Lifestyle

Dynamite comes in small packages

Layara Marks
 
Layara Marks

Once she pulls the trigger, it is difficult for this miniature chick to stop until the ‘gat’ is empty.

At a recent Motswrap poetry night at Thapong Visual Arts Centre, the enigmatic rapper demonstrated confidence buoyed by raw talent. Within minutes of coming on stage, she had convinced the youthful crowd to rally behind her with big cheers and whistles as she strutted her stuff.

Her words of motivation laced with some closely guarded feminism and poetic magnetism along with sexy dance moves painted a picture of a woman on a mission.

Although Marks is relatively an unknown, she has already caught the attention of some big wigs in the local music business and recently released her first single The Antidote. 

 Male rappers who have enjoyed unchallenged dominance better watch out because this is payback time, Marks is a fully loaded dynamite pack ready to explode.

The Francistown-born musician never set out to be a recording artist, but accidentally landed there. Her music career was born out of her loneliness. From early childhood she liked poetry and used to practice a few pieces alone. But later in her life she converted her poetic lines into Hip Hop lyrics.

“I regard Hip Hop as poetry with rhythm. I used to practice my poems alone back home in Mahalapye where I was staying with my grandmother.

My mom later took me along and because she was always changing places because of her job I had to start afresh every now and then.  Without any friends and no one to talk to I felt so lonely and empty,” she told Showbiz.

She felt a part of her was stuck in silence and needed to come out hence she decided to fuse her poetic words and story telling with some melody to create Hip Hop.

Because of her brilliance on the microphone, the 25-year-old has featured in songs by established acts such as BK Proctor and Mel-D. A University of Botswana graduate, Marks says she is a positive thinker who aims to make an impact at this year’s Botswana Musicians Union (BOMU) and Yarona Music Awards.

“I want to do more collaborations with bigger artists both here and abroad and win awards.  For me music is an opportunity to break into other industries like film,” she said.

Marks, who is also a scriptwriter, said she is currently working on a movie called The Ritual, which she hopes to complete in the near future.