It’s difficult to learn and I’ve been doing it for 2 years now and there’s just loads of techniques to learn, but it’s been easier to start with a background in boxing, or karate, then you have good punches as a basis for the rest of the technique. In a year you could learn to box well, for self defense or whatever, but for learning a technique these martial arts take much longer. The best martial arts for self defense on the street would be boxing, muay thai and judo.
I started with boxing, but I’ve also done muay thai, I’ve done tai chi, I’ve done karate, I’ve done jiujitsu, taekwondo… But it all started with boxing. Going to the gym I get bored, but in training, as you’re learning something, you get less tired. It’s not like running on the spot because you’re learning something.
I’ve been obsessed with learning lately: I never paid attention when I was meant to learn in school, and I didn’t go to school much, but now I really enjoy the act of learning new skills because I wasted all my school time. At the moment, that’s panantukan. But martial arts is all about learning to me and it’s nice that I can afford to learn and to train now, since I started making money off music – it’s everything I didn’t have when I was young. It’s school, or it’s paying for my university – it’s the same thing to me.
When I was 15 one of the first things you learn is to not blink when you get punched, and the usual reaction when someone brings their fist to your face is to close your eyes. If you blink when I throw a jab you wont see the right hand coming. Then also getting used to the headaches, I remember saying to the trainer I’m getting headaches and he goes: „You’ll get used to it“.
