“I am so excited about this video. The song directly translates to the visual narrative where my insecurities are personified and have initial control. I try to run away from them but eventually embrace and make peace with them — you see me dancing with them in the video.” Espacio Dios (2021) Espacio Dios has…
Maeta has been quietly rumbling under the surface since dropping her 2019 EP, Do Not Disturb and appearing in the “Jam in the Van” sessions. The Indianapolis-born singer is taking it to the next level with her new EP, Habits. The seven-track project is a mixture of R&B ballads, dance, and hip-hop-infused songs that make…
When was the last time we, through the contemporary music diaspora, thought a young artist spoke for a particular generation or group of people? Collectively, I’m not sure however as writers, probably not too long ago as we often suggest that statement and conflate the release of artworks at a particular time to them presenting…
Shanti Cullis (aka $tar Playa Nyaoza) — born in Cape Town in 2001 and living in Yeoville since his relocation to Joburg — may not be a household name, however, given his most recent releases, I wouldn’t be surprised if all that was to change sooner rather than later. There’s something about the hypnotic, off-kilter…
Muzi, aka The Zulu Skywalker, opens “Come Duze”, the fourth video from his upcoming album with the phrase “Nhlangano i matimba” on screen and shots of a scenic landscape surrounding traditional dancers. An ode to the vast beauty and existence of the land that is Limpopo — all in the span of a three-minute and…
“Pre-pandemic, there was a plan. The plan was for musicians from South Africa and Senegal to travel to London’s influential Total Refreshment Centre to make an album with musical kindred spirits in the UK. Like so many plans, it had to be adapted.” On Our Own Clock It took me about 3 seconds to raise…
Nothing disrupts the usual, the typical, the average and even mediocre, like the success of authentic self-expression. Coming off of the trails of their debut album Death Becomes Her and their EP Alla Prima, Angel-Ho releases their latest project, A Time To Die, under the collective and record label N.A.A.F.I. A musician and creative director originally from Cape Town, Angel…
Not many people are lucky enough to discover what they are destined for from a very young age and excel. Lex LaFoy exists on the contrary and as she raps in NewWorldDaughter, her 6th recorded project. She’s been a force within the South African music scene since high school, “when hip-hop was not that cool”….
Two months ago Desire Marea blessed us with the release of their “Tavern Kween” music video. Directed by Allison Swank, the video off of their self-titled album, Desire, “belongs to Mary Magdalene of murky ecstasies —an embodiment of the spiritual and sensual gyrating and alive in the modern world.” As I write in my piece,…
Bongiwe Mpanza or Bonj is known as a power vocalist who was a prominent figure in Cape Town’s electronic and jazz scene, and the amalgamation of her music sensibilities and experiences has shaped her new EP, A Journal. The seven-track offering is a genre-bending and experimental project that exhibits Bonj’s individualism, creativity, and originality. “It’s…
I met this girl, when I was ten years old And what I loved most she had so much soul She was old school, when I was just a shorty Never knew throughout my life she would be there for me On the regular, not a church girl she was secular Raps Common on his…
Eccentric, unapologetic, futuristic, powerful. Those are only some of the adjectives which come to mind when I think of Bophelo Tseki, a.k.a Skolleywood — a young and upcoming femme cultural icon — who is firmly solidifying herself within the local music industry, but also bordering into other artistic disciplines, such as fashion. Inspired by contemporary…
