Bubblegum Club

Tag: production

  • Sainty Baby is the Fierce Lesbian Rapper She Dreamt About

    Sainty Baby is the Fierce Lesbian Rapper She Dreamt About

    Sainty Baby is one of the most AMPED people I have ever met. She’s a diminutive ball of energy, and comes across as a soft and genuine person. Her positivity and belief in herself is infectious. With her upcoming EP dropping on the 13th of July, I figured it would be a good time to really get to know the house DJ and rapper who has had quite the life so far.

    Originally from Pietermaritzburg, Sainty Baby is 1 of 3 children which is why she was named Nthathu, which means ‘Three’ in Xhosa. She’s open when I ask about growing up and tells me, “I don’t remember much, honestly, or maybe I’m becoming good at covering things up, especially if they involve hurt and pain.” I relate to her on that. Most of my childhood is in deep recesses I don’t want to delve into either. “I was bullied in primary school,” she explains, “‘til I told my older sister about the culprits. I don’t know why it took me 2 years to tell [her], but boy, did she save my gay ass! Sorry can I say that? Real talk, I can never understand people who are actively mean for no reason.”

    Her complicated relationship with her father is one of the motivations behind her work. But music wasn’t the original dream. “I remember exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up – a cop. I always imagined one of those shootouts where the cops hide behind a car, pop up carefully and fire at perpetrators, like in the movies, and guess what? I sort of did it! I say sort of because the only time I shot a gun was at Traffic Training College and during the annual Station Shoot.” Not exactly what I was expecting to hear. Personally, watching those movies, I always imagined being the bad guys and anti-heroes, but haven’t pursued the fantasy too much IRL. Sainty Baby became a cop for 5 years. “From 2009 to 2014, I was a cop by day and DJ by night. Provincial Inspector for the Road Traffic Inspectorate to be specific. Yawned out after 5 years.” Before that, it was working at McD’s on weekends and school holidays from Grade 11.

    Sainty Baby got into rapping back in 2007 thanks to a MXit rip-off and wanting to fit in. “There was a chatting app called Mig33. One particular group that intrigued me was the Rap Battle group. I decided I HAD to learn how to battle so I could hang people out in public. I know that’s terrible inspiration but in the beginning that’s what I desired.” She’s so self-aware and open, it’s disarming yet comforting. “I had a rapper friend/producer called KayDee so I asked him and he was more than willing to help. Immediately, I picked up that my word play was pretty sick.” She also has a fair bit of self-confidence.

    “I moved to Durban in 2009. In 2013 I met an artist/producer named Gavin from Sydenham. He actually gave me a Hip-Hop hit which I never released. When it came to practicality, as a new artist I had to choose an art to finesse.” Sainty came to a crossroads in her musical journey. She had been rapping and DJing for years, and had to figure out which to pursue further – “I had to choose between rap and house.” She choose house. Her thinking was, “Once I got GOOD at DJing, then I could look into learning more and incorporating that into my music, which got me looking into production. I quit my job in November 2014 and the following year I used the money from my old job to pay for my Soul Candi Institute of Music fees. That’s when life became interesting – I could make my own music from scratch!”

    Recently though, she found herself called back to rap. “Last winter, I was in my brother’s studio. He handed me his phone and asked me to try and do the last verse he had written. I did it. It felt good until the other rappers started complimenting my verse.” Usually most people are stoked to get compliments but Sainty Baby wasn’t satisfied with her brothers words in her mouth. “At first, I wanted to write my own raps so I could get compliments for my own rhymes, but a year later I feel like lyrics descend upon me during my quiet moments, like a gift from a higher power. Or maybe I’ve practiced enough to confidently say that this is my best medium of expressing myself. I don’t know how I’d speak about getting shot in the face over a house beat.” Being a house DJ just didn’t fit the vision Sainty had in her dreams. “I’ve always had a picture of a fierce lesbian rapper who’d drive the country crazy with punch lines, word play and a bit of confusion. Girls like her. Guys like her. All the lesbians want to be her. I woke up one day and realized that star female rapper was me. My fellow citizens just don’t know yet. I’ve created a lot of audio letters and confessions and I’d just like every person to listen to it at least once.”

