Since the fortunate circumstances that led to A Series of Unfortunate Events and the upward carer mobility that has taken place since we have seen the steady rise of Deekaydidit. While some clap for the progress and others wish ill-will on Deekay’s career prospects, what always peeks my interests is the untold story of becoming. I had a WhatsApp-based sit-down with Deekay talking about life in the new normal, her career progress, and the story of her sacrifice and how she is earning her stripes.
The New Normal has been something that has had its ups and downs; we have lost loved ones, gotten time to slow and contemplate, appreciate the little things in life, take me through your journey, how has the new normal been for you?
The thing about the new normal that fucking drove me crazy is the digital world. You know it’s like going from CD to Digital, from people lining up out the store to get a CD to online consumption, which goes to everything. The new normal has affected me moneywise, niggas broke, I’m very broke, can’t perform can’t do shit, but also what the new normal bought to me that was positive was actually me working, me working and doing my shit, all in all, the normal has brought me closer to what I have to do every day, it drove me to a point where I said just adapt, so I adapted.
We are in an industry that has been amongst the most affected by this pandemic; it has leveled the playing field for the independent industry with more artists releasing content organizing their own shows and content like unplugged sessions. For Deekay, how do you find this self-sufficient approach artists are taking towards their careers? Do you see this evolution as something that may challenge the traditional business model of music with fewer people signing to majors and doing things on their own terms?
Let’s say, Pre pandemic for me was going from analog to digital. This was a huge thing for me so that when you got into this digital world when you grew up on an analog vintage feel. Vinyl C.D.s, Walkman’s, iPods if you rich rich, these were the artifacts that made a stament to your environment that you really love music and “don’t fucking disturb me when I’m listening to my Wu-Tang you dig?”. I think that change into steaming leading to the pandemic put us in a unique position where listeners had the power to boost our revenue just by listening or watching us on streaming platforms. As artists, what had helped was, a lot of us got to sit at home and actually work. For example, last year, I made over 80 songs which was dope. It forced us to be very artistic and try to sell the art more than P.R. more than everything that happens, so it was both positive and negative because as much as I could do my art, there were no jobs, and present survival became that more difficult.
How I feel about us owning our own shit is crucial because I haven’t told you this is now an hour of private conversation because I’m with the label now, and I literally made so many songs. You always used to say to me, “Okay, this you can publish” you always used to say to me, “Yo, we need the vault yaDeekay” cause I made so much music. Still, I can’t get it out, and at the time, I should have gotten it out, so how I felt with a pandemic is like, it grew me, it was freeing the creative way I could make music and do what I would like to do, but it just didn’t work when it came to the other people which we won’t talk about, but it was freeing It was freeing for me.
Let’s talk about A Series Of Unfortunate Events. What is the origin of the E.P., and how do you feel about it as a body of work?
It was actually 2019; what happened was I was coming off Lift as You Rise, working with Nasty C and all. The songs were recorded in one day with Fnote, you know Fnote S/O!! He is the best producer in PMB, no cap shit, no bias, or anything Fnote is my nigga. Working with Zolani G is always a pleasure. All of these niggas were in my garage at my house. We literally set up a studio in my garage, and we did that. A Series of Unfortunate events happened because my life had been a series of unfortunate events, and after the Lift, as You rise initiative, I had to do something we had to work something. I know that’s not my best work, I was still trying to find myself, I know that’s not Fnotes best work, I know Fnote uBlind you know, but that time we were literally trying to do six songs in two days, and that’s what we did. So, the experience for me was one where sometimes you just had to say fuck it, let’s go.
One of the most potent and tangible features of life after a Series of Unfortunate Events is the release of the smash-hit Zaka, Chart-topping, debuting on Channel O. What was the spark that made you go for that sound? Was it a business move? Was it a creative move to put your name in music conversations and not hip-hop conversations alone? Or was it an in-the-moment vibe that made you make the song and decide to go the whole 9 with the single? Take me through the vision for Zaka?
There’s no vision for Zaka because it is the worst song I have ever made, so I went to the studio; my boss was like, “we need something for the streets” I was like, “okay, cool”. They gave me that beat, and I did worked on it, and that’s why I don’t have much to say about Zaka. What I love about Zaka is how I handled everything surrounding it. I hated it. I hated where they were trying to get me to go to and after that, what I did was I tried to take everything from that and make it work for me the time. I needed money; I still need money.
