D-Truce: The rap music revolutionary

Doing rap music was an avenue to let lose my anger—D-Truce

Anambra State born rapper, Chukwuebuka Dusten Anyasie, better known by his teaming fans as D-Truce, is one of the fast rising rappers to look out for in the entertainment industry whose love for a rap music kick-started at the tender age of 14. Having tried his hands in rap music since 2009, his participation in 2012 at the Nokia “Don’t Break The Beat” rap battle competition, in which he took third place, readily showed he is prepared for the challenge ahead. The Electrical Engineering graduate from Yaba College of Technology, who is also a copywriter, joined the X3M music family and has equally featured in popular Nigerian TV series ‘Tinsel’. Cornered at the X3M music head office, D-Truce in this chat with MUTIAT ALLI, takes us through his journey into rap music and projects amongst others. Enjoy…

What does the name D-Truce stand for?

Basically, we all know that truce means peace or an agreement for peace or some sort. My friends in secondary school started calling me that because I was really quiet which was due to a lot of things I went through growing up, family drama and all that. And the D is Dustin, my English name. It’s actually like a full name, Dustin Truce basically but I just cut it short, so it’s simple and easy to remember.

So, why music?

Well honestly, I never set out to become a musician and I’m not gonna give you the cliché, “I didn’t choose music, music chose me, that’s very lame”… (Laughs)… Initially, I played basketball. I actually thought I was going to play in the MBA or something but somewhere along the line, growing up, some stuffs happened with my parents, my family and it left me in a certain place mentally and that was what led to the quietness I spoke of earlier and during this period, I started reading a lot and writing a lot and around that period, some great albums came out like MI’s Illegal music mixtape, The Talk About It, 50Cent’s Massacre, all those, like there was so much music material in circulation and I started listening to rap music and somewhere along the line, I started taking this random things I wrote and started writing them into verses and then I met friends that were actively into music. We started doing things together and that was it. I found myself rapping.

You sound like a rap addict. So with all these rap figures you mentioned, who inspires you most?

Honestly, I cannot point to one person and say this is the most inspirational rapper I’ve listened to because there’s a whole bunch of them. My playlist is crazy and scattered with names you’ve probably never heard of and besides rap music, I listen to hip-hop and a lot of jazz and traditional afro beat like highlife and all that stuff. So, I literally just draw inspiration from everything I hear that’s beautiful and sounds great.

What do you want to achieve with your music?

I want to be able to be impactful with my music. I don’t just want to be someone that makes money off my music. I want to be able to spark a reaction on people. It might be too far-fetched but like what Idris Abdukareem did with Jagajaga.

What makes you feel good?

Good food, happy people, video games. Maybe money (Laughs)… Absolutely. The thing is music for me is a job but I don’t like to look at it as a job because it’s like eating. Sometimes you’re hungry and you eat, sometimes you’re not hungry and you eat. Same with music. Sometimes I have to make music when they are like “we need a song for this”, so I have to go into the studio, that’s when I do it likes it’s a job. But sometimes I’m working on the street and something hits me. I might not be able to go into the studio there and then but I have my phone, so I record voice notes. I probably won’t record the song until like two weeks later when I feel like. That’s when I’m hungry. The music comes to me and that’s when I write it down, I lay it down and record it. So I like to look at it as something I love to do and not something I have to do.

That explains your kind of music; Feel Good music…….

Yes! It’s very relative to the environment. After the release of Better days, I did like a short series online called the pop culture series where I just take random topics and articles from the social media and turn into songs. These are basically phrases you have seen, hashtags you have seen, just random stuffs and in my unreleased material, it’s like that, real life situations, real life issues. I’m not trying to sound extravagant, like telling you I have a Ferrari when I don’t, maybe when I buy a Ferrari, I can say I have a Ferrari on my song, you get. I’m just very simple, straightforward and relatable, that’s how my music is.

Isn’t it interesting that as at that point in your life, rap was what you listened to. Can you recall the sensation or healing it gave to you back then?

