This is my article on my double page spread, but is unable to be read in the picture.
DJ D is from a small North African village, called Quaino, this is where his musical talent was first noticed, ( in his singing and rapping abilities). Then he moved to a large town in the South east of England called Stevenage. This is where he first became known as DJ D Kiwanuka in the underground dub step and drum and bass scene, frequently making appearances at illegal raves .DJ D specialises in rap, dance, dub step and drum and bass music. After his amazing influence on the town of Stevenage’s young music scene, he was scouted by a large record label named Starz. He signed a contract and almost instantly released his first album "without help" which reached number 1 in seven different countries. After his first number 1 he went back to where it all started in Quaino, and tried to get back into touch with his African upbringings, before his world tour.
Through the facade of baggy jeans, a white tee shirt obviously too big for him, a huge gold chain and Nike trainers. You could see the working musical genius that everyone knows so well. He strolls in slightly late, and without an apology asks if we can start because he is opening a gig in New York’s famous Madison Square Garden, later that day. He sits down and answers the questions, without hesitation. During our interview we could see that he was extremely confident and evidently knew of his own talent and abilities, what some may call ‘cocky’.
He told us about his inspirations and how they have helped him through tough times. He said his main inspiration was his mother, who helped him through the loss of his brother some years ago. " The loss of my brother hit me really hard, it showed me how precious life is and what we take for granted, I just want to show how much I loved him and my mother with this album".
After him opening up to us and revealing his true feelings, we decided to change the mood and talk about something upbeat and fun. His upcoming world tour, he says "It will be an amazing series of events, and will help spread my name and my music; I hope everyone will enjoy it". His tour he says, will hopefully expand his musical abilities, and help him to connect further with the public and his fans.
To a casual observer it may seem that DJ D is a bit of a joke and does not appreciate what he has and has achieved, but this is far from the truth as one can be, DJ D has the up most thanks for everyone that has supported and helped him through his upbringing, which was very distressing with the loss of his brother and the struggle to maintain his musical reputation.
DJ D go into some trouble with the law when he was 19 and this really threw him off his musical tracks. He was caught with a class A drug on him and given a fine of £600 and 100 hours of community service, we asked him to comment on that event and he told us , " it was a very low point in my life, I got involved with the wrong crowd and I regret it everyday of my life, I regret the pain I put my mother through, and the pain I caused my own body, I only wish I could go back". But this may been the best thing that ever happened to him, it really gave him a huge opportunity to get noticed and he took it and never looked back, getting signed by Starz was another "highlight" of his life.
"Who are your musical inspirations?" we asked him. He replied " Well to be honest with you there is only one, Eminem, although I do not specialise only in rap, when I grew up I found a sense of warmth and strength from his music, it has influenced me hugely to not take what I have for granted and has helped me produce my unique sounds." In DJ D’s music you can really tell that the rude and passionate rapping techniques that Eminem uses have influenced his own music and helped it create a certain personal sound and feeling.
During the interview with DJ D Kiwanuka discovered a lot about his views and opinions, but we found most of all about his up bringing and the hardships he had to endure to get to where he is now. He has learnt a lot himself through music along his journey and we believe that he will go further and make his sounds one of the best ever. His up coming tour will create a new sense of strength and personality in his music. We would like to thank DJ D Kiwanuka for letting us interview him and delve into his musical mind, and his unconventional musical background.
