As much as it has been a while since I’ve been gone, I’d say the wait was pretty worth it because for this next, and perhaps last interview of the year, I got to sit down and intwerview an upcoming artist who’s really underrated, but has some really good music. I’m talking about Jae D.E.

The young rapper originates all the way from Uitenhage, started rapper at just thirteen and continues to spread his sounds across the Bay. His passion for music lives long as he stays ever releasing beautiful music to which many may relate to because he speaks from the soul. Jae D.E is also quite talented as he writes, records and produces his music all on his own. So I’ve decided to really get to know him and ask him some music-related questions.

1. What does being an artist mean to you ?
   It might sound a little cliché, but, being an artist means everything – literally. It’s my way of dealing with what I feel. Without my art I don’t know exactly where, or what I’d be for that matter. It makes me feel like I have a purpose – which is sharing my story, because I know there’s people who might relate, so, being an artist means everything to me.
2. What does being a rapper, specifically, mean to you ?
   It’s exactly as I said, it means so much to me, because it feel like it genuinely is what I’m supposed to be doing in life – but it means even more because I’ve got an influence on the people who listen to my music, and that’s the goal at the end of it all – to share my story, and hopefully it resonates with those who listen. So, being a rapper is actually a privilege to me, because with music you can change lives – and that’s why this is important.
3. Describe the way you exhume your art (your style) ?
   I don’t exactly do too much of that – I think I’ve got a pretty unique style, and that, in a sense would expose itself. For example, it doesn’t sound the same as the next person, or at least that’s what I think; so I just put it out and hope that it’ll resonate with those who already know, and like my style. What I will say is that it’s not for everyone though, and I’m okay with that.
4. How long have you been doing this and how did it begin ?
   I’ve been doing this since about 2013, but it actually started way before with things like poetry and just short stories, it developed into music when I was 13, although I only started taking this whole thing seriously around 2015/16. It started off with poetry, but there was a day I decided to write to a beat, and it didn’t sound half bad, so I decided to record it and luckily a friend of mine knew a producer – and we ended up recording my first song without headphones and a microphone worth about R60 😂 the quality was terrible, but I’ve grown a lot since then and this is something I’m really proud of. Compared to where everything started, and the quality, it shows a huge improvement and I’m constantly looking to improve. So, yes.
5. What inspired your name ?
   The way I feel – well, technically, felt. “Jae-D.E” is actually a sentence – “Just Anxious, Exhausted, depressed… Eternally” but it has a double meaning, because each letter represents a name of someone important, or some who was important.
6. What are your short term goals (less than a year) ?
   I’d say definitely more exposure. Doing more shows. Making more music. On the show thing, I’d really like to host a few of my own shows and hopefully It’ll be a success and hopefully gain more exposure and hence, more fans from those shows.
7. What are your long term goals (more than a year) ?
   Long term – getting into the business side of music. Doing loads of paid shows, possibly starting a record label and signing artists. Making merch such Tees and hoodies and hopefully a whole lot of music videos
