The Art Of Big Lyrical Combos...

Exclusive Interview with Budrat Records 'Donimitsu'

                                  Photo by Sam McMahon

Over the past few years, a storm has been brewing in the Northeast hip hop scene, and at the eye of this storm is rap collective and UK Hiphop label ‘Budrat Records’. With over 10 members including MCs and producers alike, the group have been gaining momentum since their inception back in 2016, supporting for the likes of KRS one. I caught up with member and MC ‘Donimitsu’ (Damian Small) at his place in Leeds to ask him about his personal experiences in the northern Hiphop scene…

Since starting rapping at around 17/18, Donimitsu has been quick in his mastering his art form only now being 24… “I’ve Always been into music especially with drumming so rhythm’s not been a problem with me. Had been smoking a lot of weed in my boys car and he started free styling once, so I saw that and saw it for what it was and realised free-styling itself was an art-form. When I was hooked off that I started writing my own stuff and it then evolved from that…  …My biggest inspiration was my social circle."

Having always being creative and into writing, he claims he initially never had the platform he wanted to write on, "I thought poetry was whack and all that but when it was put into an environment and in a place where I thought “actually, I can do something with this, I started writing and I could do something with that…”".

Joining the Budrats almost three years ago, Donimitsu came to join the Budrats after meeting the founders at a gig up in Sunderland where he had been set to play as part of York based duo “Eluding Maya”.

In describing the collective’s sound, he defined it as “Gritty, dirty, northern UK hiphop, like grimy, saggy every variation… as an amalgamation because there’s so many different people and different variations of styles, flows and tempos, that it covers and crosses genres and Bpms, but indefinitely at the root, it’s UK hip hop… we talk about what the UK is and how our experiences are in our different ways…”, whilst describing his own sound as “UK hip hop but basically a bit trip hoppy". He says however that it's still a learning progress however,"I’m experimenting… with it being 6 years, it’s still early days and every day is a lesson with this shit…”

Although Donimitsu also performs solo gigs, I was curious to know what it was like performing with a large collective in contrast to performing by yourself… “with a collective it’s a whole different experience. You have everyone’s different energy, you have what everyone’s bringing to the table. When you have that in a live performance you see if people in your crew and yourself can sink or swim in that moment, it’s completely different to writing bars or performing by yourself because you kind of have to rely on the group dynamic a bit". 

"We all feed off each other. If there’s lack of confidence someone looks up and sees another member of Budrats being confident it’s gonna be a domino effect. Everyone influences and inspires each other."

So far, rapping has taken Donimitsu and the rest of the Budrats into a successful north east label that is getting nationally renowned and known. They’ve gigged in London, Leeds and all over the North east, performed at festivals in Wales (Landed Festival), Scotland (Forest Odyssey) and Croatia (Soundwave), aired on FUBAR radio,

“It’s a journey I wouldn’t have been subject to without the real devotion to it and I think this itself… the hip hop and the rap, it’s taken us and me places that wouldn’t have been attainable without that source and without the desire and love for the music and the rapping.”.

                                                                    Budrat Records

With future gigs coming up for Donimitsu and the group such as a support slot for High-focus records' Dirty Dike, Street fest and Outlook festival in Croatia, the future for the collective seems bright as they continue to make their mark on UK Hiphop.

“It’s an ongoing process where it’s taken me, and it’s taking me forward.”

(In the style of 'NME')