"I'm great at what I do, support me" WHAT?!

Having a career in the arts is such a privilege if you really think about it. Your contribution to society isn't something anyone NEEDS, it's a WANT. And how many people can really afford what they WANT in our country?

It's like entrepreneurship as we know it. Finding something no one knows they needed, finding a new lane, a new product, and turning it into something people feel like they need, or alternatively, leaning fully into selling it as something of a WANT, something premium, something luxurious, something you spoil yourself with...like Jazz, you've seen entry fees at Jazz clubs like Untitled.Basement, Leano, The Chairman, etc, that's been the branding for years. That's why you dress up for them, no?

I don't think selling art via "support me" is a sustainable business model at all. I mean, you can do it, but is it sustainable? How many of your "supporters" can realistically join your Patreon and pay you something every month? For what also? Access to more private parts of you? What a privileged place to be.

With all that said, I'm not saying it's a bad thing either. I'm not a fan of "support me" though. When the country locks down and prioritises "essential workers", what happens to artists? Same thing that happens to a lot of things we don't really NEED, we learn to live without, unfortunately.

Unlike the entrepreneur as we know them, the artist tends to be more entitled to this thing called support, "because I'm dope", "because I'm good at what I do", "because this is my expression", without justifying why you might WANT this and should have this in your life.

The Oxford Dictionary describes an entrepreneur as "a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit" It's that act of setting up a business and taking on financial risk that the artist seems to neglect, because you're an entrepreneur as an artist if you haven't figured it out yet, if people needed what you have to offer, wouldn't it have existed already?

Having a career in the arts is such a privilege, you're selling a WANT, and there's nothing at all wrong with that. You just have to sell it right. A WANT, by virtue of being wanted can be a NEED, if you think about it. Those people crying a Michael Jackson concerts didn't NEED to be there, but they "NEEDED" to be there 👀 you get me? When a Langa Mavuso, or a Bongeziwe Mabandla announce event dates and then before the end of the week they apologise to everyone for the ticketing site crashing because of the influx of ticket buyers and tickets now being sold out, ask yourself, what are they doing to cultivate such a following for something that's a WANT? Then look at the price of tickets.

"I'm great at what I do, support me" is quite the contradictory statement don't you think?

Watch "EASY FREAK - All I Want (ft. Langa Mavuso)" on YouTube

Easy freak- all I want

I listen to podcasts most days, but when I'm in my moods I tend to frequently press play here.

Music that has spoken to me.

I believe my music catalogue is dope if you think otherwise do you boo. Music taste varies across board, there’s literally a wide array to choose from. For instance: P/co Guelgram My dad enjoys lingala or is it rhumba and some gospel, my mum on the other hand enjoys gospel and some traditional luhya songs, my eldest brother is the extreme opposite of us all considering reggae is his kind of…

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(via https://open.spotify.com/album/1VRWnJydavNDdU2rKxtjeo?si=4rQb4E6GSAWGcJ8BTs50EA)

South African R&B singer Langa Mavuso arrives with his debut album LANGA. Two years ago Mavuso emerged from his home city of Johannesburg with his Liminal Sketches EP. The breakthrough single "Sunday Blues" got him local notice and soon he was being heard by global tastemakers. Earlier this year he built anticipation for LANGA with the songs "Love Lost" produced by FARR's Linden Jay (Chloe x Halle, Lion Babe, Duke Dumont) and "Panther" produced by duo Noble who just worked with Beyoncé on The Lion King: The Gift album. Mavuso says,

“This album is inspired by heartbreak. This is me taking a moment to look in the mirror and reflect on self, through the journey of this heartbreak, and you’ll see three different phases of this journey play out throughout the album, with every four songs; in the beginning, we reflect on the pain and upset caused by losing love, with this part of the album expressing the initial acceptance of a relationship ending. In the second part, we step into a more tumultuous part of the heartbreak; inspired by the sounds of nightclubs and a lifestyle that can be described as a distraction.

