The 4th Annual Jump Off Event is ready to set off on the 4th of November 2023. Known for bringing the best of the best in the Hip-Hop game, every year the standard rises to new levels as Sharpeville creates unforgetabble memories powered by MCs who actually know how to move the crowd and DJs who master the art of mixing with an aural insight to motivate the crowd.
It is in your best interest to mark your calendar 📅 early so that nothing comes between you and Hip-Hop. Save the date and book the 4th of November 2023 off your diary. The Jump Off Annual event is where the Hip-Hop Elements come alive on the V side, in Sharpeville.
Pyramid Magazine had a sit down with Tshediso Mofokeng, popularly known as KxngBlu, who is a Vaal based Sound Engineer, Music Video Director, Producer and Rapper. He is the Founder of Raw Music Group(R.M.G). KxngBlu has been a pivotal factor in Vaal Hip Hop for more than 10 years and has worked with the Best in Vaal and the country at large.
Pyramid Mag: More To Me is a very personal body of work, what is the story behind the Music, and the message you’re driving to the audience?
KxngBlu: More To Me is an album created out of necessity. My producer SubBeatz and I worked on it for 2 years because I felt like artists had such a deep misconception of who I am. I wanted to use the music to correct whatever incorrect perceptions there were or are of me. I am a son, a father, a brother, and a friend. I am more than just a rapper/ cinematographer, and I needed that message to reach anyone who was going to listen to this album.
Pyramid Mag: You’ve been publicly open about your struggles with depression. What is one thing you wish people could understand about this?
KxngBlu: Depression is not an excuse. I am clinically diagnosed with depression and that makes me an incredibly difficult person to deal with on top of how headstrong and assertive I am. The people in my life who have stuck around know my heart and the love it houses. But when something happens and I get triggered, they also know how to back off and give me time to re-align myself without taking it personally. We all went through the learning process together and are better off for it. There are people out there who think just because they dislike me that must mean the rest of the world dislikes me too and for a while my depression led me to believing that but I soon learned there’s a lot more love around me than anything else
Pyramid Mag: What does healing look like to you?
KxngBlu: Healing for me means understanding who I am and how I affect people in my life. I have no issues with admitting when I am wrong, with apologizing, with asking for help, but in the same breath I have no issues with calling people out, with making myself inaccessible if I feel like someone doesn’t deserve me or my time. Healing requires absolute awareness, brutal honesty and unrelenting criticism of oneself. That’s the only path to healing.
KxngBlu – uMthandazo (feat. Sub Beatz)
Pyramid Mag: Raw Music Group is the one of the longest standing Record Labels in the Vaal. Can you take us through some of your outstanding achievements and work?
KxngBlu: We are one of the only labels in the Vaal that has stood the test of time regardless of how many instances were there where we could’ve folded and that is one of the things I am the proudest of… Outside of that we have worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry and created work that has shaped a lot of artists careers. We chose to remain silent about the impact we have on the industry because working is more important than praise to us. We know that there’s always more to be done.
Pyramid Mag: You’ve always been surrounded by drama, and that includes a number of issues you’ve had with a number of people. What is the most misunderstood thing about you?
KxngBlu: This is a question I’ve always wanted to address. 99% of the people that have problems with me are people who do not know me and have never spent a second with me. They all “heard” something about me from someone and just decided I am who they were told I am. A lot of people have the perception that I am a mean person, or unkind I guess. I’ve done my best to remedy that perception but I also came to the realization that people will believe whatever is convenient for them and I have no control over that…. ALSO I am not money, not everyone will like me and I’m okay with that.
Pyramid Mag: What is your view about the current state of #VaalHipHop?
KxngBlu: There is OBVIOUSLY a lot of talent but it is so quiet, I don’t know if the music is not translating or the Hip Hop community is not pushing enough but there is a disconnect right with hip hop. There is a serious lack of support, there is a serious lack of collaboration and unnecessary volatility. The talent just needs to be guided, managed and focused towards a common goal and all will work itself out.
