Krayze: Ready for his next level!

Krayze with Prince.

Royal Madness, a music journey that unites two brothers (Krayze & Prince) far away from paternal home. Most definitely Hiphop will never remain the same with the introduction of the rapper from Pretoria whose journey into rap the culture has proven many points that heʼs real, unique, blunt and ruthless in the manner he conveys his message.

Born in Pretoria, the young rapper is determined to make it in this tight competition of rap. His one of a kind beat, flow, style and lifestyle would make you love him more while making him to stand out. Heʼs something different, I mean something solid, something that’s out of conventional hip-hop.

In his own words, please read and enjoy, one of South African finest rappers, Semaki (Sk) Mosupye AKA Krayze; as Braamfontein Alive brings him closer to you:

• Q: Can you tell us more about yourself?

• A: Okay, cool. The name is Krayze. Grew up in Pretoria. Iʼm a boarding school kid so Iʼm a bit weird and I like that cuz I donʼt like normal people. Normal people can be very boring. I love music; without music thereʼs no life. Iʼm a hiphop head, you know what I mean! Yeah, like I said, grew up in Pretoria, moved to Midrand now living with my brother so is chaos. What else would you like to know man?

• Q: Can you tell us about your family set-up?

• A: Okay, from my mummyʼs side; Iʼm alone and my brother here we donʼt share

  

  Krayze

  mum basically; thatʼs what Iʼm trying to say and yeah, my family still in Pretoria. So with me moving out; I think Iʼm one of the first people from my side to get something out. I hate being home; you know. Every morning you see the same faces and you have to say hello to the same faces so after 21, I was like “ah, Iʼm out, I have to bounce and have my own space!”
• Q: So you gained your independence at the age of 21?

• A: I gained independence a long time a go cuz Iʼm not really want to ask for money and eish. Iʼd rather make a plan to get it. You know with parents; you ask them for money theyʼd ask you why you need it. Iʼm not gonna tell them I wanna buy some weed (We both laughed aloud)! Iʼd rather make my own plan buy whatever I feel like buying. So out of the house, I moved to Joburg first and spent a year and couples of months then moved back home and finally moved to Midrand. I was only home for two weeks but couldnʼt take it! Now, Iʼm just trying to hustle and stay on my feet.

• Q: How did you find music, or did music find you or is music in the family?

• A: No, no music is not in the family! Music, I started it in the boarding school. I had this friend, Lebo. He used to beatbox and rap at the same time. I started hanging around with him, getting into the vibe, started learning how to flow, started writing my own lyrics and Iʼve just be in it ever since.

• Q: When did you feel the touch that is time to do music?

• A: Me and my brother started Royal Madness in 2009 and wrote our first songs “Oh shit!” You know this is actually pretty dope and we just kept on writing, and writing. We actually did the music with each other instead of actually going out to do it. After a couples of people started joining us then we started performing and just step by step we just be growing from there.

Krayze, Taiwo & Prince

• Q: Why are you doing Rap, Hiphop?

• A: Why am I doing hiphop? Because I love it. You know, is the one time where you get to choose what you want to say and how you want to say it. For example, I can hear your beat and do a remix of your song and being the type of person I am. I like to win, I donʼt like loosing. So I do whatever it takes to win. So if youʼve done a dope song on a particular beat and I do a remix of the same beat just know that my song is gonna be better on your own beat!

• Q: In the game of rap who in particular do you think you draw your inspiration from?

• A: I think Ace Hood played a bit part. Ludacris, did the most. Yo, man. So many artists, dude, like I donʼt have a particular one so to say. For example, Iʼm not that much into commercial. So I like rap. Rap-rap, you know, Fred The Godson, type of thing.

• Q: Are you that kind of rapper that promotes freedom of speech or what?

• A: Not necessarily, promoting freedom of speech. Is more like, hassle music. I used to do lots of things as a kid, you know, as a teenager growing up. As an entrepreneur, I have to make a plan so those are the types of things that I rap about. And, just moving from point A to B in becoming a better person. Trying to get some money into the bank account. You know, whatever grind I do in the real life is what I put into my songs.

• Q: What kind of music scope are you doing?

• A: Challenging, which is more of your underground rap and if it is commercial I add it of my competitive touch. Yeah, I just wanna win man!

• Q: So far, so good, are your fans base loving it?

