Are You Ready for This? My Life

You ready?

# Traemondo... #

-You all right?

-Yeah.

-How was school?

-It was fine today.

-What did you have?

-I had pizza, chips and beans.

I meant lessons.

# Oi, are you ready for this? #

I'm Traemondo.

I'm only 11 years old,

but one day I'm going to be the UK's biggest grime artist.

Nothing can stop me, really.

Music's like 90% of my life right now.

I'm always in my room jamming to music, listening to new beats,

writing bars, cos it's just something I love

and it's something that I can relate to as well.

# The summer's mine

# I love it when the sun shines and I'm on my bike... #

By the time I'm, like, 16,

I will know, like, most of the things in the music industry,

and I'll, like, be almost number one.

That's where I'm aiming for.

You have to think big to be big.

# From Notts to Atlanta... #

'I've got the best flow.'

# Traemondo... #

'I've got the best wave.

'No-one's going to take my swag.'

Trae, stop daydreaming.

Help me with the shopping.

'My mum might think it's a dream

'but I'm turning this fantasy into reality.

'I've got one of the biggest performances I've ever done

'in a week's time,

'and I want to prove to my family that I can make it big.'

Hey, you didn't take all your medicines today.

Yeah, I know.

Cos I was on an empty stomach.

'But my biggest challenge of them all is my condition

'called ulcerative colitis.'

# What you know? What you know about colitis? #

Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease.

It takes place in your colon and, basically,

you can have a lot of bleeding in your colon

and that makes you go toilet a lot,

and you can have blood in your stools

and you can get flare ups every so often,

where your bowel starts getting angry,

and then you start passing more blood.

One, two, three, four, five, six tablets.

I've also got these sachets which I have to take twice a day,

so it's really annoying.

If my health isn't good then I can't do music,

so that's why I try my best to take my medication.

-What about a banana, Trae?

-No, I'm all right.

-Blueberries?

-I said I'm fine.

-Orange?

-No.

# Let's talk about life... #

When I was diagnosed, it was really upsetting,

and then since then I pretty much was in the bed every day,

I didn't want to talk to anybody, communicate,

I didn't want to eat or drink anything.

And so that's when my dad and mum were getting really worried for me,

so they started saying,

"Trae, why don't you start writing down your feelings instead?"

Like, the feelings I wrote in the hospital,

I kind of used them to start writing my music,

and then ever since then I've started communicating

with people more as well. Now, I'm just trying my best to, like...

..to, like, um...

fight it and kind of try and win the battle, really.

'My music helps me express my feelings,

'but it's good to have friends around

'who know what I'm going through.

'So that's why I've invited them tonight to have some fun.'

-BOYS:

-Trae, Trae, Trae!

Traemondo! Traemondo! Traemondo! Traemondo!

-Traemondo! Traemondo!

-THEY GIGGLE

Get me. What do you think we'll do tonight, then?

Popcorn. Xbox.

Do you lot know this song?

Did you think that you would get this far?

Well, obviously, when I started,

I went in the studio and I actually cried

because I thought it was too hard. I didn't want to do it.

But then I kept going.

So I never thought I was going to get this far.

Music is kind of what got my mind off colitis.

Like, I've had Dizzee Rascal shouting me out

and things like that.

That really encouraged me to keep going on.

Really, really hard.

Yeah. I find it really difficult.

It's not nice seeing Trae with colitis because, like,

you can't do, like, the stuff that you used to do with him,

like play football and everything.

When I heard about it I started crying,

cos I didn't know what was going to happen in the future.

So it was just heartbreaking seeing...

Just heartbreaking.

It was hard seeing Trae suffer,

because he wasn't coming to school and we wasn't really seeing him,

cos he was always going to the hospital or coming back, hospital,

-coming back.

-Yeah.

-I think we can be best friends forever.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

THEY RAP

# If you wanna have a good life you gotta start from young... #

I haven't got long till my big performance now,

and I've got all sorts to do.

I've got to make up a new track,

I've got to push my social media and keep people interested.

All with the help of my dad.

-What are we working on today?

-Well, I'm sending the DM to Stylo G,

actually, to see if he can come maybe to my gig or to the studio

on Sunday and see, like, if he can give me some words of wisdom

or maybe do a track.

Who else have you tried to get through to?

I've contacted Dizzee Rascal, um...

And now I'm doing Stylo G.

The more I've been doing my music, the more I've been, like,

having interviews and more performances and stuff.

I started with, like, 15-people performances

and then it grew to, like, 100 people.

And that's how I started building my fan base

and, pretty much, I'm getting more followers every day,

and just carrying on telling the story of Traemondo.

'All my plans will have to go on hold for now,

'because today I've got school as well as my hospital appointment.'

Trae.

'I don't really like going to the doctor's, anyway,

'because, like, it's not really a nice experience.

'I have to go back in and have checkups,

'and it reminds me that I'm still coping with the condition

'as well as everything else I'm doing.'

So when was the last time you had blood in your poo?

-I can't remember.

-Really?

-No pain, no diarrhoea.

-Nothing at all?

-No.

OK. Fantastic.