Pyramid Mag: You’re an Allrounda Creative, with artistry in Producing, Rapping, Engineering, Film, Music Video Production, just to name but a few. Do you have a preference or favorite amongst your many Creative Talents?
KxngBlu: Visuals… I am such a creative person all round but when I bought my first camera that was the first time I realised how potent my creativity was. I have a keen eye, the only thing I feel I am missing is budget.
KxngBlu ft Dukii and Mondo Dusk- Ramasedi (Official Music Video)
Pyramid Mag: When are you at your happiest, or which Art gives you the greatest peace of mind?
KxngBlu: Making beats. Because of how emotional I am I usually pour all my emotions into the beats I make. I’ve always felt like I see sound in colour and have also always associated colours with emotion so putting those two together was able to bring me peace somehow…
Pyramid Mag: If you had to pick a song from your catalog that would be a description of a Soundtrack to your life right now, which song would that be, and why?
KxngBlu: Right now it has to be Vuka, because all i think about is success and i genuinely do believe that my success story is coming and it is going to be the greatest one you’ve ever heard. The chorus on that song is sung by my daughter and my nephew and the message portrayed is one of hope, dreams and success.
Vuka charted No. 1 on The Come Up Show with DJ OB Gwala on Thetha FM 100.6 on 14 July 2023.
Pyramid Mag: A King builds a kingdom and leaves a legacy behind, what do you want to be remembered as, what do you want your legacy to be?
KxngBlu: I want my legacy to be one of Love. I want to be remembered for helping as many people as I possibly could. I want to be remembered for building Hip Hop to the best version of itself and I want to be remembered as the very embodiment of Love.
More To Me by KxngBlu is available on all Digital Stores. Stream it on your favourite platform by using the below link:
6AM success was obtained at 10PM, not in Italy, but in the City where the biggest Hip-Hop Festival in the continent is held. It feels like yesterday when Teq released 3 singles in one day and kept the streets buzzing ever since, continuing to show his dominance by making his presence to be loud in the streets. Yep, he’s definitely a problem child of this Hip-Hop genre.
When he crafted his lyrics, he penned down a prophecy that is manifesting over time as time unfolds. As the future becomes present he presents his vision with impactful music. On the song 10PM (Not In Italy), he touches on the gatekeeping issues of the Music Industry, even though he wasn’t given a plague, he transformed to make himself a platform and a force that can’t be ignored.
This became a reality when he won the Back To The City MC 10K Challenge of 2022, where he raised Vaal Flag for the whole content to witness, as he prophecied on 10PM (Not In Italy). Taking the No. 1 spot in the Top 8 finalists, yet again, as he said on his lyrics “I’m Top 10 and not 10, when you count back, ngiLast Number”.
He talked about trusting in the process, which is something that is not easy since it often never makes sense at a time. Maneuvering without budgets while shooting aimlessly at targets with hope that one day things will turn around and look up. Through all of this, he says the streets are something you cannot gatekeep because he got keys to every corner. This is where he found comfort to carry his vision forth. The Streets came through in numbers when they voted for him to be in the Top 8 Finalists of the 10k MC Challenge; another manifestation.
He said he won’t stop until he gets what he deserves and the sit on the table. This has also manifested as he’ll definitely be in the Main Line-Up of the Back To The City Hip-Hop Festival this year by default, as result of winning the 10k Challenge. Raising theVaal Flag once again. His lyrics are truly manifesting over time. 6AM success written in 10PM.
His lyrics are truly manifesting over time. 6AM success written in 10PM.
Watch the Music Video of 10PM: Not In Italy (featuring Leqhwa) on YouTube, amd witness the prophecy being manifested:
Pyramid Magazine had a catch up session with T’Bu Twiz; a rapper who’s born and bred in Sharpeville with a global vision of using Hip-Hop Music as a tool to cross boundaries and reach audiences beyond the Vaal. Below is a summary of how it went down.
Pyramid Mag: Since the release of your first official album titled, Whose Crown Is it Anyway, you’ve been releasing music consistently with some of the singles landing on various music charts. Can you describe how has the journey been for you for 2022 and 2023?