In terms of the video for Zaka, given the cancel culture undertones that are widespread on social media these days, were you not afraid that you may have been called out for sustaining misogynistic themes in videos? Its Objectification Vs. Sex sells. Was it a difficult decision to make creatively? Do you think the big booty concept has a place in our new society?
Big Booty Concepts have really been played out in society because hip-hop has been pushing this culture for a minute. Take the case of Biggie and Lil’ Kim, Kim was rapping real nice, and Biggie changed, asking her to rap real sexy, and this points to how he had the foresight of sex selling but unfortunately created a narrative where that is the formula for female rap success. Yes, we need that flare and sex appeal, my dawg, but you gotta consider that there are female rappers who got more than just their looks to bring to the table. They don’t even want to be called female rappers. They want the best MC spot overall, regardless of gender. I’m getting off-topic, ayt so bro, in terms of the video, I really didn’t give a fuck about Zaka. Zaka was a song for me to come out, but with music, you know how it is, we need to reach out to the new kids in terms of what seems cool to them. We only become aware of things like objectification when we are older. It’s purely entertainment as kids don’t have the foresight of consequence, which’s the dangerous part.
I’m sorry, I know it’s a little out of pocket to mention objectification and lil’ kids in the same sentence, but I didn’t think about the video as much as I wanted to. Sometimes we don’t get to make such decisions. We show up it’s an in and out job, and we only see the final product at a point where we can’t change anything. I had no production or directive control of the video; I just wanted to look impressive to look good and then be on T.V. because I got folks to feed. Now I’m on T.V., I’m working for that change I need, the whole concept though It’s nothing that I stand for you know I love women so fat asses in videos is cool, but I’d like it to be in another way.
Being on freestyle Friday, if we are talking about my city, you know how I always have my rants about people not booking us and whatever, for now, it was like I needed to make a solid statement for gatekeepers who how can I say, overlook our talent if we are putting it mildly. So, me being on Stogie’s platform was me saying Fuck you, I can do this without you, and I’m talking to the promoters, not the general public. The PMB fans have had my back, and the experience on freestyle Friday was amazing and a bittersweet win. I have a thing where I don’t want to be a musician from PMB because we have a serious lack of support which forces us into the small-town stereotype of us not taking ourselves seriously and leaving room for Johannesburg to save the fucking day for the 197th time.
It becomes a thing of not wanting to be an artist sometimes because you must have something so that people can give you something, and when you have nothing but your talent to offer, you have to be okay with being exploited, and nobody fully recovers from that. It sends you to a dark place, one a fight out of daily, and what freestyle Friday is ultimately about on my end is proving to PMB that we can do this shit. We can fuck this shit up and be excellent at it. We can take power from promoters, drive our value, be in demand, and leverage what’s best for us and the fans because they want to see us, but they don’t know of the quiet wars that happen before we reach the stage.
Due to some underhanded practices in awards systems such as racial profiling, and payola we have seen a revolving conversation about the worth of having an award, yet from an industry perspective, having these awards looks good on your CV and places you in a more significant position of meaningful brand relationships and connections, how important are awards to you? And could you rate your top 5 awards, international and local, awards that would work wonders for your brand if you had them?
First of all, the accolades are essential. As much as we want to say fuck it about what makes an individual win one, if I win a SAMA or a BET it means that tomorrow MY FEE BECOMES DOUBLE WHAT I WAS MAKING YESTERDAY, so it’s the central topic of your net worth. You know what’s trippy at the same time? One, you add award-winning or Grammy-Nominated to your name, you start to become seen in a more serious light, especially if that’s how media, radio hosts, and all that introduce you. For example, if Charlamagne Tha God says “Grammy-Nominated South African Rapper DeekayDidIt” there are multiple conversations in the power of that title alone. Just our country would have a field day of praise. I’ll make a recent example the internet was loud about Elaine because she didn’t have the machine; she wasn’t even on the media radar. Now, she’s top of mind because of her Columbia move; imagine how the reception back home will be when she wins something as big as Grammy? From the girl next door that the hood loves to overnight hero?