8. What motivates/inspires you to do this and keep doing it ?
   I guess, just the thought that I can actually make a change using my words, doing something I love to do, keeps me going. And the fact that, this is what helps me too – it’s not just to help others, at the end of the day, I’m venting. I’m helping myself too. That’s the motivation.
9. What’s been the hardest part about being an artist ?
   Getting slept on. It’s difficult to stay motivated when it feels like you’re not getting the exposure you need, and want. With regards to the whole process, the hardest part would be mixing and mastering – the writing and making of the beats aren’t easy, but it’s not difficult either once you’ve got an idea – so, the hardest part would be the mixing & mastering of the vocals, because you always want it to sound professional – and it’s frustrating when you don’t get the sound you want; which happens occasionally.
10. And what has been the easiest ?
    The easiest, honestly, nothing. There’s nothing easy about being an artist. There’s no overnight success. There’s no getting signed off one song. There’s no starting out and immediately getting noticed – it doesn’t work that way. It’s always been hard work and faith, I guess. So, there’s nothing easy about it – I would say making beats or even writing, but that’s not easy either. Sometimes it might seem that way, but it never is. There’s always a weight on your shoulders when you’re writing, it’s never easy to write down the way you feel.
11. How did it feel when you released your first song ?
    Nothing really matched that feeling 😅 it felt amazing – at that time, i thought it was the greatest thing I’ve ever done, but listening back to the first song now is kinda cringy to be honest 😅😂 still, it was a really cool feeling, because at the time it felt professional and it felt like I did something that I’ve always wanted to do – without even knowing that I’ve always wanted to do it. It just happened so fast and I guess the rest is history.
12. Is there any song of yours that you consider the best one you’ve produced ? If so which, and why that one ?
    Yes – the song is called “FEEL”. I consider it the best because it’s the first some that gives off a feeling of “oh he might be getting better mentally” – the song came together perfectly – the beat, the lyrics, the delivery, the mixing & mastering, the quality. It just sounds perfect to me and that’s the song I’m the most proud of, to be honest.
13. If you were to do anything besides this (rapping), what would it be and why that ?
    I would 100% have pursued a career in soccer. I have a deep, deep passion for it too – and it kinda came before music at a time. It’s one of those things that just takes away all problems for the duration of it taking place, so yes. I guess I’ve just never seen myself doing a 9 to 5 in order to keep the water running 😅 it’s always been about creativity and passion with me.
14. Who else do you recognize as doing what you are doing and love (locally) ?
    Well, there are a few guys. We don’t exactly have the same style, but I’m a fan of their styles. Deezy, Shordy187, just to name a few – I’ve done a feature with Shordy187, the one with Deezy is on the way. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of other guys who are doing their thing and I can only appreciate art.
15. What advice would you give anyone who’s following the same path ?
    Always work hard, learn how to produce your own music, study the music business, be able to take criticism. Know that not everybody is gonna feel you and your style, but stick to your style and be true to yourself – you’ll be felt eventually. Oh and be prepared to be slept on, use it as fuel.

