INFIINITE HIP-HOP: DEATH STAR SPEAKS ABOUT D.R.T, FORBIDDEN POETRY AND DARKSTARZ RECORDZ.

Baamogetswe: Peace Fam, what’s good? You and i go way back but for the purpose of the followers can you give us a brief background of your origins, where you’re from and where u grew up

Death Star:PEACE BRO!, I’m from the West Rand of Johannesburg, born and raised (sort of) in Roodepoort and surrounding areas all my life, attended school by Allen Glen High School, haha, i love my neighbourhood

Baamogetswe: When we first met, you performed at 1808 sessions and you were part of a group called Forbidden Poetry, what happened to that group, are you guys still rocking together?

Death Star: You know i still have those messages in my inbox organizing the gig, back then we were still fresh in live performance, i don’t remember us giving a good show that day, always wanted to redeem myself, i always wanted to redeem myself. Yeah Forbidden Poetry, I’m not really sure where we stand, i had such big plans for us, Authority & I both had a huge part to play in the groups separation, it isn't the first time we have split over the years as the crew was formed about 10 years ago already, i keep trying to get the group back together but just feel that he may not be as serious about this hip hop shit as what i am. I have nothing but love for my dude Authority and just hope that he can make that commitment as i still believe in this group, plus fans need a follow up project from us!

Baamogetswe: You’r one of a few cats that i know that Got that Horror core, Grimey sound, can you tell us a little bit about what inspired that sound

Death Star: Well at first, I’m not sure, i was a massive Jedi Mind fan back then when i first started recording, that rubbed off on me, my delivery was a lot slower back then too and it used to rape my throat lol, I've definitely improved on that over the years, consider myself versatile on my delivery now, but i miss those young and early days, i killed it on a track called “Dimensions of the demented” , I’ve tried to redo something similar but to no avail, must have been all the weed

Baamogetswe: You’ve known me as a Junkie for Audio Gems, was able to get my hands on your discography from the “Forbidden poetry EP” right till the “Fuck The Industry” Tape, what inspired the title for that Project? Bad encounters with the South African Music Industry?

Death Star: That’s lots of music fam, i hope you enjoyed the music!, as an artist in the underground/independent scene, working with people is fucking stupid, you either get half assed verses or they don’t have separates to get the track mastered and your left with a raw demo of a track, i felt that lots of people were missing out on some really fresh verses and tracks so i decided to release them so that cats have them, my goal is to have more music out than Youngsta one day, and i plan on making that true, i just need to get out this 9-5 first, F.T.I was almost me saying "I’m done with this shit" .... Again

Baamogetswe: Don’t know if the fans are aware but your also a battle Mc with appearances in the “Art of War” rap battles as well as “Scrambles for Money battle League”, you still doing battles or is your main focus on music and stage performances?

Death Star: That was a horrible time, i had a Canibus choke type battle, my first battle, and that set the tone, i never won although heads will argue with the fact that i beat Fus and Authority, and close with Jeffrey Dahmer, my battles were all freestyles, i don’t believe in this written shit, its wack or maybe I’m just bad at it, but i cant get behind it, i want freestyle battles, i want skills. I have grown to be a performing artist, im in love with Hip Hop, but i have beautiful music coming out not just hardcore shit for all types of heads, i want this shit to live forever!!!

Baamogetswe: Rumour has it that your 2015/2016 Project "The Schizophrenia EP" was released under and international record Label, can you tell us a lil about that.

Death Star: I released Sex With Zombies in 2013 the year i signed with Darkstarz, i released Schizophrenia the year after, if it wasn’t for those guys, i wouldn’t have the little reach outside of RSA, I’m forever grateful to Gee Dark for everything and i am still part of the team, i just ask them if i could release “Beautiful Me” independently, that’s the kind of relationship we have, it’s really good and understanding and i was on the labels 2015 album "Hells Wrath" i plan on working a lot more with the DSR team in 2017

Baamogetswe: So, you doing quite a few projects with Anti-B and Demon (DEAD RIGHT THERE) who put that together, can you shed light on your affiliation with those cats and what can we expect from you guys as a collective in 2017?

Death Star: Yeah, DRT is myself, Perfecto, Anti-B, Toxic-Flow, DEMON & Tshepo Mavimbela, the group originally formed with a few different members in 2012 and we released Ancient Torture Methods, with 7 of us, i produced that track when i could still make beats, myself and Anti came up with the idea, but the team put it together, we went dead after the fallout of Forbidden Poetry as Authority was originally in the crew, with Chron Burgundy and Marcus Corvine too, you can expect an album and mad collaborations between all of us, i have finally found the dudes i want to rap with for the rest of my life, these are brothers to me (no pun intended), I’m hoping that we can drop a mixtape too, but that i still want to bring up to the homies

Baamogetswe: The Concept of the Joint "Beautiful Me" is mad nice, who’s on the production and who did the visuals for the video?

Death Star: The track is from my album Beautiful Me, the track is called the deep dark depths of death with myself on the beat, Ron Donson on the post production and The visual architects on video!, was one of my most valued experiences in life, ill be working with these guys on another video soon!!!!,

Baamogetswe: Death Star is on the Line-Up form the Splash Jam Reunion that will be held on the 25th of Febuary 2016, a lot of us are amped to see you wrecking the stage again, anything special you got lined up for your performance?

Death Star: You know, i was hoping to have gotten paid by that day haha, yeah will be giving away albums on that day, spreading the word, i will be performing some tracks from my forthcoming releases, I’m mad excited about that, some real classic old school hip hop feel, this is a big thing for me as Horrorcore has been a comfort zone for me and it’s time to spread my wings, i am honoured to be part of Splash Jam and i cannot express my gratitude!

Baamogetswe: Besides the Splash Jam Reunion, where else can we catch you on stage? Can you give us a rundown of where to catch you in 2017?

Death Star: Whoever wants to book me, the local industry is tainted with disappointment, you can catch me on facebook though, i was thinking of performing live once a month because shows don’t pay and this way i can reach a worldwide audience instead of performing for 5/10 people who aren’t drunk or wasted, depending on what time you are on, but we planning on getting "Jozi Get Down" up & running again too!

Baamogetswe: Yo what can the fans look forward to in 2017, any new albums, EPs dropping we should look out for?

Death Star: I have lots that I’m currently working on, hope i get to finish them all: Sex with Zombies 2 (Prod. BorodaBeat), Counter Culture EP (Prod. Sultan Mir), DRT album! Angels Deserve 2 Die EP with MC Saunt! One thing at a time though haha!!!!

Baamogetswe: In one word fam, how would you describe your sound?

Death Star: I try stay original, i try not to bite off the hands that fed me growing up, i sound hungry and that’s an important quality to have this far in, i will continue to improve my sound and when i can answer this correctly i definitely will.