Bro, I don’t even like that word overnight success, but anyway. This ain’t even a chat about validation or knowing that I’m dope. I don’t need a co-sign, and that’s the rapper in me saying I don’t need a co-sign, but awards are essential for branding and business. Sadly, payola will always be there, it’s industry politics, and you can’t avoid those. You need to be in a position where you can because that’s how you get ahead and make things happen in this tricky industry dawg. I can’t afford payola. If I could, I wo
uld because I can see the bigger picture. so my top 5 is
A Grammy
An Emmy
A MAMMA
About 13 SAMAs
A BET that’s already 5, but I still wanna keep going.
The most important one for me is the South African Hip-Hop Award, and I’m not looking for no best female; I’m looking for categories like best album.
One of the greatest misconceptions that seem to find their way into our history is thinking that the positions you are earning come easy, yet there’s a whole story of trials and tribulations that’s too traumatic to remember, given your laments on Clap for yourself what are some of the sacrifices you have made to get where you currently are? Sleepless nights? Less and less family time? Rent troubles? What are the dues you have paid to be Deekaydidit? How have you been handling life and the journey to breaking into the industry? What has kept you consistent?
In terms of the dues I had to pay, it’s like this, Deekaydit for me is real Deekaydidit for me is life, so what I had to pay for that is me being myself and constantly being rejected for it. You deal with family dynamics surrounding the risk of going into music. Personally, I had to compromise the relationship with my mom, who calls 3 times a day to ask me whether this thing (music) is working because they only see one side of the coin that’s you investing.
The only returns that matter to them is money. That’s the only tangible proof of progress, especially if you look fancy on T.V. that expensive car they don’t know is hired becomes a thing of in their perspective you rich now that car yours, and then you explain that uyiqashile (you hired it) for the video. You deal with the same pressure from friends. You have people surrounding you, in my case, being surrounded by corporates. I don’t even like rappers. I really don’t like rappers because everybody is trying to lie to each other, probably why I limit my features; something like that has to be organic even when the bag is involved.
So I’ve had to compromise a lot of my relationships and my livelihood in a sense where I need to be that nigga, to be influential, and I can’t do it because a lot of people judge me for what I say and the things I do that’s why I always say I was born too late I wish I was born with Tupac and Biggie cause to think I would have made more influence at that time.
Given the conversation around the move to Johannesburg for business reasons (i.e. to network and blow up), there is an emerging narrative of artists not having to make the move to Johannesburg to make it, and they can operate from wherever they are in the world, what is your view on this narrative? Do you see it as a sustainable business practice?
The thing is if you say that I don’t need to move to Joburg to make it, you are bullshiting yourself. There’s no way you can make it from KZN, you can make it, but you have to move to Joburg because if they need you for an interview on YOTV, how you gonna get there? I understand the whole thing where we are trying to do this from where we are, but people don’t understand that you need to go out to find yourself. I had to go out to find myself, and I have been doing that since 2013 with KD King Dizo and in conversations with my nigga Zolani G where he checks on my wellbeing, and we discuss the game it has become a thing of how great do you want to be? If you’re going to be normal great? Stay in your hometown but if you wanna be like me and what I am trying to be, get the fuck out of your comfort zone go to other cities. The moment you get uncomfortable is the moment that you do your best cause you out of the place where it’s like, “I don’t know these people, fuck these people,” then that’s what you do. Be fucking amazing!
What would you say to the future Deekaydidt a message you want to give to yourself? What do you want to manifest? What is the legacy you are building yourself? What are the dreams of your dream life as an artist?
Stay amazing and be a unicorn! Don’t believe anything these people say, these people will rate you in how they view themselves, so if I think I can go to P.E. then that’s where they think I can go as well. Understand that there is so much power in yourself and understand that no one owes you shit. Don’t be outchea inboxing rappers. People don’t owe you shit. Work hard and be the amazing unicorn you know you are!.
The unique nature in which these questions were asked and answered is an unforgettable memory that Deekay and I will have a good laugh about 20 years from now. I am more than grateful that everyone involved powered through my long and complicated questions and gave me a necessary conversation. Cheers to your looming success. I am not alone in saying that I can’t wait for the world to celebrate your greatness. May this be a lesson to our readers and me; the key to being someone in this world is daring beyond your circumstances and striving for nothing short of excellence.
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