And that is it, an awesome interview to end an awesome year. Honestly, I may have to add that this has been the best interview I’ve done with a cool, young talent.

Be sure to check out his latest mixtape [Mono No Aware Vol. 2] which can be found on all musical platforms, (and you really need to because I’ve listened to it, and it has me feeling immortal). Then also go and take a listen to some of his recent singles up on soundcloud [you don’t want to miss his movement].

For the following interview I have a cool, creative local talent who goes by Crxsby, an underrated artist but one who is quite known for his uniqueness. The twenty-one year old has been in the industry for three years, uploading various songs with a taste of versatility by bringing out any type of music, from hip hop and RnB to soft metal and trap music- one could never forget who he is because he’s there, to whatever genre you’re into (heck, he could probably even do country).

Crxsby is also one my newest friends and one whom has quite a vibrant personality that transcends to his music because his music is vibrant as well. So I’ve decided to contact him to ask some music-related questions, so you can hear for yourself what of an artist he really is.

1. What does being an artist mean to you ?
   For me, being an artist means I get to express myself and people get to listen to my thoughts when I can’t really share my opinions with them, because if you go out. people feel the need to comment about what you’re thinking, but through music people have no choice but to shut up and listen and you don’t really have to listen to them afterwards, whatever their opinion is of what you’re thinking.
2. What does being a rapper, specifically, mean to you ?
   Well I wouldn’t know what being a rapper actually means because I personally don’t identify myself as a rapper. I do rap, yes I write rap lyrics, but I don’t identify myself as a rapper ’cause I don’t know what a rapper is, so this is a difficult question for me to answer. I don’t know.
3. Describe the way you exhume your art (your style) ?
   I can’t because I don’t have one specific sound of music, yeah I don’t have specific style that I’m trying to push, I can’t say I’m doing hip hop or RnB. I guess the best way to describe it would be ‘world music’. I don’t think it’s actually a genre, but it’s a genre my brother and I came up with for, like artists who don’t box themselves to one specific style of music, but do everything so called ‘mould-artists’ cause they do everything.
4. How long have you been doing this and how did it begin ?
   Uh, okay… This is my third year, or fourth year if you count 2016. How it began is probably the greatest artist story ever. My friend and I, Mordecai, we were chilling at the park, and then were listening to, I think Nasty C and he’s like ‘Bruh, we could do this’ and I was like ‘Sure.’ and then he said ‘Let’s do it.’ I was like ‘Cool.’ and that’s how my career started as an artist, through that dumb interaction, that’s how it all started. It’s no fancy story, like I was inspired, God spoke to me in a dream and told me I should do music. It was just two very stoned dudes chilling at the park and then decided to do music.
5. What are your short term goals (less than a year) ?
   Short term, I’m trying to finish my mixtape. I’ve been working on it for a year and a half maybe, it’s been so long that people forgot that I said I was working on it. I also kept being distracting by dropping singles. So yeah, [laugh] I’m a genius. But yeah I’d love to finish that, I’d appreciate it from my side if I were to finish it also.
6. What are your long term goals (more than a year) ?
   I feel like I share the exact same goal as every other artist out there, to have my music experienced by the whole world, pretty much. But then that’s in general a long term goal, I just wanna be really rich, like very, very rich. I wanna be so rich that I can get my name as a chain, but then everything will be diamonds. That’s my long term goal right there. So besides the ‘being a world-renound artist’, having my face a chain, that’s a goal.
7. What motivates/inspires you to do this and keep doing it ?
   My motivation and inspiration come from the universe. I’m not always motivated to do this, so when the motivation arrives is when I do it and it can come from anywhere, so what’s why I say the universe is my inspiration and motivation cause it inspires me to do this, and sometimes it doesn’t, and that’s when I don’t do it. So yeah.
8. If you were to do anything besides this, what would it be and why that ?
   It’d be three things, one would be a graphic designer because I enjoy doing graphics, something I studied in high school, really had fun doing it. The second one would be a music teacher, because that’s the career path every failed artist follows, becoming a music teacher ’cause they teach people when they couldn’t make it themselves. The third one would be a male stripper, but that one, sadly, I can’t follow even now because I can’t dance, so.. it’s a pipe dream, it’s a dream anyway. Radio DJ is also there, I’d do that too.
9. Who else do you recognise as doing what you are doing and love locally ?
   Oh, the list is extremely long. Extremely long, but if I could name one off the top of my head right now, it would be Blacc Steve. That’s my brother, that’s my boy, that’s my dog. He’s basically a better version of me, that’s how I see him as an artist. He’s me but better, that’s why I recognise him as one of the people doing what I love, and they’re actually good at it, my boy Blacc Steve, shout out to Blacc Steve. [chest bump, peace sign, yeah]
10. What advice would you give anyone who’s following the same path ?
    My advice would be don’t do it, unless you’re actually serious about doing it ’cause it takes a lot of time and patience to actually do it. It took me four years to get to a stage where I can say I’m an underdog. I went from a nobody to an underdog, ’cause it took four years for people to actually recognize me for my talent, and actually start following me and start being like ‘oh yeah that guy is actually doing this and he’s pretty decent.’ So, I suggest don’t do it if you don’t have the patience and time.. unless you have the money. If you have the money then go for it, cause you can buy soundcloud plays, you can buy streams, promoters, etc. If you don’t and you wanna do it the natural way then I suggest you have a lot of patience and just stay working at it. Otherwise, this thing is hard, yeah.

Well there you have it, the artist does not only produce sound creatively, he has creative answers. Check out more of his creativity on soundcloud where you can really hear what I’m talking about. Because guess what, he just released his latest single, Episode 001 (solo version) and it is litter than a match, like it is a vibe y’all.