Trevor Lehman a.k.a Death Star is a producer/rapper from Johannesburg South Africa. He has worked with a number of big local and international hip hop acts and has been in underground crews such as Forbidden Poetry and more recently, the self-proclaimed “super crew”, Dead Right There. Death Star’s new EP titled “Sex With Zombies” is due for release next month and I thought it would be fitting to reel him in for an interview. Here’s what went down:

ZEBULON:
For the ones who do not know you, who is Death Star and what are you all about?

DEATH STAR:
Death Star is me, founded 10 years back at the age of 13, fell in love with hip hop after borrowing the slim shady lp from a friend at school, I never really thought much about it at all whilst still in my teens until I met former crew member Authority, we freestyled in his room one day after school, we looked at each other and knew straight away that this was real talent, started recording from 13 although obviously not professionally the shit was wack but I loved it anyway, I recorded properly with Authority the 1st time when we 1st met our former 3rdeye CEO Aak.Da.God (Formerly Aakill), after 3 beats we realized that beats were too expensive, I started making my own beats at 17 after Aak showed me how to sever a sample, since then I stuck to it and they now sound like how some people know them now, it hasn't been easy, I had my son at 18 and didn't finish school, I just knew at the time Forbidden Poetry was what I had been missing my whole life, in 2009 I had taken at the time a retirement from hip hop to stabilize my life, but it found me again, so I went straight back to beats and started building my stu, I made a beat recorded to it called authority over played it for him and spazzed out he later recorded to it and we titled the joint " Against Us" which we dropped in 2009 along with a track called Dangerous Mindz, the tracks sat unheard for about a year till we really started pushing, we met Foul Play and worked with him on Copycat Material & Dimensions Of The Demented, they are priceless tracks we put on our hell iz home project, but yeah that's a brief bio I guess

ZEBULON:
Haha that's dope fam... Forbidden Poetry came to an end though and later made way for Dead Right There. Tell me how DRT came about and what the crew represents

DEATH STAR:
Yeah it did sadly, I was going thro a tough time and did some shit I can't take back, but time fixes some things, I was actually watching the crime channel one night, a detective being interviewed described a victim as DRT "Dead Right There" I picked up my fone and hit up Anti Bullshit and told him about a crew like this and to see who he could get to join, he roped in Weirdanalyst & Demon, we agreed with bringing in Toxic-Flow and authority jumped on too, we did Ancient Torture Methods, was ill dunno if you heard it?, we represent slicing your main arteries!

ZEBULON:
I heard it yes hahaha... Dope track that. Beat is sick too. you forgot about Foul-Play though haha. Anyway, DRT at the moment is only making singles, but can we expect a bigger project as a crew in the future?

DEATH STAR:
Ah how could I??? That dude been one of my pillars of strength he opens that track with a level everyone HAD to match!!!, I'm not too sure wasup with DRT, I started my own project and had my track with tragedy going on I kinda fell in my own path for sometime, I'd love to get cracking with it again, when we 1st met as a crew we swore for an album so we have to give a goddam album! It would be tooooooooooo sick!!!!!! Dam!!!!

ZEBULON:
Yes it would bro!! Speaking about Tragedy Khadafi... You made a banger with the dude. How did you manage to pull that off? And what was the experience like?

DEATH STAR:
Yeah man, it was something special that, I dropped a track in June last year "Disintegration Part 1" I sent it to whoever and he was online, he responded and said that's a real dope track, I sent him some beats then he responded saying he wants to send me a verse I thought he was just saying that cause I waited 3 months, but he did send it then I hit up Marcanum X, we have become close friends ever since, we even working on the forthcoming Vast Aire single, but anyways we hooked the track up and dropped it!!!, its given me a sense of street cred I could have only hoped for honestly, that's also when I felt I was really made for this shit!!! So I titled my ep sex with zombies to celebrate the tragedy track haha

ZEBULON:
Lol for real? Why the title "Sex With Zombies" though?

DEATH STAR
Yeah for real, sex with zombies, I dunno, to be honest I love telling people for the 1st time what the ep is called, their faces!!! Haha its priceless, its a gory album, its extremely visual, its the best
shit I've ever done! I'm too excited!!!, the title is part of my persona, I don't know how much cats have heard of mine, but I really enjoy to sound unique, a quote from the title track " I'm more than
nice my anal beads come from a corpses spine " its the whole way thro, I'm just being me, I felt comfortable with the title, its got good feedback

ZEBULON:
Haha dope man... You're disturbed... When can we expect this album to drop and where can we cop it?

DEATH STAR:
Haha dude you can not even begin to imagine how disturbed I am, it happens in life to find creepy peeps like me haha, well its expected 27 July 2013, it will be on my page, you can also cop it from Bandcamp, iTunes, Reverbnation, and stream it from there plus YouTube as well just incase you might wanna hear it 1st, I'm expecting the 2nd and final single to drop in a couple weeks.

ZEBULON:
Dope man keep us updated. What type of rap fans will be into this album? Will this be for the Jak Progresso/Necro kind of listeners or is it a bit softer?

DEATH STAR:
I'm not sure man, I always say people can listen to want they feeling, I would like to say I appeal to the gory motherfuckers out there, but its for anyone, if you into hip hop I'm sure you would appreciate this ep, Necro is a great influence tho, but I try to keep original all the time, rap fans can be picky, and most of them are rappers themselves, you should stay bumping this ep for sometime, if your not into the lyricism on it I'm sure the beats would be appreciated to the ear, I've got some hot beats on there!!!

ZEBULON:
Yeah bro I can imagine the typa bangers you cooked up on there!! What are you getting up to hip-hop-wise now that the EP is completed?

DEATH STAR:
Well I just signed to Darkstarz Records on the 14th May, I have just been connecting with other artists trying to get the word out, looking to shoot some videos, I'm working on a verse for the new Artifact album, producing for my label mates forthcoming projects, and working on a track with Vast Aire. . . That's about it for now, I'm planning on started my LP end of the year

ZEBULON:
That's dope fam. Tell me more about Darkstarz Records.

DEATH STAR:
Well I 1st heard of them after connecting with an artist named Smarts who will be on a track off my ep "Gore Wizzard" also featuring Anti-Bullshit, they are a label founded by Caper who is a producer/emcee too, situated in New York, its a dope family to be apart of everyone is welcoming, you can find everything and more at their website www.darkstarzrecords.com

ZEBULON:
Too sick man. You gotta represent!! Wrapping it up though, where can you be reached if the heads out there are interested in copping some beats or lining up some tracks?

DEATH STAR:
The best place would be your favorite social networks, Facebook: www.facebook.com/deathstarforbiddenpoetry
Twitter: www.twitter.com/deathstarMC
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/deathstarDAbrainslug
Reverbnation: www.reverbnation.com/deathstarthefurher
Darkstarz Records: www.darkstarzrecords.com/deathstar

or if you want to cut to the chase they can drop me an email bloodsportrecords@gmail.com

ZEBULON:
Wordup man. Thanks for your time and continue doing your thing! Your shit is much needed in the SA scene. Respect fam

DEATH STAR:
Thanks a lot for giving me the time man, I appreciate it, stay blessed!