Biz and Fairo taking over

Poltergeist says yo...

2010-11-18T16:12:00.004+02:00

From a purely artistic perspective, Poltergeist has gone through change. It is perhaps fitting, since he studies and, by extension, lives in the United States of Amerika - New York to be exact. He seems - or 'sounds' - to have immersed himself in the lifestyle, taking everything in stride, and becoming comfortable with the nuances of a first-world society in the process.

We support change; change is good, and is what artists need to go through in order to stay relevant. Artistic evolution, the lack thereof, is perhaps the worst injustice one can commit upon oneself. We were elated when Poltergeist sent us a batch of songs early last week, not in the least because of our appreciation for good music, but also because of our keen-natured selves. We wanted to hear just how much New York had influenced one of the emcees we revere and have respect for.

Poltergeist has always been a strong emcee in terms of concepts. What lacked was an engaging sense of delivery, the type which keeps the listener in tandem with the mood of the song, prohibiting that listener from veering too far off into the music to not get what the overall track is about. On 'Let you free', Poltergeist waxes lyrical about love gone wrong, a common theme among all who are old enough to have got their heart broken. And therein lies his strength; he is able to take the layman's experience, blow it into super-sized, non-pixelated frames, and project it on top of sonic soundscapes which help weave the narrative together.

His choice of beats is not bad either. Though he veers off into what has been, until now, unfamiliar territory for him (as witnessed on the bounce-heavy 'Wake up'), Po's heart still lies with soul-inspired beats. He does not forsake that which he loves, opting rather to take what he learnt from hanging out with his kin-folk in Maseru, Lesotho, and fuse it with what New York has to offer. The results are nothing short of astonishing, as the sample of songs we have received attests.

Poltergeist is preparing to release a mixtape in the near future. In the interim, do quell your anxiety by downloading the songs below. The file includes two other tracks from the archives, one of which was produced by our friend Phil the Kritik.

[Poltergeist at a Poetry Farm-organised event, circa '08]

Link: Poltergeist [approx. 30Mb]

They won't play our songs

2010-11-10T22:38:00.013+02:00

Peace to all! We were taken by surprise by this article, and asked our good friend Core Wreckah to share his sentiments. Ever the reliable one, he had this to say:

Back in 2005, my good friend Tello Leballo (alias Dallas T) let me in on a little secret: the government was going to launch a commercial radio station geared mainly towards the youth. The details were sketchy then, but the gist of it was that the station would have local musicians' interests at heart. These 'interests' included affording artists the platform for their music to get regular airplay. Prior to that time, only a handful of people had supported our music - and by 'ours', I refer specifically to hip-hop artists. PC FM had the Refiloe Mohlotsane (alias Denver Queen), and - sometimes - Rethabile Phakisi (who has since got married, but still goes by the name Zipompi).

Ultimate FM, as the radio station was christened, was perhaps - for lack of a better expression - a welcome breath of fresh air. PC FM, which had been in operation since '98, was starting to become disillusioned, and lost its core fan base round about the 2005/2005 period. However, since I have no statistical evidence to support my argument, I shall not dwell on that station and its vagaries.

I had the opportunity to work on some production for Ultimate FM, and still remember how there was some bickering about their pay-off line. However, they did finally nail it - 'The heartbeat of the Kingdom' - and I got to make jingles for Dallas T as well as Pearl Ocansey (alias Miss P).

I was actually supposed to have a show on Ultimate FM, but unbeknown to me, someone else had already been selected. That person, Tlali Mapetla (alias Mr. Maps) hosted a rather successful show which went by the name 'Backdoor Sessions'. I still have recordings of some shows; a couple of my rapper and producer friends were guests. Actually, M[uzi]k (sp) was the first guest, along with Khotso Thahane. Moekoa Thahane (alias DJ Macs) took over the reigns from Maps at some point.