Most of the music in this second phase is me exploring a new version of myself and ultimately looking for love in all the wrong places in the attempt to avoid dealing with the pain, but this charade all ends with a song called ‘Pretend’, which shifts the album’s focus back to internal work and spiritual alignment. The final part of the album starts with me praying for salvation, and leads to me finally accepting that this love is lost. This album is the honest sharing of my heart and a candid journal of my journey back to myself after losing love. It will make you cry, dance and maybe even smile. This is the window into my life through love”.

Been listening to this song for a good two months daily since I discovered it.

Shit the song is the bomb and hits all the right places

It hit me today that I am blank on who it reminds me of or who id dedicate it to or who id think of when it plays....completely blank

Did I mention this is a hardcore love song, a forever together love song that goes in deep.. a to the moon and back type of song

And yet here I am just chilling and listing all in love with the song but with a blank anyone in mind

It's safe to say I am Dineo. and Dineo is me. That's it. 

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9af-WESxLeA)

Langa. Cape Town, South Africa. 2017.

the stuff Dreams are made of

A square clock is suspended from the ceiling. The short hand is placed on the eight and the long one waves past two. Below the clock, and on the floor, a banner with the Soweto Theatre and Joburg Theatre logos stands tall behind a close-together band set-up including keys, MPC table and a mic stand.

Having put down the rectangular case carrying the bass guitar he learned to play more out of a quest to be in a band that lives a DIY ethos than out of pure necessity, the rapper known as Solo has the microphone in a grip. 

He steals a glance at Instro, who has an iPad in hand to control the sound, while his family chats away in a corner and young people in matching t-shirts come in and out of the room and band members quietly take their places. 

“I dropped an EP on these boys’ heads,” Solo says into the mic, like it’s a conversation only between he and Instro. “In terms of buzz? ‘Bout as loud as the noise gets...” He stops.

It seems like it’s been lightyears since Solo shone with those opening lines on his 2014 single, Star Dust. He featured Proverb and Stogie T on the Star Dust remix. He released three albums - .Dreams. A. Plenty. (2014), Dreams. B. Plenty (2016) and C. Plenty. Dreams (2019) - and established himself as the Dapper Rapper on red carpets and racehorse events. 

Solo co-founded BETR Gang with prolific producer and rapper, Buks, and the Gang got greater with the addition of permanent members that have included Al da 3rd, Solid and Th&o. Together, they put out concept albums and toured Mzansi and Europe. He married his longtime love, actress and singer, Dineo Moeketsi and showed the world this journey on Kwakuhle Kwethu, the TV special put together by the couple’s production company, Langa Enterprise Hub. 

So when I’m watching him soundcheck Star Dust on a Friday evening in December, he is unfolding the answer to: what else does Solo plan to do? He aims to put on his first theatre production, The Dreamers ABCs, at the Joburg Theatre on December 17 and 18. 

THE REASON

“The concept of a play was pitched to me by Reason,” Solo tells me. “He said he wanted to see what it would be like and I said: if we do this, then you will have a front row seat to everything.” Beyond being a rapper, Reason also runs a creative agency and has partnered with Solo on The Dreamers ABCs.

“Reason lives close to my place so there’s a frequency with which we see each other,” Solo explains. “One day in October, he hit me up and told me he’d be hopping onto the Ivyson Tour stage to perform a song he was featured on and wanted to know if I wanted to roll with him.”

“On the drive to the concert, we were just talking and I told him I knew I still had to put on one last show for the year because I wasn’t happy that the work we put in in terms of [Solo and the BETR Gang’s] Tour Dates and the consistency was interrupted. I was getting married. Sometimes I am capped by my ambition because I hope I can do everything. But I have gotten better in realising what’s not realistic and what to drop.”

He continues: “Reason openly admitted that this was his dream for his Azania album,” Solo recalls. “But he said because I had a whole trilogy of albums, he wanted to know how I’d feel about the last show of the year being a theatre production where I do A, B and C. I said: ‘say less, bro.’”

