SOUTH SIDE! SOUTH SIDE! This is what you hear whenever PhilaBoi is on stage. It’s his war cry & lets the audience know that he is here to entertain with his & THAT$hYHOMIE’s song titled MFO which would go on to be the lead single to their debut album.
WE THANK YOU… is the debut album of the Southside duo THAT$hYHOMIE & PhilaBoi, released on the 31st of May 2024 & is released under Tape Gang (Pty) Ltd. It features 18 musicians across 10 tracks & a run time of 41 minutes 17 seconds. Seeing this many hands in a single pot normally signifies an incoherent piece but this release is anything but that as $hy & Phila were able to sequence the album to provide all those who landed their voices to the project to shine. For the Hip-Hop heads the duo serves you tracks titled: FEEL$ LIKE MAGIC; MY $HINE; PLAYIN’ 4 KEEP$; DO IT $ LOOT; MFO & MFO Remix as Phila & the other featured rappers go back-to-back over beats sharing the ambition, dreams of making it big & flex their penmanship. Surprisingly to those who have never been to a Radio 3000 show the album has slow ballads that speak on themes of love in all its forms with D.O.XRSA, Cheryl Zondi, MusicbyOTTO & Wakithi serenade you with their voices from the heavens. The body of work does not only provide us with music we can include in our wedding playlist or assist us in telling someone we love how much they are adored & appreciated. These elements continuously draw you back to this album after the first listen, it offers music for different occasions & also provides the listener with a South African experience through the use of language they tell their stories. If language doesn’t give away that they are proudly Mzansi then the Amapiano shakers & log drum infused with some R&B on MUNTU WAM’ definitely will.
MFO is an interesting case study on how musicians can leverage the success of a single to build an audience. The song was first released as a single in 2022, 2 years before the release of the album, 2 years during which Phila & $hy performed, played, & promoted rigorously (both on & offline) until it became entrenched in not only them but their collaborators & their audiences as somewhat of a cult classic with everyone putting their fours up but also doing the dance primed & ready to be consumed by the algorithm. This created a perfect ecosystem for them to come together to create WE THANK YOU…while ensuring that the album won’t “flop” when it dropped as abo mfo wabo were eagerly awaiting the follow-up to a song which they can attribute great nights they have had with MFO blaring in the background.
They successfully created a community around their music, this community would come to the fore when they hosted a vinyl release & cover art exhibition in collaboration with Dirty Native Chief held at the iconic 5 De Beer in Braamfontein. The collaboration would see the sale of 7 vinyl copies of their album hand-painted by Native, a contemporary artist who has worked on various solo exhibitions & brands such as RHTC & Vans. The event was a culmination of 2 years of recording sessions, late-night production nights & over 10 musicians claiming their space in their respective genres.
What can you take from this album? Why listen to it? As a musician take away the importance of collaboration not only over WAV formats but also with artists of other mediums to provide not only your audience work which they can interact with, taking as much time as you need to cultivate a community that will consume you work while integrating it into their lives & taking them along for the ride with you & finally thanking them or their efforts with good music as well a in-person interaction. As a listener add this to your rotation if you are open to hearing sounds & stories from a group of youth who are owning their expression & incorporating their various roots as well as inspirations to create music that you can hold onto for years to come.