The Backdoor Sessions wasn't the only show which promoted Lesotho-based music content. Miss P through her 'Unplugged' slot did the same, along with Dallas T, Diboza, Deeva, and a host of others. What I am trying to demonstrate is that the very backbone of that radio station was based on establishing and nourishing a culture of appreciation for that which is brewed in Lesotho. And for a while, it worked.

But, like everything else, the cookie crumbled. Bit-by-bit, the Ultimate Fm became more an ugly reflection of its former self than the glorious, gallant - not to mention tastefully alternative - broadcaster it once was. Everytime I came home (I am only based in Lesotho for three months of the year) there had been a deejay who had quite, a station manager who had been replaced, and, as can be read here, an entire radio station shut down.

I benefitted a lot from the glory days of Ultimate FM. My song 'Nuff shout' was played by Miss P on a regular basis. At one point, I had a slot on Dallas T's show every Monday called the Artist Feature. I could have promoted mine and my friends' music on it, but it drove me to share myself and put others on. It also helped me to realise that a lot is wrong with Lesotho-based rappers, but I will not really go into specifics. I have built very strong links with the likes of my good friends Mighty Records, Papa Zee - whom I regard as a pioneer, Isosceles, and a host of others.

So, earlier this week, T-Mech got in touch on facebook regarding this article. I was not surprised per se, rather disgusted at the arrogance and facetious hypocrisy of the manager at Ultimate FM. I actually want to get an interview with the dude, just to ask him about the general direction (or lack thereof) of the radio station nowadays, and demonstrate to him just how much of a moron he is while I'm at it. And as for their decision not to play our music, well, fuckum!

NB: Core asked us to note that this is not as much a thorough examination of the matter as it is an off-the-cuff, first-time reaction. Perhaps he shall be kind enough to offer a more analytical piece. By the way, do feast your eyes on this performance. Respect!

Nuff shout to Georgia and DJ Big Dre for the images

[Core Wreckah + Deney + Al = Three Piece Suit]

Core Wreckah - Ngoan'a Nts'oana [a teaser]

2010-09-28T04:14:00.003+02:00

Peace to all! We've been holding onto this piece of music for a while, but finally decided to post if after Core Wreckah gave us the go-ahead.

The song is called 'Ngoan'a Nts'oana', produced by Dim Light. We have it on good authority that Core is working towards a fully-fledged project to be released towards the end of the year. We shall keep you updated.

This is not Sesotho funk. This is not mountain pop. This is hardcore hip-hop delivered with a gutteral growl akin to the style which has been perfected by the long-standing tradition of Basotho freestyle rappers (liroki), and replete with call-and-response chants which have become a staple of Basotho music.

Isosceles - The Untitled EP

2010-09-19T13:33:00.006+02:00

Peace to all! We got the opportunity to work on an EP with a Lesotho-based emcee called Isosceles this past June, and it was quite an experience. The five-track compilation of songs was completed in little under a week, and features production from Cymptom, Nutz, as well as Raymo.

Isosceles is part of the new breed of Lesotho-based emcees who are driven by a desire to break the stereotype of their country always being over-looked in social and cultural circles on the global stage. Seeing themselves as equal to anyone else in the world, this breed is intent on making a mark that shall be felt way beyond the confines of their immediate environment.

Please head over to our bandcamp page to either stream and/or download the EP. In the meantime, you can just stream this tune, featuring Core Wreckah, and produced by Cymptom.

The T-Mech thingie on the Internet

2010-06-12T15:55:00.004+02:00

Peace! In keeping with out 'promote T-Mech' campaign (implied as it may be), we've decided to do a little video thing showing the recording of his track, 'Hip-hop's voice' produced by J-One. Enjoy.

T-Mech - Console mixtape

2010-06-09T15:42:00.004+02:00

Peace to all! T-Mech has been under our radar for a long time now, with a string of independent releases under his belt, both as a solo artist and as part of the three-man crew Anonica. He is a rapper/producer based in Maseru, and just unleashed what we believe to be a very strong offering onto the Lesotho hip-hop scene.