It was an avenue to let out my anger. Because I rap and hip-hop is one of the very few genres that cursing is part of the music… (Giggles), you can curse, you can yell, shout, and get aggressive with your gesticulations. I remember just being alone in my room, head phones plugged in and I’m literally just going at it like that you know, it was very soothing for me at that point in time and I went to different places in my head just by listening to music.

So how prepared are you in the industry?

I really don’t know. I don’t feel like I’m a part of an industry. I’m just a guy that people like and people will like and what I’m trying to do is touch as many status of people I can with my music because if I was trying to become a part of the industry, I probably won’t have a day job you know, I would be dressing different and acting different you know, trying to be in the club every night; that’s not me, that’s not my life. I believe in the industry, I am a part of the industry so to speak, but I am not trying to be one of the stereotypes in the industry. It’s like asking an accountant how prepared he is to work at a bank.

Don’t you have any regrets studying Electrical Engineering?

I don’t actually, to be honest I took the course because of pressure and that was all that was available. My dad was a scientist and my mom always wanted me to study art because she had that feeling that I had something arty about me but I was really stubborn. I wanted to prove a point that I could do this science thing and excel at it but in was wrong. I was young and silly, so yeah, I do not regret leaving Electrical engineering. If I even had the chance, I would go back to study creative arts or graphic design or something more in relation to what I do right now because I never thought I would end up making money for being a writer of music.

Let’s talk about other creative sides of you?

The creative side of me is ME I guess because music is a creative activity. If you lack that creativity, you may end up sounding the same and I feel like me working on advertising has really helped me a lot in understanding the concept of being a brand. Back then when I made music, I always thought that I needed to come up with something other than music to push but it was never really clear to me. Working at an advertising agency opened my eyes. The EP I’m working on, it has already been concluded, and I’m just putting finishing touches to it. It’s called Eden, so now I’m thinking of how to market Eden. It’s not just about putting out the EP, it’s like “what’s the plan”? I think of it as a campaign rather than just release. How long is it going to run, what are the touch points? What brands am I trying to market to, to put money back into what I have done, what channel do I use to get to my audience and all that. Music is a business at the end of the day, so if you think of it as just something you are just doing, you are playing with your business. It might be fun but the real work starts after the music is ready.

We’ve seen hard-core rappers who had to water down their style just to be commercial. Have you taken that consideration?

I saw this question coming (giggles)… Now let me differentiate between your style and your genre so to speak. Your sound is what you sound like when your music comes on. It’s like your Oral. Your style is if you choose to rap, to sing whatever! Now hip-hop is one of the biggest genres ever. You can sing, rap, you can sing- rap. And one thing I always say is any form of music with the intention to make money is commercial. It doesn’t matter what it sounds like. The difference is what sounds like pop music here may not sound like pop music elsewhere. In America today, hip hop is the pop music. Hip hop is not even the bestselling genre. Country sells more than hip-hop. Down here in Nigeria, our pop is jollof music but artistes like Seun Kuti, Asa, are still making a lot of money and name for themselves. Artistes are free to explore. If you do the same thing, fans will get bored. Though in the strive to explore you have to have it at the back of your mind that you have to have your sound. Which goes back to what I said the first time about your direction. Once you hear me singing or rapping, you will know that’s D-Truce. I’m not trying to twist and say what Olamide will say to sound different I feel like, yes! Artistes have lost their essence, am sorry about that. That’s their business. Your sound is your trade mark and if you don’t uphold your trademark, nobody will do it for you.

Where are you taking us with Eden?

Basically, Eden is my first compilation project after my second mixtape which I dropped in 2013. That’s a gap of 2 years and within these two years, I have seen a lot and a lot has happened and I have grown in my approach to life, in my sound and music, so Eden is like a window to what I sound like now. It is like a re-orientation of the D-Truce you are used to. So with this EP, I’m trying to make proper music. I’m trying to open up a window to my mind that is, this is my approach to what I make of life. I feel like it’s a nice balance of rap and proper music, so yeah.