    I asked her how she’s found the transition from behind the decks to in front of them. “Astonishing, exciting and a bit nerve-racking because it’s different to DJing. Now I have to stand in front of a crowd and convince them I’m worthy of their time and I CAN actually entertain. Meanwhile, I’m just trying to tell everyone how grateful I am to be alive still. I’m also very eager to release my audio confessions so I can finally move on from all the things I’ve been through. Everything is okay now.”

    Sainty aims to be one of the 5 best female rappers in South Africa, so I asked her what she thinks it’ll take to get there. “Hits, sass. Honesty and playfulness. Dope visuals and a lot of well curated shows, preferably free shows. A bit of giving people what they want without losing your uniqueness in the process. International strides are a good way of boosting your fans’ confidence back home.” It seems like she has it pretty figured out, although time will tell if she can make such moves.

    She’s got a unique vision and wants to offer people something different. I asked her what she’s offering that others aren’t and she burst forth with ideas. “I pray my competition doesn’t copy this but instead of traditional music videos I will put on live theatre shows, showcasing the music. The picture on my E.P. cover, picture that bed on a real stage and the opening act is me waking up from sweet slumber and bursting into song! I’m offering a new and evolving sound. Every beat is different from the next. I’m also bringing my birthright into play. Vernac! I don’t know a female rapper that spits in her own language, with the exception of Sho Madjozi. I’m going to give people Instagram captions in isiZulu and have them ask themselves HOW a girl is able to come up with such. It’s beautiful because I do everything on these songs. I sing, I rap and I switch between my two languages with the greatest of ease. Fun and Truth combo is an angle I’m going with. I’ll jokingly or sometimes straight up say something that most people already have on their mind.

    ‘Getting you outta rotation,

    Vele you’re so overrated,

    Why are you famous?

    Alrighty that’s none of my business,

    The company went outta business,

    The country economy dipping,

    Why are you doing this Cyril?’

    I didn’t mean to use his first name but it rhymes better. Anyway, I’ll use my sweet voice to carry messages across and once in a while, in between the lines, you’ll find something you also relate to.”

    Sainty Baby’s debut EP drops on the 13th of July, you can hear her most recent singles below:

  • Move with Batuk’s Latest Single

    Move with Batuk’s Latest Single

    By its title, Batuk’s latest single should give you a fair idea of what you’re in for. No, they’re not telling you to get out the way, but rather to move that ass of yours to the tropical groove. ‘Move!‘, the first single off the Pan-African duo’s upcoming 7-track Move! EP and Kasi Royalty album is an up tempo jam that’s sure to get you shaking what your mamma gave ya on the dancefloor.

    While their most popular single to date, ‘Call Me Naughty’, had a bit of a darker vibe to it with the deeper bass tones and repetitive house beat (although it still had plenty of grove to move to), Move has a much more jovial feel to it. They call it an ode to their township roots that shaped them although personally, it sounds like a party on the beach. Truth be told, this would have been perfect for December but there’s still enough Summer left to slip on a floral shirt, sip on a cocktail and sway those hips to the sounds of Manteiga and Spoek Mathambo.

    You might remember Batuk being a 3 piece but the trio is now down to 2. Spoek Mathambo has taken over production fully from Aero Manyelo whilst Manteiga handles most of the vocal duties. Spoek’s production on Move adds a layer of pop sensibility that makes it a bit more accessible to the general public than some of the group’s earlier work, which might lose them some of their earlier fans but will certainly help them pick up a few more. Manteiga fully embraces the front woman role and comes through with 2 verses of raps that are full of attitude and spunk, whilst Spoek casually drops a few bars in the second verse but takes up very little space on the song vocally.

    The video for the song is a visual feast of dancing in settings that’ll look familiar to many South Africans. Kitchens, lounges, backyards, the beach and even an M3 serve as the backdrop to gyrating bodies. The only real crit I have is that a Playstation doesn’t make 8-bit sounds, but that’s just the nerd in me being pedantic.

    Give Move a watch and a listen below and look out for more from the Mozam and Mzansi connection in the next few months.