The Dreamers ABCs follows a young man who fantasises about becoming an aviator. Selected music from Solo’s albums is the bedrock of the young man’s trials and triumphs on this journey to realising his dreams. While collaborators like Langa Mavuso, Kabomo, Buks and Dineo will grace the stage and while there are similarities between the fictional character’s and Solo’s life, the rapper insists the story is not biographical. This is why he doesn’t place himself at the centre of the production. 

THE REHEARSAL

It’s just four days before The Dreamers ABCs opens. When I arrive at 6pm, the actors are rehearsing but Solo and the rest of his band have not yet joined them. The musician who has the cables that are crucial to the band literally being plugged into rehearsal hasn’t yet arrived.

“Theatre is mostly conflict.” Those are Solo’s first words to me when I ask him how he’s been. He grins and says: “and then maybe there’s resolution.” 

Since the play’s inception less than three months ago, Solo and his team has had to let go of a director. They’ve had to demystify myths that organisations hold about musicians and money. They’ve also had to assert their right to rehearse in specific rooms despite arriving to other artists being told they are meant to be in those rooms too. As we wait for the cables, Solo asks MPC player, producer and the artist in charge of the play’s visuals, Solid, to do him a, well, solid: to open the rehearsal room door about 15 minutes before we eventually enter.

When we get up to go into rehearsal, Solo stops his wife, sister, brother-in-law, Loot Love and Reason to ask them: “Have you guys been that side? Let me just give you some pointers: it’s super stuffy in there.” He chuckles. 

But when we arrive at the Cas Coovadia Studio for Youth Development, it’s not stuffy at all. Solid leaving the door open worked. There. Resolution. It’s shortly after this that Solo starts with Star Dust. Then, the multi-talented troupe that ranges between 19 and 27 years old files into the studio and most of them sit on the floor. One of them loosely carries a paper plane made from a script page. He is the lead actor. 

The short hand on the clock still rests on eight and the long hand swipes down to four. The scriptwriter and new director, Mli, addresses the seated cast. “We’re going to do a run-through now because we’re not that strong on the lines yet. So if you mess up, just keep flowing. But don’t mess up the cues.”

From the floor, a young lady with a straw hat starts her lines. She shakes her head, then stands up and starts over. Like a flight attendant, she welcomes us to the play and a journey “transporting you from .Dreams. A. Plenty. to C. Plenty. Dreams”. By the time beatboxing emanates from the floor, she seems chuffed with her delivery.

The troupe is a pleasure to watch. They can sing their butts off, they act and they genuinely seem like they’re having fun. Even Mli, seated in front of me, joyfully simulates running when the characters are required to. He’s into it.  

Solo peppers his notes to the backing vocalists with some humour. He keeps them concise when he’s unhappy with the lead’s stage entrance during The Shame. Here, Mli takes his time to articulate Solo’s notes to the cast. Dineo joins them for The Frolic and silently raps Solo’s parts too. She shares smiles with the female backing vocalist and when they’re done, Dineo returns to the corner and Solo calls after her: “well done, mama. Thank you.”

THE RESOLUTION

For his last show of the year, Solo wears many hats. It’s interesting to see where he applies restraint and where he relishes in giving of himself. It harks back to a conversation we had while waiting for the cables. 

He told me for the last two years, in the pursuit of his dreams, he has had to reconcile with not asking for permission. It was after his 30th birthday that he became more rooted in his own decisions and not just what will be acceptable to the broader public. 

Again, it’s the idea of the theatre of life consisting of conflict and, maybe, resolution. “As long as my wife is good and the team is good about a decision,” he explained, “I don’t care about anyone else’s opinion.”

This makes it easy to believe there is no plan A, B or C for Solo. There is only the dreams. And before 2019 is over, he realises yet another one.

Oh! Before I forget: The Dreamers ABCs is at the Joburg Theatre on December 17 and 18. Tickets at Webtickets.