'The Console Mixtape' is a solid, thirteen-track offering featuring among other, Skebza-D, Z-Digi, and our friend Core Wreckah. If you are in Maseru, do get in touch with him via his facebook page. He is selling the mixtape for twenty bones. However, in case you cannot get in touch with him, he has been generous enough to let us put the music up here for download. Do enjoy, and give feedback please. One!

Tracklist:

1. 2lo (prod. by Rev Raven) 3:34
2. Falling (prod. by Anonymous) 3:34
3. Cum thuze (w/Emcee Conundrum)(prod. by Skebza-D) 3:33
4. Imagine (ft. Skull Grey and Core Wreckah)(prod. by Mr. Mech) 3:34
5. Etsa (prod. by Mr. Mech) 3:34
6. Hip-hop's voice (prod. by J-One) 3:19
7. Just bars (prod. by J-One) 2:30
8. Tell me (ft. Soul Life)(prod. by Enough Big E & Al) 3:54
9. Chesa(rmx) (ft. Dubbel D & Shuffle)(prod. by Mr. Mech) 3:56
10. M.O.R.E (prod. by Katleho 'Tha Enforca' Motsohi) 3:34
11. Ha ba re bone (ft. Skebza-D)(prod. by Mr. Mech) 4:13
12. Su'M.O.R.E(clash of the titans)(ft. Z-Digi, L-Tor, Ice) 5:16
13. Ba re ke mang (ft. Emcee Conundrum)(prod. by Mr. Mech) 3:53

LINK:T-Mech - The Console mixtape [approx. 70MB]

The Kritik releases Sampled Crates Vol. 1

2010-05-22T00:37:00.004+02:00

Peace to all! We are getting a tad irritated about people who promise one thing before releasing a product, then deliver something totally different. The brief for this particular release was "beats which had been used before on other people's projects", but upon listening, we could recognise only one beat ("Soul asylum", which became Isosceles' "Shout out"; do not worry, we will post the track very soon!).

Now that we have got that matter out of the way, Phil the Kritik delivers yet another head-banging collection of some of his beats for rappers to do as they please with (only if you send him the finished product). The enclosed document states that he is putting together a re-make album that is going to be put out towards the end of the year.

So flex your download muscle and get working.

LINK: Sampled Crates Vol. 1 [approx. 24Mb]

PS. Do not forget that Phil and Core Wreckah are working on a project. For more details, check out their facebook page.

Colours...finally

2010-04-11T00:44:00.007+02:00

Alright, as of today, the album is officially out. Be kind to yourself and grab a copy, and please do it quick! Shout to Sanhedrin for the hook-up. Now, download and enjoy.

LINK: Colours [approx. 15MB]

"Colours" artwork

2010-04-03T11:17:00.002+02:00

According to this post, San's "Colours" beat-tape was supposed to have dropped by now. So, while anticipating the day it finally hits the interweb, we have decided to share with you all the album artwork. The design is courtesy of Male T, an older head on the Lesotho hip-hop scene. Big ups!

You can still download the teaser here.

Reconnection: Cymptom meets The Library

2010-04-02T20:49:00.006+02:00

In keeping with the promise we initially made here to do more write-ups of producer Cymptom, we present you his latest offering, a collaborative effort with a group of beatmakers, Library Productions, who are based at the National University of Lesotho. The rest of the biography attached is pretty vague, so we shall spare you the details and give you all the link instead. Enjoy!

Link: Reconnection: Cymptom meets The Library [approx. 46MB]

Phil the Kritk and Core Wreckah

2010-03-30T18:39:00.002+02:00

Wasup people?! Upon waking up this morning, we received an e-mail from our good associate Phil the Kritik, revealing the awsome news (to us at least) that him and Core Wreckah are working on a project. The rest of the e-mail went like this (check for the link to the joints they've done, along with the link to their facebook page below):

Core Wreckah and myself have decided to work on an EP scheduled tentatively for a December 2010 release. However, it will be pretty useless if no one wants to buy it, so this group is aimed at establishing the amount of people who'd be interested in paying in the region of M300 for the package. Please note that the amount is a ceiling figure since we have not established any costs involved at the moment.

