Lewisham rapper Deema’s music journey started as the youngest member of grime collective, The Square featuring Novelist and Elf Kid which he joined at 16 years old. With his EP on the way, we spoke with Deema. Get familiar…

What five words define your sound?

Vibez, barz, flowz, lyricz and beatzzz.

Tell me something unique about your creative process? 

It’d be hard to pick out something that’s completely unique but since I’ve been working from home, I find myself often voice noting the majority of a song and then listening back and filling in all the ideas with actual words and lyrics. Alternatively when I’m in the studio working with a producer, I’ll normally just stick to writing the song until it’s time to record. That’s when I’ll properly work out the melodies or tones that I want to go for. 

Which song of yours would you like people to hear first? 

‘BerryGrape’

What inspired you to make that song? 

Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem have a song called ‘Hillbillies’ that I played on repeat. Drake and Lil Yachty also had a lot of music that influenced ‘BerryGrape’. The beat was easy to rap on, Micha Cooper and Parkland went crazy. This was a really fun session. 

What’s the most vulnerable you’ve allowed yourself to be when writing/making music?

Pretty vulnerable, there’s probably songs I wouldn’t play for certain family members or people. Not just from things I’ve said about them but things that I say about myself. I do think I could go harder on this though, not quite ‘Mr Morale’ but yeah, a bit more secrets and emotion couldn’t hurt. 

What’s the best/worst experience you’ve had on stage? 

Best experience onstage was probably my first show where I played my music. I had done a load of Grime shows and sets but never played a show of my actual tracks. I got booked to play Chip Shop in Brixton. There is a mural of Biggie and Pac on the shop front, it was a tiny venue packed out with my closest friends, family and people from the restaurant I worked at. Very wholesome show deffo a best. 

Worst, I’m not sure, there’s a few that come to mind. Falling off stage normally makes the show better somehow. Worst time on stage though was when I was out with mates and they persuaded me to join a jam and start rapping… completely embarrassed myself as the drummer switched tempos on me. Jokeman. 

What is your favourite song to perform? 

Right now ‘Dog With A £’, which is dropping soon.

Which artist/song/album made you want to make music? 

OutKast ‘Aquemini’.

What’s the meaning behind your name?

Dillon Zee Roe-Edema is the gov 🤫 My friend Blakie just switched the letters of my last name round and said “Deema.” DZee was my original name, awful. 

If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing instead?

Spaceman/astronaut, I swear I wanna go to space. I’d sell my house for that return trip. 

What’s success to you? 

Maybe going to space. 

What moment in your life/career forced you to change direction? 

Google Maps or my girl.

Where can people keep in touch with you?

Y fi dat @swearthatsdeema