Cassper Nyovest Ft. Langa Mavuso – How Does It Feel

Cassper Nyovest Ft. Langa Mavuso – How Does It Feel

Cassper Nyovest feature Langa Mavuso on “How Does It Feel”

South African heavyweight rapper, Cassper Nyovest  dish out brand new single titled “How Does It Feel“ features Langa Mavuso .

click on your download button to get How Does It Feel by Cassper Nyovest   Ft Langa Mavuso .

Artist: Cassper Nyovest 

Feat: Langa Mavuso 

Title: How Does It Feel

Format: MP3

Listen & Download “Cassper Nyovest…

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Love Six x Langa Mavuso 🎶 (South Africa)

Watch "Cassper Nyovest - How Does It Feel (Visualizer) ft. Langa Mavuso" on YouTube

"How does it feel baby"

Langa Mavuso; Deezer’s Next Artist 2020 pt1

We know him as Langa Mavuso, one of the greatest voices to ever come out of South Africa. The Johannesburg-born Nkosinathi Nhlakanipho Mavuso, who emerged from under the wing of Black Coffee’s Soulistic label has broken new ground for South Africa’s musical masculinities and slowly but surely is taking over the world with his sound. Words cannot express to you how obsessed I am with Mavuso, I could literally listen to him all day, every day. There is just something so calming about his music, his voice. I honestly fall in love with him every time I hear one of his songs. It speaks volumes for me so it’s definitely no surprise that he is in the limelight as Deezer’s Next Artist of 2020. Langa is a man of love, power, purpose and pain, and I cannot wait to listen to debut album! I am literally counting down the days.

Love lost. Tell us more about the single.

So, I have to go back to when I first started writing the album, this was almost 3 years ago now and I was in between Capetown, Joburg and London. And when I was doing the sessions in London, I got to reflect a lot on myself as a person and just where I wanted to go and what I wanted the album to reflect. I was going through a terrible break up then but I was still healing from the pain of high school. We start playing cords in the studio and I see an organ, so we start playing the organ and you know, it’s got a really somber sound to it – almost prayerful, it just feels like a church kind of moment, and that took me back.

The last time I heard an organ like that was at my first love’s funeral, he died in my final year of high school and that organ sound took me back there, I think it had almost been 7 years since he passed and I literally went back to the first time that I found out he committed suicide. I was just broken, like really, imagine being 18 and that first love for you is gone. I sat that entire night just looking at the stars, I didn’t sleep a wink and my eyes in the morning were obviously puffy and red so when I started writing I thought about that night – “I’ve got scars in my eyes, I’ve been wrestling the stars. The sunless skies are way too vast” That night went on forever for me. “Exploding balls of gas. My heart still sings your jazz. Blue Rose Wright, that’s all you sang.” There’s a song by Liz Wright that he loved so much and that we sang together so much because we both enjoyed music.

In the moment of writing the song, for the first time, I didn’t feel grief but I was remembering him with joy in my heart and happiness about where we’d been and what we had shared. That’s what love lost is about for me, it’s about remembering a very painful moment but not being consumed by the grief or the pain of it but rather having it ignite memories that make you smile, that make you happy. “I still remember when we first met. It was September, never meant to last” because obviously he passed.

“Do you still remember when we first kissed? It was September, I never knew it like this. Sweetest kiss. It could not be undone. Lost love.” And you know that first love in high school is ridiculous. It’s so INTENSE. So yeah it’s about that. That’s what the song is about.

When can we expect the album?

So, the album will be out South African winter and for you guys, it’ll be summer. It should be out in the next few months, we were just sort of still putting everything together, pitching it to the right editors in South Africa and in London – trying to get the music as far as possible. The music is done and it just needed the right home to release it because I had gone independent so once I released the album I still wanted to give it the muscle to do well, so I was shopping around for a while, then I found my home at this label called platoon. They’re a label services company who have been AMAZING, who are supporting me with this project, so yeah that’s why it’s taken so long.

What sort of vibe can we expect for your upcoming album? What is the inspiration behind it?

