“It’s the only way, to be honest.” explains Joseph Philemon on using the internet as a platform for his music. The Cape Town born, Johannesburg-based rapper continues, “the traditional way, people book the same five artists the entire time. When you switch over to radio, MTV Base or whatever they’re playing the same ten artists so…
Growing up, I never really understood the concept of “keeping kids off the street”. The kids in my area and I grew up playing in the streets. That was the norm. Initially, it was the traditional sports like cricket and soccer, and we received many roasties for our efforts. Later, it was skateboarding, which featured…
Championing diversity in the electro music industry, the femme-focused Not Sorry Club awards special dedication to building a more inclusive rave community by bringing UMFANG and SHYBOI, two of Discwoman’s finest artists, to South African shores for events in both Cape Town and Joburg towards the end of September. Founded by Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson,Emma Burgess-Olson aka UMFANG,…
What do you expect from a rapper named Yung Killa? Probably raps about gats, stacking racks, stunting on the haters, smoking on weed, and sipping on Dom? Guess what, you’d be right. How perceptive of you. That’s not to say everything about Yung Killa’s KILLA$ZN is what it says on the box though. I mean,…
It’s been almost a year since the duo Darkie Fiction burst onto the scene with their nostalgic, feel good single ‘Selula’. Produced by Stiff Pap’s Jakinda, Darkie Fiction’s Katt Daddy and Yoza Mnyanda didn’t expect the track to have such an impact. “It was honestly just experimenting, trying, seeing what we could be if we…
Can you tell us a bit about DJ Bigger? I, Makabongwe Nzuza, popularly known as “Dj Bigger” was born on the 6th of April in the Southern township of Durban – KwaMashu, M Section. I attended Sondelani Primary School in eNtuzuma, where I was a leader of an ‘’Isicathamiya” group, part of a gospel group as well as…
It is fitting that the first AFROPUNK Festival to be held in South Africa took place on the historically significant Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. The festival, inspired by the documentary ‘Afro-Punk’, which spotlighted black punks in America, was first held in 2005 in New York City’s Brooklyn. Originally aiming to help black people build a…
Muzi is the future and the future is now. With the release of Afrovision, Muzi, who has been producing bangers for a minute now, has gone from being an “act to watch” for those in the know locally and overseas to an absolute sensation both at home and abroad. A couple of years back, on…
Missu makes music for the summer. Feel-good synthy grooves that are just as much a jam cruising with the windows down or sweating it out on the jol. Which makes his debut EP ‘An Education’ well timed since it’ll take South Africans a month or 2 to pick up on the dopeness at hand. In…
Lelo What’s Good is a Johannesburg-based multidisciplinary creative that got into DJing unexpectedly. He met FAKA‘s Desire Marea while living in Durban. Upon returning to Johannesburg to study, he got to know Fela Gucci who invited him to play at Cunty Power. “I decided to come through and play. That’s when it started. After that…
We spoke to co-founder of Cerebral, Joseph Ntahilaja about his sonic style, his debut published mix and the new mix he created specifically to share with Bubblegum Club readers. Please introduce yourself, and Mtagga to our readers. Who else did you work with on this, or is it a solo project? And how long have…
Gaika’s addictive cocktail of grime, dancehall and futurism has made him one of the most exciting new artists of the last few years. But surprisingly, he hasn’t yet released a full length album. All that is about to change when Warp Records drops Basic Volume on the 27th of July. Coming in at 15 tracks, the…