The package would include:

A CD with artwork
A booklet containing bits and pieces about us
A t-shirt (designed by Corporate Nemesis' Fairo)
Possibly a short documentary detailing our relationship thus far

All these would be encased in a rubber-stamped black box (or whatever colour we decide upon), so that you as the consumer are made to feel that you have got the maximum benefit from your money.

In order to make this project a reality, we need fifty [50] people to commit. The aim is to first exploit the Maseru, Lesotho market, which is where we are based anyway.

Depending on the project's success, and on our motivation to continue, we might consider other possibilities.

For a sample of what Core Wreckah and myself have worked on previously, please click on the link below. You shall be directed to a file hosting site on which we've uploaded a five-minute mix of our songs.

Peace!

Facebook page: Phil the Kritik and Core Wreckah

Link: Phil and Core - Five-minute mix [approx. 13MB]

Papa Zee - Bothata

2010-03-23T21:04:00.004+02:00

It's quite amazing how we were on some 'we quit' tip about a week ago, yet have managed to do about four posts to this point. Well, we suppose it was one of those wishy-washy tales, and shall keep it moving nonetheless.

We should say this though, it's a bit disappointing to see the number of emceez based in L-E-S who do not have a web presence, and aren't making any moves towards rectifying that situation. Equally disappointing are the 'agents' to some of the rappers who fail to deliver content to an on-line portal such as ours. One such agent was the lady who usually posts updates regarding Papa Zee's whereabouts. We e-mailed her requesting a leak from his 'Psalm 23' album just after it came out towards the end of last year. There's still no response to this day, after two to three attempts. So we've decided to put up a leak of this joint, the latest single off of his very incredible offering.

As always, if anyone is opposed to the content posted here (i.e. the links to any song), kindly e-mail us and we shall take the link down. For the people who keep showing us love, thank you very much!

LINK: Papa Zee - Bothata [approx. 10MB]

PS. We stumbled across this newspaper article on the interweb, thought you should check it out.

Pitso Ramakhula - Ntsoana tsatsi EP

2010-03-19T16:57:00.009+02:00

Wasup pple! We have just got this link from our good friends at Audible Braille entertainment (shout out to Sanhedrin). It is a preview of Pitso Ramakhula's 'Ntsoana tsatsi' EP, a collaborative effort between a rapper and a jazz band - Qiloane - which focuses on unearthing and exploring the different facets of the Sesotho language. Please download and share with your friends all over the world, this has potential to grow beyond a lot of people's expectations.

"Ntsoana Tsatsi" is the end result of years of musical honing, of connections and friendships borne out of a strong appreciation for the wonders of music (sound and power)...it sees Pitso Ramakhula collaborating with aclaimed jazz band "Qiloane" who have played for and alongside heavy-hitters in the Afro Jazz game such as Budhaza Mapefane. It is an album that celebrates "the now as Pitso likes to call it; it speaks on life, with a wide array of subject matter that sees him branching into more circles of discussion than the typical so called concious speaker...

Link: Pitso Ramakhula & Qiloane - Ntsoana Tsatsi [approx. 24MB]

Artform

2010-03-14T11:29:00.008+02:00

We love these dude's music, seriously do. Cymptom, one of the producers in the four-man beat crew Artform, just keeps the drums banging each and everytime. 'So why don't you blog regularly about them?' you ask. Well, we seriously don't know, but are taking baby steps to rectify that. They've got a facebook page and their own ning blog. So, do yourself a favour and check them out.

A short bio from the blog states:

Seamrock is a Lesotho based beat making clique, this hip hop fraternity composes sounds that range from soul to they grimy underground hip hop type.

