Sibusiso Tshona, aka Suup Zulu, is a young rapper and producer from the township of Alexandra. Over the last year, he has been steadily winning attention with a diverse body of solo tracks, like his debut Uyezwa and various collaborations.
His production style is simultaneously contemporary, while also casting an ear back to South Africa’s musical past. Zulu’s growing library of work, catalogued on his Soundcloud page, is defined by its hypnotic style. Beats are piled on, while disembodied vocal choirs and keyboards spring to life. His vocals cut in like lasers through a dense fog of smoke. It captures the woozy feeling of being in some dank nightclub basement at 3am- both falling asleep and totally wired. Bleary eyed, unsure of what’s real but wanting to keep going anyway. This mysterious aspect of his works perhaps comes from his exceptionally deep feeling for history. In a short interview he did with The Alex News last year he listed his influences as both the contemporary urban reality of Alex and the Zulu tradition of oral storytelling. Titles like Gomora Kingdom Comes and Bayete highlight the influence of choral and gospel music on contemporary pop. King Kong Nkalakatha directly connects the 50’s jazz musical with early 2000’s kwaito, bridging half a century of township style.
His work also highlights how South African musicians have linked hip hop and electronic music into a compelling local hybrid. It’s only been more recently that US rappers have made this fusion. On Life of Pablo, Kayne built Fade entirely out of vintage house samples, while Danny Brown’s upcoming The Atrocity Exhibition will be released on Warp records, better known as the home of Aphex Twin and Autreche. Supp Zulu shows that this blending has long been a facet of local music. But rather than being some abstract intellectual exercise, his songs are as hazy and alluring as a Highveld sunset.
https://soundcloud.com/user-197919125/sets/umfana-ka-gogo-the-mixtape