• A: Yo, mehn so far theyʼre liking it. You know, most of the time what I do is when Iʼm doing a random personal lift or whenever we are chilling playing music; I just play one of my songs. I will never say it’s me rapping because that way people will give you an honest opinion of the music but if you do say “listen to my song”, you already put them in a box; they canʼt say something bad because you already made so much effort to make them hear the song! Rather let them comment honestly on what they think! So why not play random music and feed your music in here and there and then be out. But yeah, theyʼre enjoying it though!

• Q: What are the challenges facing rap music industry in South Africa.

• A: You need to know somebody in order to make it. And in some cases, you need to pay your way up! Thatʼs why if you look at the music industry right now, the people who are making a buzz, radio and TV plays are probably kids that grow up with money in the family. Yes of course, theyʼd be rapping about struggles of life, hassling and whatever and they about that life but the advantage is that they got the money pay whatever is necessary so that they could get their songs to the airspace and the more you hear the song you get used to it and once you used to it, you get to sing along and when the person gets to perform, you sing along with me because is a song that you know.

• Q: What solution would you proffer in this case?

• A: Yo mehn, I donʼt know! Iʼm just gonna smash through whatever door thatʼs in-front of me. I understand that all the artists that are trying to get out there are facing a similar problem but the fact that we are faced with a similar problem doesnʼt make your problem my problem. I have my own shit to deal with. Iʼm going to go about it my way and you go your way because my music and yours is not the same thing. The genre is one but then the way that we do our music is not the same!

• Q: What must people look out for?

• A: A lot of lyrics, mehn. A lot of bars, crazy flow. You know, a lot of fun and entertainment. I just like to see people smiling but when I rap is a different story. When I rap to you your face needs to look like you smelling a dead body in the room or something. ( We both laughed aloud, again!) So, thatʼs what Iʼm about.So they just need to be prepared for lyrics, bars and something they are not ready for I guess. And we need to try to bring hip-hop back to its proper state but thereʼs no real proper state mehn, it’s all the same; it’s music. We just have to make hits and do best. Those that are hassling are making it and those that are not hassling hard enough, obviously some get left behind. Is the survival of the fittest.

• Q: Whatʼs that thing you would like to change about South African rap music?

• A: Nothing! So far I have nothing to complain about, really mehn! It’s just a field of learning and entertainment you know. I understand a lot of people are knocking on the same door but then sometimes you just have to open the door. I canʼt complain about too much. It should just be open and equal opportunities. I canʼt tell you not to use your connections. I mean thatʼs why you have connections.

• Q: Who among South African top ten rappers would you like to work with?

• A: Damn, I canʼt put names out there mehn! Umh, A-Reece, most definitely. YoungstaCPT, Blaklez from Pretoria, maybe JR; he got some funky sounds going on. Maraza, I really dig him. I donʼt have such a wide list. I like underground cats!

• Q: Outside South Africa, who do you want to work with?

• A: Damn mehn, if I can share a stage, perform or do something crazy with Ludacris, thatʼs gonna be crazy. Thatʼs gonna be a jump. T.I., you know, like the real Gs mehn. Proper people. I donʼt want some weird tendencies around me.

• Q: Looking at your music journey so far, are you happy if you may have to change one or two things, what would that be?

• A: Umh, Iʼm happy but not happy! Iʼm not content. Iʼm in a space where I want more. You know, and currently. Iʼve been doing this for a pretty long time; I mean ten years or so but once I got into it hard, six years back it was tough. I would just like to see the work Iʼm putting in, pay out.

• Q: Who among South Africa female artists is your crush?

(This took him about 5 minutes to answer as he has lots of South African female celebrities crush)

• A: Damn, the beautiful one with “Booty”. I have a crush on a lot of women. I will go with, Pearl Modiadie, she is flame and she’s classy. I gotta say though she looks fun. I like that.

• Q: Where in five yearsʼ time do you see yourself?

• A: In five yearsʼ time I want to see everything that Iʼm doing now as a branded business, Royal Madness is going to do everything. Weʼre doing clothing right now, accessories, and we like cars so we might open a service shop.

Krayze rounds off the interview with a dope free-style performance while his brother beatboxes. Please reach out and follow him on these social media platforms and donʼt forget to book him for your next event."

Thanks for reading.

Bookings: royalmadness3@gmail.com

Facebook: Royal Madness SA

IG: @krayze_sk

Twitter: @Krayze_SK

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/royal-madness_sa

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