It's very important that Trae takes his medicines.

You mustn't ignore those symptoms,

you mustn't just hope that it's going to disappear by itself,

because it won't.

A third of patients will lose their bowel

if you've got ulcerative colitis.

So I'm not saying Trae's inevitably going to lose his large bowel,

but there is a realistic chance of that happening.

I think the next few months are crucially important.

'Obviously it gets in the way of things.

'I just really want to get to PE and do something I actually enjoy

'instead of sitting down in front of my consultant

'and hearing him nagging on

'about medicines and diseases and conditions.'

I know you want to go play football, but this is important, yeah?

It's important that we get you these things. You don't need to cry.

OK, I think we should call that a day,

and we want to see you fairly soon, in the next three weeks.

# When the morning come

# Out my bed... #

The main focus from Monday to Friday is school,

but when it comes to the weekend I've got my free time.

That's why me and my dad have got up early,

ready to go London and work on this new track.

Trae's, like, he's got me under real pressure to, like,

produce these things for him on the weekend.

I need to make sure I have something fresh for my gig that's coming up.

# Life is so hard... #

A kid's playground is usually at school, but this is my playground -

this is home to me, really.

I could sleep in here, 24-7, and just work.

That's just go for a test run.

# Wicked and bad, man

# Eight bars are wicked and bad, man

# The MCs be chatting swag, man

# But they're never gonna take my swag, man

# You must be a madman... #

'It's great having my dad as a manager,

'cos I get to spend time with him.

'He really helps push me when I'm not in the mood.

'He's really like a super dad, really.

'Sometimes I do give him a hard time when he's just trying his best

'but, you know, that's just me.'

# I've been bad from way, way, way back

# Yeah, just go ask my dad... #

I know you've got it in you, so give me some character now.

-All right.

-Yeah?

# I'm bad and wicked

# My flow you want, I'll give it

# My rhymes are mine, no gimmicks

# My rhymes are more than lyrics... #

Go again, go again.

-You sure you're going to get it in, yeah?

-Yeah.

# Let me teach you something they owe me

# I'll introduce you to the new flow, G... #

That's a strong take. I'm happy with what I've got there.

'After three hours of smashing through my new track,

'I get a visit from Stylo G,

'who me and my dad had e-mailed earlier in the week.

'He's a reggae artist who has the kind of success I want one day.

'I just can't believe he's turned up.'

Wicked and bad!

It's the simplest things that make the good tracks, isn't it?

-Well done.

-You like it?

-The chorus is perfect.

You can hear, like, it's going to be a sing-along.

Some part of the verses you're trying to put too much words in.

So look at tightening up, and I think you have a wicked track.

'I wasn't expecting him to spend so much time with me

'to work on the track, so I'm gassed up

'with his advice to make it better.'

Ready? Try that.

# Them man can't take my swag

# You must be a madman... #

Yeah, that's good. Much better.

Just, say, "Tell a MC, try, test."

Simple. Just do that.

# Tell a MC try, test... #

Yeah, make it tighter. "Flows that beat them bad." Yeah?

# I got flows that beat them bad... #

Wicked and bad. Very talented youth.

You're the future. Next generation.

Just a little bit of him tightening up the tune has made it sound ten

-times as better.

-When are you going to perform the track?

I'm going to perform this this Saturday.

The crowd want to see you.

Energy you give the crowd, they'll give you back that same energy.

# When you hear me through your set you know I'm wicked and bad... #

'The track's done now.

'Now I've just got to get it locked into my head

'and start rehearsing it,

'and just get it on smash ready for my performance.'

It's all come down to this day and I'm ready.

I'm feeling racing to get onto the stage.

Well, I don't really think that I've done too much for my age

or anything like that.

All I'm thinking is - "What am I going to do next?

"How am I going to make things better in my music?"

HE RAPS

Well, I'm hoping this,

and I think it will happen as well, 20 years' time,

end up in LA or Miami,

just with a massive mansion.

I'll have one in LA, one in Atlanta,

one in Jamaica, one everywhere.

That's the dream.

I'll just be able to just lay down, relax on the beach, doing whatever.

'When I'm backstage, just before I'm about to go on stage and perform,

'I'm always feeling a bit nervous at times.

'But I don't really like to say that to my dad or anything.

'But I'm just excited.

'I just want to give my best and get the crowd involved.'

Artist goes by the name of Traemondo.

11 years old.

Make some NOISE!

'It felt everything was built up to this moment on stage.

'I was nervous at the beginning but then I enjoyed it.

'I hoped I was able to make my relatives happy.

'I know music is the one thing

'that is going to help me deal with my colitis.

'However things turn out in life,

'if I have music I can deal with anything.'

Yeah, man, everybody was buzzing.

-Everybody was shouting, "Traemondo," innit?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-That's my name.

That's your name, innit? So how are you feeling? Where are we going?

Can go wherever we want, really.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Sky's the limit?

-Yeah, it is.

-Sky's the limit.

I said it in my tracks.

Yeah, you said it in your track...

# Live your life, follow your dream

# Try do a single, try tings

# What do you see through my eyes?

# Don't follow, don't tell lies... #