T’Bu Twiz: The journey has pretty much been the same to a certain degree as compared to before the drop, only that for us as a team we’ve gained experience, new ears and followers, gave me as a brand a good catalog, boosted my confidence. But overall I’ve grown from it, I’m more hungrier than I was in a way. It helped me move passed my own production, I’ve now opened doors wide open for producers to work with me, eventually I’ll have someone who knows how to shape my brand and sound into what I really am.
Pyramid Mag: How would you describe your sound and the type of artist you are?
T’Bu Twiz: My sound is versatile, I’m one artist who hates being predictable in terms of creativity. I draw a lot of inspiration from the type of sound that speaks sense or shares something relatable to me. Basically lyrical sound, yes as versatile as my sound is, in whatever I jump on the pen has to make sense, as for everything else I pretty much leave to the next artist. But overall, I grew up on that boom bap sound, although my album has the morden hip hop sound.
Pyramid Mag: You have a brand partnership with a clothing label “Balance”, can you tell us more about the partnership and how can people purchase the brand?
T’Bu Twiz: Balance is amazing, owned by a humble and ambitious young lady named Fikile Khumalo from Lenasia in Gauteng. The partnership was approached through my younger brother (Lehlohonolo Moleli), which was at the time a brand ambassador for Balance Apparel. The lady had asked him to ask if me and JustSam would be keen to help her penetrate the Vaal market as she felt her brand would blend well with us, which was a success because her biggest customers and sales ended being in the Vaal as time went. However it’s purely a partnership where we all show up for each other ofcourse.
Follow Balance Apparel on their Facebook Page on the link below:
Pyramid Mag: What’s your view on the current state of #VaalHipHop?
T’Bu Twiz: The current state of Vaal Hip Hop to me is stagnant because to date there’s still no real representation of Vaal Hip Hop in the mainstream. It’s still dominated by other regions in Gauteng and other provinces, there’s still no teamwork, no meaningful collaborations. Talent is merely enough to win anyone’s heart from the Vaal if you’re an artist from the Vaal. I’m saying this looking at how easy it is for any artist outside the Vaal Triangle to be loved and appreciated by any audience from the Vaal, as long as there’s already noise behind that particular artist.
T’Bu Twiz at the #VaalHipHop Master Class hosted at Afro-Bru in Maboneng Precinct Jhb
Pyramid Mag: As you prepare to release more music in 2023, what lessons are you bringing forth from your album release, Whose Crown Is It Anyway?
T’Bu Twiz: The only lesson I’ve been moving with since the realease of the album is to make and release music that makes me happy and best sell me as the artist I want to be received as by anyone. Collaborate as much as I can for as long as the collaboration makes sense to my brand, release as much visuals as I can to any project I release, be weary of what’s happening in the streets while I’m at it. Be as much experimental as I possibly can and lastly, release music, never hold onto music, if I have something I feel like people can vibe to, release it and allow the masses to select their own breakthrough project for T’Bu Twiz.
Pyramid Mag: Who are you working with on your upcoming releases, and what brought about that decision?
T’Bu Twiz: Justsam for the obvious reasons, it comes easy looking at our work chemistry and partnership. Already have something worked on with Phil Cash, this collaboration was linked by Vincent Kheswa, for the type of sound I was chasing, Phil made sense to be on that collaboration. I have something with Dukii on the way, Jay Prince as well. Cooking something beautiful with a very talented lady as well named Oh Fabia, still on the works. These are projects that are already confirmed. Apart from them I’m in the talks with a number of artists, which I can’t disclose yet as we have everything confirmed verbally and haven’t jumped in the studio with yet. Besides artists im heavily collaborating with producers such as Swankie Lash, Sub Beatz, Hype and 1000Beatz.
Pyramid Mag: What message would you like to give to your followers?
T’Bu Twiz: Thank you for your undying and continued support. Grow with me and I promise to one day make you a proud day one.