The group comprises Boomslang, Aurakle, Cymtom and K10 respectively born as Makhobalo Lesaoana, Thabo Letsie, Moeti Moleko and Mathealira Kholopo. They all met at the national university of Lesotho and founded Seamrock in 2005. They later started a more formal establishment (Seamrock Music®) whose main purposes audio composition and music production.

The bios on their facebook and ning accounts give different versions of the same crew though, but that's not a biggie in the greater scheme of thing. Here's a sweet taster of some of what they have worked on.

Link: Hussle (w/ Fatal Verb and Cymptom) [prod. by Cymptom] [ approx. 3MB]

San - Colours [Beats for sale]

2010-03-11T18:43:00.003+02:00

Well, since this dude won't stop dropping, we'll keep supporting him. This from his facebook status update:

here is a PROMO of what to EXEPECT from "COLOURS - beats for sale-"...SUMIN i made lastnight, sounds just right. "COLOURS" drops end of MARCH, so SAVE up!

So any emcee who's willing and dealing, jump on this and make things happen.

LINK: COLOURS

And one more reason for you to consider working with this dude, this is a video we took on a random Saturday afternoon in L-E-S:

San - Pretty Black mini-tape

2010-03-06T22:17:00.007+02:00

Well, thought we shouldn't cluster the last post with a lot of stuff, so decided to drop this one separately. The homey is no stranger to these ends, and he's been mad consistent with his hustle. This is the latest in a string of projects that he's got lined up, an instrumental album called Pretty Black. According to the man himself:

PRETTY BLACK is a mini-tape ive decided to compile as a little taste of the type of music ive been making nowadays and it consists of some of the beats ive made for the artists in the various locations ive listed above...

Tracklisting:

01. Her face like summer's rain

Description: a little sumin sumin i cooked up for an album im working on with producer Phil the Kritik. The album is called "CLASSIC DIRT" and it drops soon...still dont know if the beat will make it in though.

02. Find love

Description: a joint i made for Lesotho emcee Kislev...the kid is working on his mixtape to drop soon, looking to have it done before the Grahamstown Arts Fest cos thats where he plans to push it.

03. These women

Description: a joint i made for a P.E native, he goes by the name of Dee Doc and currently resides in Cape Town. Check for the god if you a Capetonian, he's to be blazing brakes real soon.

04. Hop scotch (rhythm of the mind)

Description: a soulful kinda number...still dont quite know where to put that...but I've decided to give u a sneak into that as well....

Link: Pretty Black

You can also follow San on twitter

Last One

2010-02-19T11:56:00.011+02:00

Yo, wassup people?! It's been a long time since we last put anything up, and all for good reason. Guess our focus has shifted onto other planes, hence the less time spent blogging about what is still, without doubt, one of our greatest passions: Lesotho hip-hop.

Surprisingly, a lot of people still do visit this site! Do big-up yourself if you are one of those. Our guess is that we've managed to make a bit of an impact because we have a lot of y'all who are regulars to this space. Sorry if you've been disappointed to see that no activity - in terms of regular posts - has been going down.

Well, this is just a note to anyone visiting this site that we won't really be doing the posting thing anymore. The reason why we started this blog was in the hope of creating an off-shoot on the Lesotho hip-hop sphere. Seeing that it did not quite catch on, we figure it's time to move on. Well, maybe saying it didn't catch on is a harsh way of putting it; rather, the people who caught on to the blogging thing are more involved with poetry than with hip-hop. They are both very good friends of ours; one is Lyrical Bacteria, and the other is Dno. Check their blogs out, very cool writers, quite motivated in their own right.

To the people who drop mail every now and then requesting more info with regards to hip-hop in Lesotho, do feel free to keep doing that, we'll definitely get back to all of you. The blog will still function for the odd post every now and then, but not as regularly as before. I think that's just about it folks, stay inspired!