It explores heartbreak. Right? At the beginning of the album you kind of walk into the heartbreak with me; my upset, my disappointment. That’s really more sad, more somber, more ballady – basically the music that I’m known for. Then when we get to the middle of the album where we introduce an almost new sound for me, one that the South African audience, or just my audience, in general, hasn’t seen me explore that much – which is a more urban, more RnB, a more upbeat tempo kinda sound. It sort of reflects my time, because the middle of the album is really how I lost myself after the heartbreak. I don’t know if you know this but have you ever gone through a heartbreak so bad that you rally your friends around and you just wanna go to the club and be lost in it? So that’s exactly what it is, in the middle I’m in the moment – I’m searching for love in all of the wrong places. I wanted it to sound like that morning drive after the club, the moment when I met someone that was totally wrong for me you know? And we close that kind of chapter off in the album so beautifully when I bump into an old friend of mine and we sort of talk about all these pretences that we do with one another in these spaces and online. I was going through one of the hardest times in my life but my Instagram was still POPPIN – I was in the club looking amazing just pretending to be fine and we really start the song off so beautifully by asking each other honest questions, I go, “Hey, old friend are you breathing well? Are you feeling swell” and she comes back asking me the same really genuine questions that you would only ever ask someone you’re really close to. Then at the end of the song we just go “but I can’t help but play pretend, so lets play pretend” That moment for me is a shift in the album, where I start to realise the importance of dealing with the pain and finding that closure and I kind of have a spiritual crippling song after that and all of the songs after that kind of start to reflect introspection, just understanding of my personal purpose and then we close off the album beautifully with love lost as the moment of closure of the first heartbreak that ever was.

So love lost is the end of the album and the moment of full maturity and everything before that is the journey of growth. Anyone who has heard Sunday blues to love lost or love six to love lost is going to hear that journey of okay, we’re dealing with the 23-year-old Langa here and as he grows he loses himself at 24 and then he gets to 25 and he’s able to make peace with this big thing that happened to him which also helps him make peace with all the love that he has ever lost.

So to summarise the album is about the end of Sunday blues, that relationship is over. My time with that person is completely done. I mean I get petty a little bit in the album and in the songs but that’s what we do as people. We’re young you know? So you kind of go off, like “yeah, I’m doing better now, I’m in a much better space” but deep down it’s the opposite. And I just wanted to reflect that, like I wanted to reflect that journey for me, I wanted to reflect what 20- year- olds go through like in that loss of what feels like a monumental love. You know that first heartbreak in your 20s, you’re just like “I’m never going to meet anyone again, this had to have been the one” And it’s like, honestly, you have an entire lifetime and there’s someone out there that can bring you happiness and joy. It really is just about realizing that there are more important things in this world than being in a romantic type of love. I just think we can share love with so many types of people in so many different ways but it’s also so important to go through that selfish phase of trying to learn to deal with that so that when it happens again you’re better and you can deal with it in a smarter and more mature way. So yeah that’s the album.

The album is your own personal journey, why did you choose to share it with us?

If I’m honest with you, I really struggle to write about anything else, except the things that I’ve been through and the things that I know or the things that are close to me. Even when I was thinking of that messy phase in my life, I thought about some of my friends that I had watched go through that you know? And I can only write about things that I KNOW in an authentic and truthful way and I think it is important that through my music I share my heart and I think that allows other people to be truthful with themselves as they listen to the songs but also, I always say that I really want people to feel something when I make music and the best way to do that for me is to tell the truth about my own life because it allows the next person to open themselves up to me, which is the music. I can’t see myself not telling my own truth, someone else’s story is theirs to tell and this one is mine.

So, your full name is Nkosinathi Nlhakanipho Mavuso, where did the name Langa come from?

