It’s another boring day. Nothing much to look forward to, double and triple lessons await me after the first two math and English classes. I’m sitting in my desk looking around at my classmates each busy with their own work, some catching up on last week’s homework, others getting their notes up to date. Then someone comes in from the staff room with a message that there’s been a transport strike in town, so the morning classes won’t take off and the teachers won’t be able to make it in time. The class cheers on the good news as the news bringer leaves to pass on the message to the other classes.
I turn to face a group of my classmates hurdled up clapping
and making what sounds like rhythmic beats. Someone’s rapping in the center as
they rally him on. “What are you guys doing?” I ask puzzled “Yo, slim is free
styling men, join in” my classmate responds as he pushes me into the circle.
And that’s how it all started, well how I’d like to think it
did. I might have embellished a little but you get it right? (haha). After that
experience I’ve never looked back. I just kept writing and writing whatever
came to mind. It was the day emcee Def was born, later to officially be known
as Defmatic.
Every emcee has a cool story of origin behind him/her. Mine,
well, I don’t think is as glamorous as most. My first verse was actually a
dare; I did it simply because I personally can’t turn down a reasonable
challenge. Rapping was not an escape for me; it was an art form I admired from
a distance before I understood what it was.
I started out writing poetry in the first year of highschool. English class was my favorite, mostly the poetry and play sections as I
was personally drawn to the intricate word plays and forms of expressions.
Let’s not leave out Kiswahili because that was also (if I can put it lightly)
the bomb. Well mostly the Swahili plays, the rest just flew past my head.
So my craft was honed in a classroom setting, not a park
bench, street corner or rooftop but where you would least expect it. That’s
probably why you won’t hear a lot of drug dealing, random killing and felonious
activities in my raps (haha) although few people I knew where into that (the
drug dealing only, don’t get it twisted).
I’ll be the first to
admit that hanging around so called criminals actually helps a rapper. It lets
you in to a world of contradictions that exposes you to reality and takes you
away from your comfort zone. Because, you now have to find a way to relate with
people society tells you not to, while at the same time trying to stay true to
who you are as a person. Likewise, it does wonders for your reputation (haha).
See my first sixteen’s below:
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