Blain BW #CatchABritishBody!

We Are Living In The Confines Of The Motherland,The Goldmine Of Creativity. Our Feet Trample On The Richly Blessed Ground,Which Is Without A Doubt Filled With Shuttered Dreams, Hopes And Learned Brains Besides Our Highly Extracted Minerals. The Pinnacle Or Stardom Brought By Our Artistry Is Much Of A Tale Rooted In Fantasy For Most Of Us.My Catharsis Has Been An Anthem To Many Of Those Who Came Before Me Except Blain!. In Every Movement Or Revolution There Is Always The One Who Transcends All The Limitations And Carry The Torch For His Generation And Blain AKA The Black Warrior Is The Epitome Of That Kind Of A Phenomenal Character.

I Being A Student Of His Craft, I Was Given The Privilege Of Interviewing Him Before His Departure For His Upcoming Battle In The UK, Manchester, Which Will Be Going Down On The 8th Of July 2017.My First Question Demanded Him To Make A Quick Synopsis Of Who He Was And Where He Hails From. Here Is What He Got To Say;

My Name Is Sandile Ndlangamandla,Blain Is My Stage Name. I Am A Rapper, Battle Rapper From Gaborone, Botswana. I Grew Up In Swaziland Until I Was Ten Years Old And I Am Doing My Battle Thing Based Here.

Q.Try To Reflect Back And Tell Us When Did Your HipHop Journey Begin And How Did You Get Exposed To It?

A.I Grew Up In Swaziland Where We Did Not Have A Lot Of TV And Radio. So I Was Not Listening To Any Kind Of HipHop At That Point, And Then We Moved To Gaborone, Where I Got Exposed To A Lot Of Tupac,Eminem, Nas And All The Great Guys.I Fell In Love With It Within A Month And Ever Since Then I Always Wanted To Write My Own Stuff Like Those Guys.

Q.How Did You Make The Transition From Being A Recording Emcee To A Complete Battle Rapper And What Really Inspired That Decision?

A.I Was Always A Recording Emcee,Even In The World Of Recording I Was Pushing The Lyrical Boundary. So When Warzone Started And Quaint Was Killing Everybody In SA,They Demanded An Opponent Who Has A Lyrical Ability Which Can Equal To Quaint's.When They Called Me To Battle It Was A Natural Step For Me.

Q.If You Could Put Yourself In A Box And Classify Or Describe Your Style, What Would You Say It Embodies?

A.I'm Angle Based, My Material Comes From An Angle. Also I'm Much More Strong In Multi Syllable Schemes Which Is A Trademark For A Lot Of Great Emcees In Botswana Like L The Street Poet.

Q.How Do You Maintain It While Accommodating The Expectations From Different Audiences?

A.You Know,That Is Part Of Being A Battle Emcee, You Understand That There Is Going To Be Different Audiences And You Must Read Them Well.Take For Instance, If You Are A DJ You Know What Kind Of Club You Are Going To And What Kind Of People Are They And Try To Make Something That Caters To Them,So It Is Just About Catering To Where You At Without Going Against Your Trademark Or Identity.

Q.Among All The Classical Battles You Ever Had,Which Do You Think Is The Most Prominent?

A.That's A Hard Question For Me, I Have Had Really Great Battles. My Battle With Quaint Was Ground Breaking Because It Was At A Time When Nobody Was Really Battling Like That,After That Battle,Many Kids Developed Interest In Battle Rap.The One With L The Street Poet Raised The Bar As Far As Skill Is Concerned, But The One With Ill Law Raised Views And Made Many People Develop The Desire To Know About Battle Rap.So I Feel Like I Have Had A Lot Of Battles Which Impacted This Art In Different Beneficial Ways.

Q.How Different Was Preparing For This Battle As Compared To Your Previous Ones?

A.I Gave This Rounds The Best Of My Ability. I Believe That What I Wrote Is My Best Work Ever Since The Inception Of My Career Because I Considered The Fact That It Will Get Served To A Different Audience Which Has Its Own Taste And Expectations.

Q.Battle Rap Has Been Dubbed As Having A Slow Gradual Change And Monotonous By Some Critics. Tell Us Where You Draw Your Inspiration  To Remain Creative Without Loosing The Street Cred?

A.I Rarely Watch Battles As Much As I Should Be Doing As I Should Be Doing As A Battle Emcee. So Whatever I Write Is Always New To Curb The Monotonous Feel Because I Do Not Get Inspired By What I Heard When I'm In My Creative Space.

Q.How Did You Manage To Finance Your #CatchABritishBody Campaign And Please Shine A Light On Why Is It Like The Corporate World Is Distancing Itself From This Art?

A.The Corporate World Has Its Own Parameters Which Confines Them On Their Profit Motive. Us Being Rappers Who Exercise Our Freedom Of Speech To The Max Tend To Oppose Their Values Because We Cuss A Lot.We Must Never Overlook Those Who Are Rallying Behind Us Through Thick And Thin Though. About The CatchABritishBody Campaign, I Always Had People Who Knew About My Battle Rap Career So It Was Easy To Find A Source Of Finance Also I Have Three Jobs I Juggle At Once, So Financing Myself Was Not Hard As Compared To Someone Without My Type Of Financial Backing.

Q.Lately There Has Been An Influx In This Field, Tell Me Your Opinion About The Upcoming Generation?

A.The New Crop Is Really Amazing, We Started Off As A Small Association Now We Have 30+ Rappers Signed To The Warzone. Some Of Them Are Truly Gifted,Look At Osama Bin Chaplin,Him Managing To Make A Classic With Me Is Something Worth Noting.

Q.Any Last Words You Would Like To Share With Us?

A.I Wrote My Best Work And Come July The 8th And Delivering My Best Work.

GET THE BODYBAGS!