Follow the below link to catch up with all the latest releases from T’Bu Twiz, as well as all the music he ever released:
Pyramid Magazine had a young sit down with one of the members of MoneyWay Records, L-Ment, to catch up about his latest release and peep of what is to come in the near future.
Pyramid Mag: To people who’ve never heard of L-Ment, how would you describe yourself as an artist and the music that you do?
L-Ment: I’d like to see myself as “the bad guy”. Reason being I feel like I’m an underdog compared to everyone around me so I won’t be saying controversial things that people want to hear, instead my music speaks on topics that a lot of artists think about but would never say on a record (to “protect” their brand). I speak for the streets, hence I’m “The Voice for the Voiceless”.
Pyramid Mag: About your latest single, Let Me Down, what is the story behind it and why the decision to drop it now as your 1st single in 2023?
L-Ment: Let Me Down is a MoneyWay Records track and is the lead single from the upcoming MoneyWay Album. It’s my first appearance for the year and reason being I didn’t want to drop music until MoneyWay Business is sorted out, you know.
Every move is calculated and there’s a plan in place so “Let Me Down” is the first part of the plan. The single is special to me because I’ve always asked myself how me and Duki would sound on a record that we both were in studio and it was my first time meeting Dynasty so he just blew my mind. Crazy thing is I wrote the verse in 10-15 minutes and when it was time to execute, i got crucial advice from Lefa M who’s a melodic genius so he just made my verse sound 20 times better.
Pyramid Mag: Who else did you work with, and what brought about that decision?
L-Ment: We (MoneyWay Records) have been locking in with Tieten Blaq and Basiq for the past few months so we’ve been exploring a different sound and it’s all thanks to the CEO (Theodre “Don” Mavodze), he had the vision and shared it with us and we started working on it. Honestly everything is all him, he curated everything.
Pyramid Mag: When are you planning to release a project, and what can the audience expect from it?
L-Ment: My next project is quite personal to me because it’s my first mixtape so I’m taking my time with it you know. All my favourite artists dropped the best 1st mixtape that I’ve ever heard, so I’d like mine to be perfect as well, so I don’t want to rush it. I don’t want to announce a date but hopefully it’ll drop this year, if not this year then definitely in the first quarter of 2024. There’s a whole lot of music dropping this year thou so MoneyWay fans will have a lot of music to feast on while waiting for the project.
Pyramid Mag: What’s your view on the current state of #VaalHipHop?
L-Ment: VaalHipHop is at a generational shift, where the youth is coming in the scene and introducing these new sounds that people aren’t used to so it makes it difficult for the normal audience to understand us especially if they’re used to your “Traditional Vaal Hip Hop”. This makes it difficult for us as “new guys” to reach every market but I believe we are moving in the right direction and by the next year everyone will be comfortable in their spots. I’m definitely coming for that top position thou, I’m tryna be the best the city has ever seen.
Pyramid Mag: What lessons are you bringing forth from your previous release, INFAMOUS EP?
L-Ment:INFAMOUS for me was about introducing myself as L-Ment, it’s my first official project under MoneyWay Records and was more about making a statement. Each track has it’s own sound (to showcase my different sounds so people don’t put me in a box).
It showed me my capabilities, opened a lot of doors in the industry and it definitely set the bar for me. It taught me that I can break my own ceiling if I focus hard enough so I’m taking that with me on my next journey. I must say thou that the INFAMOUS ERA isn’t finished as I feel like there’s a lot that still needs to be done with the project before i can move on to the next project.
“Let Me Down” by MoneyWay Records, L-Ment ft. Dynasty & Dukii Gone Green (Produced by Tieten Blaq & Basiq) is now available on all Digital Stores
6AM Success presents to you an early gift this coming winter. With the country suffering from the rising stages of Load Shedding, it’s advisable for one to take precautions and prepare for what’s coming, Winter.
