these particular lines, I explain: I tried to make such an easy joke for myself. Mom thought that her daughter was walking around somewhere, but it turns out that this is not so, that she volunteered, she helped. This is my personal author’s opinion, and I put the essence there in this way. But it was perverted and perceived differently. Which is generally normal, because everyone can perceive everything in their own way. Well, nothing, there will be many more new songs.
– Positive said a lot about you. In particular, that your relationship is no longer so close. Why did friendship deteriorate?
“Right now I’m busy doing what I can do the best I can. I want to use all my talent, all my resources, all my possibilities to help our country on its way to victory. Therefore, there is no time for these fun and high moments that connected us before, when we wrote songs, got high, gathered at the studio. Now I am busy attracting numerous investors to projects, restoring infrastructure facilities. My status and age is already such that I need to do something big. That’s all. Somehow it happened that we did not intersect at charity events – I was at some, he was at others. Positive now does a lot for children, performs at concerts. He is great! And I consider him my friend. I have only warm feelings for him.
– There were even rumors that you broke up with Nastya. Fans were embarrassed that you stopped sharing shared content online. But, judging by your congratulations to your wife, everything is fine? How often do you see each other now? How do you keep in touch?
Rumors have always been, are and will be. And I’ve gotten used to them. But this time I was even surprised: did people really decide that we were not together just because we did not post common photos? Just because you don’t see something on social media doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Life is not only Instagram. The main thing now is to love your relatives, support them morally even if you are not around. Nastya and I are together as closely as ever. But we prefer to focus our attention on other things. I am very proud of her work. I help her in every way I can. And she supports me during this difficult time. Everything is fine in our family. We love each other. We love and continue to miss each other when we are apart.
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