Mayuyuka Kaunda

Veezo‘s always been an impressive rapper, he stands out on features and first caught our attention on eventual Family Tree signee, Tshego’s Fomoza. “It’s the V -double the E, Z O”. That announcement has rung in my head many a time so stumbling across this solo Veezo project in late last year was really exciting. Pre Visa is a 6 track project made with the help of frequent collaborator Yaw Bannerman, Thaiwanda Thai and Ginger Trill. On Zaka, arguably the standout effort of the project, Yaw and V

August served as Women’s Month in South Africa. One of the biggest leaps South African Hip Hop has made in recent years, is the attention it’s paid to artists on the fringes and the resultant highlighting of women who rap in the industry. In a country where gender dynamics are pervasive in many fields; and contribute to the relative disparity in exposure and compensation, hip hop has played a great role in countering that narrative as of late. From Fifi Cooper winning Metro Awards to the remixe

The Klymax EP explores several themes as Kly “wanted this project to be a representation of a 22 year old navigating love, pain and the joys that come with life” Kly, an acronym for Keep Love Young, is a South African Midrand-based artist who infuses trap, r&b, afro and electronic influences into what he terms urban soul. The talented artist is a triple threat as a singer, songwriter and producer who recently got the chance to sharpen his skills at Anashe Media Group‘s writing and production

There have been great breakout successes for independent artists all across the world lately. In the States Chance The Rapper  hasn’t relied on any deals, and in South Africa Cassper Nyovest has built himself an empire with his record label Family Tree. It’s an investment the label makes in an artist, and like any other investment a healthy return is expected For every great indie success, however, there’s a lot more successful artists with label backing. Now what about those successes who w

Listening to AKA’s collaboration with Diamond Platnumz led me to a realisation: the advent of infusing Afro-rhythms in hip hop is here. AKA’s venture into Afro-Pop shows just how influential the genre is becoming. The prominent fusion of a diverse range of distinctly African sounds by mainstream musicians is upon us. Although a growing number of artists have gone the Kwaito sampling route lately; most South African Hip Hop is still largely indebted to American inspired trap. This isn’t really a

Throughout our youth, we’ve all probably been bombarded by numerous idioms regarding the company you keep! Some of the usual idioms go along the refrain of birds of a feather flocking together, the closest people around you defining who you are and, of course my favourite, how since you can’t choose your family you best make a success of the friends you choose. In a hip hop context, decisions of this nature are perhaps more important to get right; as the team an artist chooses plays a major rol