  • Spoek Mathambo – Mzansi Beat Code

    Spoek Mathambo’s fifth solo album, ‘Mzansi Beat Code’, is both a culmination of years spent trying to find his own voice and sound, as well as a celebration of collaboration. Of the thirteen tracks on the album only two feature Spoek on his own. “Music right now is a bit more individualistic in an egotistical sense. I think some of the best music that I’ve enjoyed from the last hundred years is always based on a group. Be it how amazing hip hop releases are, they’re always collaborations. To the great rock, jazz, punk, funk it’s all based on really great groups. So for me it’s natural.” By collaborating with others he is able to tap into human skills that he or a machine does not posses, “I can reach them the best not through MIDI but through a human being who’s got their own rich concept based on a lifetime of playing that instrument”.

    Rather than curating the sounds of South Africa, Spoek takes elements from the diverse sound spectrum and reinterprets them through his own lens, hence the name ‘Mzansi Beat Code’. “They’re ideas, concepts, codes, ways of doing things, but for the most part I’m deconstructing it and reconstructing it in a different way.”

    While the album is Spoek’s solo production he does not view his role as that of a conductor leading an orchestra. “It’s lowkey just friendships and chill sessions for the most part. Demos that we share and just playing around and experimenting with some friends and some strangers that have become friends.” Still the album has Spoek’s energy. “I guess because I’m there from the beginning up until the end it leans towards what I want out of it.”

    When asked if he sees himself as a rapper or producer first his answer is unequivocal. “I really hate rapping right now. I see myself as a beatmaker at the beginning of their career.  I see myself as a producer.” From his Future Sound of Mzansi Mixes to the documentary of the same title and Fantasma’s ‘Free Love’ there is a clear path that leads to the release of ‘Mzansi Beat Code’. “It has taken me a long time to get to this point. It has taken me a really long time to get this ability of putting things together. I’ve been doing things since 2006, even before that with different stuff, trying to articulate certain ideas and just not having the required skill set . So this is the first project, well I’d say Fantasma ‘Free Love’ is the first project where things came together”.

    By deconstructing and rebuilding the ‘Beat Codes’ of South Africa, Spoek is creating a sound and aesthetic that is familiarly South African but excitingly innovative.

  • Horus Tha God – Taking Flight

    The falcon headed Horus was one of the most powerful deities in Ancient Egypt- the Pharaoh’s claimed that they were Horus in human form.  It take a lot of self-belief to adopt the name of such a potent mythological figure, but Horus Tha God seems primed to live up to this title.  His latest track Bangarang (produced by Trip G) is the official single for the forthcoming The Alien Tape.  Over a skeletal beat, the lyrics take overt influence from Future’s trap style. But it goes beyond mere emulation, by taking typical rap boasting about criminal prowess to a ludicrously entertaining extreme.  In the song he compares himself variously to drug kingpins like Pablo Escobar, El Chapo Guzman and the fictional Alejandro Sosa from the movie Scarface. Hilariously, the songs chorus of ‘Taliban, Taliban, Taliban shoot ‘em up like Afghanistan’ got its premiere on the ETV’s youth show Shiz Niz.  Horus is clearly self-aware about all this absurdity, as the song gets its name from Steven Spielberg’s family movie Hook!

    Horus is promising that The Alien Tape will be a diverse mix, including a ‘heavy metal track. with Zulu verses’.  The Horus name is that latest moniker of Pietermaritzburg born artist Luthando Sithole.  Under his previous pseudonym Jonny Joburg, he both released his own work and produced for musicians like Cama Gwini.  His lyrical and musical skills are most vivid in the moody track Mazishe. The song is both nostalgic and ominous, underscored by an exceptional music video which depicts the mystery of nocturnal Johannesburg. He also put in time hustling to break his music in the US, with stints spent in Miami and Los Angeles. Based on his Facebook page, he has quite the tale to tell as he interacted with moguls like Birdman and Puff Daddy.  The time in America has fed into the Horus persona which reflects a less austere, more approachable contemporary style which will have wide appeal in South Africa and beyond.