By Remy Raitt

We chatted to LaMayne to find out more about her ascension to local hip hop royalty status.

How does it feel to be part of the Dream Team SA?

It feels like home. I’m glad to be a part of such a phenomenal team and family who understand what my goals are and who appreciate my craft as much as I do. I feel that the industry lacks the ability to understand the artist and the artist’s individualistic talents and skills. I’m blessed to have found a collective of individuals who are willing to work with my art and brand as I have always needed.

What do you think this will bring to your career?

This will give direction to my career. I can now focus on my creative skills while I am groomed into understanding the music business. Not many are as fortunate as I am to have people who are willing to develop you as an artist. I feel that I will be able to reach the pinnacles I have always wanted to reach. I definitely feel like it will bring definition to who I am and what I do because I am able to explore who I am and what I would like to stand for as an artist.

How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it?

Music that aims to touch, inform and entertain. I try not to appeal to the ‘gold teeth, naked women and spinning rims’ market. I aim to speak to the socially irrelevant who do not see the value in their lives and heritage. The odd man sitting at a street corner selling cigarettes and vegetables or the high school dropout who feels like their life can’t get any better. My music is not for the delusional but rather, the dreamer.

What is your favourite thing about the SA music scene?

The fact that we have finally found our sound and embedded it into our different sounds. The South African music scene has made space for female artists and it has become amazingly capable of growth in various genres. We also have artists reaching beyond South African paradigms.

What is your least favourite thing about the SA music scene?

The idea that there can only be one female hip hop artist at a time. We need to begin to view female hip hop artists as individuals within the music industry who are as musically gifted as our male counterparts. I want the South African industry to get to a point of extreme diversity in gender, class and viewpoints, where we are willing to make and listen to different kinds of music. This is the only way that we will be able to attend to a global scene.

If you could meet any famous musician who would it be and why?

Tracy Chapman. I want to sit with her in a writing session and ask how she came up with such timeless music.  I think she is a generational icon and I would love to see someone in our generation possess the same mind blowing talents as she possessed. A strong lyricist and vocalist with the right social outlook for changing lives, is one of the most desired and lacking notions within our industry.

Who, in your opinion, are the hottest acts on the local circuit at the moment?

Khuli Chana, AKA, Cassper Nyovest, Cashtime Fam, Blaklez, Proverb, HHP and Solo.

What is your advice for up and coming SA musicians? And specifically female rappers?

Get out of your bedrooms. If you don’t try, then you will never know. You face a world dominated by men, and to excel, you have to be twice as good and work twice as hard. Don’t regret anything and never look back because there are many who look up to the decisions you make. Walk in the path of good and positive light and that is what you will attract. Trials and tribulations are a small facet of your journey. You have to become stronger and wiser. You have yourself to worry about.

For more information, visit www.dreamteam.co.za. Alternatively follow LaMayne on Facebook and on Twitter.