Try to fight the Brainpower (BP) on stage and you will have a hard time for sure. And you will be a champ already when you maintain standing. In the last interview with ART12 this master freestyler said he wanted to focus more on making songs and recording. Not to give you the idea that he will drop freestyling but just to widen his horizon. We hooked up.

A deadlock
BP: "It can take a couple of records before an artist finds the sound he is searching for."
AQ: "It's said that the best records of artists are the first two."
BP: "Yes, by that time some artists may run out of songs."
AQ: …
BP: …

In search of Brainpower

An artist is growing. That is what he or she does. That is what makes an artist. An artists is always traveling, the time that an artists stops traveling or stops to grow is the time that an artist is dead, that's the time he or she will live on in his work. In these days and in the past many artist and talents were destroyed by the industry. A lot of peeps are presented to the masses as artist while they are only a product of a marketing department. As example given, take the S Club. Or DMX, a great talent given no time to let him grow. Growing takes time and time is money. So they pushed as many records in the shortest time as possible. In general, the masses and the industry have rather another nigger next year then being satisfied with the one they got. As Common stated on his record Like Water For Chocolate: "Why does the industry not built careers that last?" BP rather takes it all in his own hands. He doesn't want to wait till somebody will do something for him. BP said once: "Record labels are not interested in Dutch HipHop in English by me." That is why he dropped his debut release on his own label Lyric Records.

"Van bullshit komt er veel te veel voorbij/Muziek dat is een deel van mij/En hou daarmee de kern heel dichtbij…"

Brainpower to the people

You know Brainpower, if want to or not. You know him as a host from the many parties he hosted or from the many features on other artists releases.
BP: "I worked with Spookrijders, Extince, Made In Da Shade, U-Gene and Oh Jay, Select Personnel, The Proov, .nuClarity, Krewcial and Gus, Shyrock, Handyman Maurice (experimental Trip Hop), Rich Medina, Raise the Roof. And as finishing touch: Doe Maar."
AQ: "Doe Maar, just like that?
BP: "Henny Vrienten called: 'Would you like it to rap on our new album?'"

A label on everything

That is an impressive list on any C.V., without a doubt! You would say that it's about time that he will release his debut album. But hey, you can't force creation because it's the force of creation that creates. In his search for his sound he's very careful about what he says and with his image. BP: "Everyone always wants to judge. They all, always want to put a label on everything. That's why I'm very careful with what I say. You are not interviewing me right now are you? Other wise I can't speak out that freely." At that moment we were walking to the Beat Lounge, a place where we would sit down for doing the interview. I said "No." but that was a lie. You can sit down ask the questions and get or don't get any answers.

Just to have a talk with an artist and let them speak their mind freely gives you a lot more insight in an artists and their work. You learn to appreciate an artist a lot more by just shut your mouth and listen. Sadly that freedom given by an artist is often taken and misused by journalists on purpose or just by straight up being an asshole.

Own sound

The most beautiful thing about an artist is that you can see him or her grow and see them travel, hopefully taking you along. The best thing about an artist from your own scene is that you are witnessing it with your own eyes and ears. Often you don't have a clue you are witnessing history in the making till one day. Till the day you start to look back. It's something that is happening on your own streets and it's not something from overseas. In the first interview with ART12 he said he wanted to focus more on making songs and recording. He was busy with recording songs with Dutch lyrics for his next release in studio Friends. BP: "I'm searching for that studio with that sound that will satisfy me. Every studio has it's own sound. The studio that I'm using now is cool. You have to drop by because they have these huge sound speakers! Dope for a photo."

All fatter, in general

On my quest for the studio I get lost. I can't find it. Not the quest for the sound as BP, but the primary search: "Where is the damn thing?!" I walk through an old '60/'70 abandoned industrial area. Taken over by artists who have build their ateliers in the declined buildings and some small businesses are still there. City nomads marked their territory on fallow pieces of land. The environment is in a contradiction with Brainpower as I imagine him to myself.

On stage, performing or in a freestyle, he's dirty and raw. On stage he demands my attention and it's my favorite place to see and listen to him. But here I walk through the Generaal Vetterstraat an inner city landscape. "You know that I do it all fatter, in general.", said BP. Lucky Shockwave talks me in with his mobile. Finally, I'm in Studio Friends. Indeed there are a bunch of friends in there. DJ Know How, Shockwave, DJ Precise, DJ Master Lee, Too Tall, Merage and Brainpower himself.

Yep, there is a huge sound system and they're playing it loud. Too loud for my ears, I didn't want to damage my ears so I tried to keep my ears away as good as possible. But what I heard was good. Brainpower sounding dirty with even more tight lyrics. Flowing over beats delivered by DJ Precise. About finding his sound, I think he found it. Or, at least, he's on the right track.

The question remains…

AQ: "Why are you an artist? What do you find in words?"
BP: "Wow, that's a hard question… let me think for a moment. The most beautiful, when things come together and it's right. I need to speak my mind. Putting my feelings and thoughts exactly in the right words. I do it with words, I need. It's a must, to spit words. And my mission, I want to touch people."

"Je lacht wel stom/maar bent mooi beyond dom/waar jij een verrekijker voor pakt/daar kijk ik naar achterom…"

Text and photos: AQ


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