Manqoba Recording with Driemanskap at Red Bull Studios

As you may know if you’re a regular reader of this blog, we recently celebrated our 3rd birthday by hosting a series of open mic competitions with Kool Out Entertainment and Red Bull. If you didn’t know, you can read all about it here.

The winner of the competition was a young emcee from Khayelitsha, Cape Town, called Manqoba. His prize was a recording session at Red Bull Studios where he made an EP that will be digitally released by Pioneer Unit.

We spent 3 days with Steve Elsworth, the head engineer at Red Bull Studios, recording 5 great tracks. 4 of the tracks were solo joints with Hipe on production. For the fifth track Driemanskap came through with an El Nino beat and recorded a collaboration.

We’re extremely happy with the work everyone put in and the quality of the music that was created. We have always believed that there is a huge amount of unrecognised and untapped talent in Cape Town. There’s always a concern that a dope street emcee may not have the necessary skills for a professional recording environment, but Manqoba was a pleasure to work with. He came well-prepared, his delivery was on point and most importantly, his attitude was great.

We hope to have Manqoba’s EP, Khaltsha Stand Up, ready for release by September 2010. Watch this space for more information.

Check out some photos and video of the recording session…

Steve sets up the mic (click image for larger version).

Manqoba on the mic (click image for larger version).

Manqoba spittin’ heat (click image for larger version).

Manqoba and his boys (click image for larger version).

Manqoba and Redondo (click image for larger version).

El Nino rehearses his verse (click image for larger version).

El Nino gives Manqoba some advice (click image for larger version).

Manqoba in the booth with Driemanskap (click image for larger version).

Check out some video courtesy of So Real TV.com

Check out the full set of photos (24) on Flickr

That’s how we rrrrrrrrrrrroll!!

Rattex: Labour of Love & Hard Entertainment

While we were recording Rattex’s forthcoming EP, Streets, Raps & Us, our friend Mikko Kapenen joined us to take some photos, watch the recording process and conduct a couple of interviews for an article he was writing.

Originally from Finland, Mikko lectures in film, media studies and various radio-related topics. He has a broad background in radio, ranging from commercial, public sector and community. Lastly, but definitely not least, he is also a hip hop head who promotes South African hip hop whenever he gets the chance.

Mikko (left) with the legendary Chuck D of Public Enemy.

After what seemed like no time at all, Mikko wrote a fantastic article on Rattex called, Rattex: Labour of Love & Hard Entertainment. It’s not your typical vanity piece bigging up an artist and regurgitating their press releases, it actually gives you a real view of what being a musician in South Africa is all about.

I attended a Red Bull workshop with Wordsworth where he said that rappers are guilty of perpetuating industry myths because they only ever talk in clichés about everything being ‘all good’, or ‘you know how we do’, ‘we ballin” etc. No one ever talks about the realities of being a musician, so aspiring artists have no guidance to help them navigate the industry.

So, with that in mind, I highly recommend that you read Mikko’s article!

Read and download Rattex: Labour of Love & Hard Entertainment at Scribd

Check out Mikko’s blog, Welfare State of Mind

That’s how we rrrrrrrroll!!

Ben Sharpa and DJ Raiko Interview on Mahala.co.za

Ben and Raiko are back from their highly successful tour of Europe. Has this given a fresh perspective on our local music industry?…

Everyone is trying to do ‘what works’ instead of creating new pathways for the artists. There is far too much opportunistic greed and parasitic back-biting going on, too much selfish intention and carelessness.

Check out the full interview on Mahala.co.za

Join in the discussion and leave a message there too.

That’s how we rrrrrrrroll!!