Okay. So here we go. This is like the typical black kid story. I didn’t grow up with my dad, I grew up with my mom and she eventually married my stepdad when I was I think 2/3 years old and for a long time I just didn’t think that I fit in completely, as much as my stepdad’s family has always been amazing to me and has always shown me so much support and love, I never felt like I completely belonged. In the African context, your fathers family is who you are and that’s your identity and I wanted to find myself. The name for me was important, I’d used my moms name my whole life – I’d always go “my name is Nathi Mavuso but my surname is Langa.” (my dad’s surname is manga). When I started to create music, I was at a point in my life where my dad and I were working on a relationship and I started to connect with my fathers family and changing my surname didn’t feel right for me – my mum and her family have raised me and done so much for me. Mavuso is always who I’ve been and always who has carried me, so I thought “how do I honour both my parents in who I am and who I identify as?” So I thought the best way is to take my dads surname and use it as my name and my dad’s name is Langa. I literally went on my Instagram, my Facebook, my twitter and I was like “LANGA, LANGA, LANGA”

People who had known me for a long time were like where does Langa come from? And I was like Langa is actually who I am, that’s my father’s surname and it’s important for you to meet me in my wholeness because I am a product of both of these people, I carry their blood in me, I represent both families in everything that I do and in everything that I am. It was important for me to walk into the space of music and into the world completely just owning all parts of me without having to diminish one or giving another too much hope. So that’s what it was. It was for my parents.

Did you always know that you were going to become a singer/songwriter?

I started singing when I was really young – in primary school, I discovered my voice and I was like “YES, cool you can sing!” And I wasn’t the coolest kid or the most popular kid. I finally had something that made me special, you know? And that’s what it was for me, I loved how this thing allowed me to be received by people, it made me worthy in some type of way, of love and that became very dangerous for me at some point – it’s not okay to only feel value from people because of a talent that you possess.

There were also moments of not being sure whether I still wanted to be a singer because I wanted to be liked and supported and felt worthy because of being Nathi. But I did love music for a very long time, I always wanted to sing, I just had my phases of wanting to sing and not wanting to sing, wanting to sing than not wanting to sing. But when I was at Rhodes studying politics and economics in my first year, I completely realised I was in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing and it was important for me to live completely in my purpose and in what I had been called to do, so I left Rhodes and went to UCT to go study Jazz music, and I didn’t necessarily go study jazz because I felt you had to study music to become a musician but I wanted to fulfil the varsity thing for my parents and do what I love at the same time.

I mean, it’s the one career I have always wanted to do but I have switched careers many times. In my head at some point I wanted to be a diplomat, then a lawyer, but I think everything that I have always wanted to be involved writing and interacting with people or representing the stories of people. Music was always going to be it for me though.

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This weeks music picks

This weeks music picks

Friday means new music and I’ve put together a list of my favourite drops from this week of releases in no particular order but as it stands my favourites thus far are Love Lost by South African singer Langa Mavuso and Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist’s Alfredo. A lot of artists I enjoy listening to dropped such as Da Capo, Flying Lotus, Sun-El Musician, Lil Yatchty, DeJ Loaf and Pa Salieu. Give…

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Loyiso – Intliziyo ft. Langa Mavuso

Loyiso – Intliziyo ft. Langa Mavuso

Ambitiouz Entertainment’s soulful pop singer, Lloyiso Gijana releases his second single titled ‘Intliziyo’ featuring the talented songwriter and performer, Langa Mavuso. ‘Intliziyo’ follows after the singer’s debut single Nontsikelelo.

The song details how the brilliant muso felt when he let down a loved one’s heart.

Listen Below:

https://hiphophomeland.com/mp3/tmp/Loyiso-Intliziyo-Langa-Mavuso…

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Loyiso – Intliziyo Ft Langa Mavuso

Loyiso – Intliziyo Ft Langa Mavuso

Download Loyiso Intliziyo Mp3 Ft Langa Mavuso

Loyiso Intliziyo Mp3 Download – brand new music dished out by Loyiso featuring Langa Mavuso titled Intliziyo. The song details how the brilliant muso felt when he let down a loved one’s heart.

Download and enjoy below

http://cdn.playng.net/playmedia/2019/10/Loyiso_Ft_Langa_Mavuso_-_Intliziyo.mp3 DOWNLOAD MP3

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