When Father TeQ said, “kuthiwa ningamaGoat ngiDlozi do the math,” referencing the rituals this side of the [V] town where we slaughter “G.O.A.Ts” 🐐 as a sacrifice to the Higher Power in comparison to Wolves. The Lord of Winterfell is bringing the power 🔋 to the Youth with an electrifying lineup to keep you warm this winter.
Tickets for the Winterfell Hip Hop Festival are now available for purchase.
A cure presents itself from the perspective of a healer. A poetic lyricist, Pheko, has released an album titled, Herbalist. The Sotho wordsmith has previously released two group projects. He chopped the Cliff Hanger album with Herb-Exe and led the way with Masupatsela on a self-titled album. Herbalist is his debut solo offering, and it was planted under the branch of EasternVille Music Affiliates – an artist development program that was established by the ever growing stable, EasternVille Music.
The album befits the title; it comprises a medicinal sound with organic content. It’s a health institution in musical form. There’s no flat line on the verses because the music embodies life. Pheko’s creative seed grew into a garden that produces an abundance of food for thought. He took a leaf out of his own book and levitated above the tree line. The flow is a fountain of wisdom. When listening to the album, one can discover their own destiny through Pheko’s journey.
He rocked the boat with a Kwaito Captain. Apart from Starpora who produced the opening jam, Kwaito Captain buttered up the rest of the album as a producer on every slice of the project. However, despite the better part of the delicacies being dished out by the same hand, the flavor varies on each serving due to the multi-skilled touch. The production ranges from emotive instrumentals and jazzy layouts to traditional sounds and upbeat arrangements.
There’s a balanced amount of collaborations on the album. The first three tracks may give the listener an impression that the project is riddled with features, but in contrast, there are only five tracks with guest artists. Pheko occupied half of the songs on the album without any lyrical or vocal partnership. Moreover, the artists that he pulled the strings with on the joint threads, helped to create grand material . They tailor fitted his conceptual designs and complemented his authentic style.
The album rose out of darkness with Starpora on Hona Mona . The features got Freeky on Sdudla, which was also co-authored by the executive producer of the project, Vincent Kheswa. Pheko embarked on a native tour with Melleng on Africa, before walking side by side with Kwaito Captain on Indlela. Sbusiso Manqa muted the beat and spoke from the heart on Baballa, before proceeding to aid Pheko to wrap his gift by co-authoring the last track of the album, Neo.
Herbalist is laden with different constituents of therapy. The songs are layers of rhythmical treatment. It’s an audio documentary of a healer who’s on a remedial path to feed his soul and starve his audience off misery. Pheko’s diverse artistry enabled him to create a masterpiece that can cause traffic on the dancefloor and still make way for a vehicle of knowledge. He covered societally essential themes that range from gratitude, originality, and spirituality to family, hustling, and mental health, inter alia.
The album’s selling point is its commendable uniqueness. It’s a merger of music and poetry in the highest order. The artistry displayed throughout the project accentuates the elements of rap in its purest form. It’s a hip-hop project devoid of fluff. Pheko is a herbalist who served the masses with a potent product that will cure all the ailing souls. Its repeat value is a medical prescription – consume the album at least three times a day for the recovery of your broken spirit.
The best manner to bring a hip-hop album to life is to make contact with the relevant plug for conscious projects. This life support machinery was engineered by veteran producer, Raw Beats.Ankha Nel of Inhouse Productions slaved away his expertise by mastering the project. Ankha Nel has over 40 years of audio industry work experience and held the position of Chief Engineer at two of South Africa’s most prestigious studio’s E. M. I. and Downtown Studios.Nkosana Nkomo drew emotions from the music to design the artwork. The project is an acknowledgement of flaws with a perfect delivery.
Rating: 10/10.
Herbalist by Pheko is available on all major Digital Stores.
So you’ve heard the track, you’ve gone through the lyrics, now it’s you chance to be a part of the experience.
Do you think you have what it takes to rap alongside the “LYRICIST OF THE YEAR” nominee on a Raw Beat? Here is a chance to showcase your pen-game skills.
Download the song using the link below, add your verse, and share on Social Media using #TrueReligionOpenVerse