Before we go though, we'll leave you with a coupla treats. The first is a collaborative project between Phil the Kritik and Project-kay. According to the press release:

“Project-kay vs. The Kritik” is a statement, not only to their respective locales (Phil the Kritik is a Ugandan native now based in Maseru, Lesotho, while Project-kay resides in Durban, South Afrika – via Zimbabwe, through Lesotho if you catch the drift!), but to the entire international beat-making community. Pick any beat on this project, and it is sure to fit well into the next hip-hop/pop classic in the pipeline.

Do not take the press releases' word for it (they do tend to talk a lot of lies!), download for yourself and bang the album. Pass it to your friends if you like it.

Link: Project-kay vs. The Kritik

Second up, we've got a track from our very good friend Skebza, who has started a new off-shoot (along with Pasco and Blitz) called MSU. They've been getting mad love on Lesotho-based radio stations, so please give them a listen.

Link:

And lastly, here's a video from MSU. We personally don't like it, but that's as far as it goes. Hopefully they'll make better videos with time.

Do follow us on twitter for updates on our missions. Peace!

Mighty Records EPK - Pt. I

2009-08-07T12:13:00.004+02:00

Wadup people? Just thought we'd hit up on you all for a bit and share this EPK we did for our good friends at Mighty Records. The footage was shot in December last year (2008), and we'll finish editing the rest of it whenever time allows. For now though, catch part one which features producer/rapper/vocalist PK. One love!

Papa Zee - Starring (live performance)

2009-07-25T17:27:00.003+02:00

Word! Just thought we'd share with you all this link to Papa Zee's performance of the track "Starring". If you don't have the track, go grab it here. Whoever captured and edited the footage did a horrible job by the way. We think this was at the recently-held Miss PC FM 2009 beauty pageant. Enjoy watching!

Some radio-related stuff

2009-07-25T16:48:00.005+02:00

Yo, what's good people! We delivered some radio samplers to a couple of radio stations in the country, and they promised to playlist the joints. Shout-out to Lyrical Bacteria for helping out in the process. We shall also give our man Wanda from Bush Radio in Cape Town a copy to jam on his Headwarmaz show. Other radio stations shall be considered at a later date.

Please keep telling your friends to download the sampler, the link is here for all of those who missed it the first time around. Lastly, feast your eyes on this open mic performance Core Wreckah did on the Beatbangaz' tenth annivesary a couple of months ago. That verse is taken from the joint "Nuff shout". One love!

The Free CD Sampler - Core Wreckah

2009-07-18T12:58:00.003+02:00

Yo! Just doing a quick drop-in, as promised, to share with you all a link to the Core Wreckah sampler. Before that though, thank you to all who kept coming to the blog even when we weren't updating it, we really appreciate it. Also, we are planning on releasing another range of t-shirts for the summer, so please go here in order to check out what we've got. (N.B. we won't be releasing the I AM FRESH range again!)

Alright, as promised, the link. Do enjoy, and please give some feedback. Will share this with a coupla blogs, and hope that they do post it up. Additionally, we shall post some other promo vids from Core Wreckah, so stay tuned for that. Oh, the pic above is the one which we shall use as the sleeve for the radio samplers. ONE!

Link: Core Wreckah - Free CD Sampler [24MB]

Core Wreckah unveils tracklisting

2009-07-15T19:45:00.002+02:00

In light of his imminent release simply entitled "Free CD Sampler", Core Wreckah has decided to bless us with a tracklist and sleeve. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the full product. Production is from trusted allies Dim Light and Phil the Kritik, as well as a collaboration with Trained Monkeys off of the Re-Invention Volume II LP. Look out for the link before the week ends.

The tracklist's as follows:

1. Intro [produced by Dim Light]
2. Reminisce [produced by Phil the Kritik]
3. Feel it [produced by Trained Monkeys]
4. Stand up [produced by Dim Light]
5. Dooinit [produced by Phil the Kritik]
6. Feel it [Biz-ark-human remix]
7. Stand up [Biz-ark-human remix]
8. Stand up [acapella]
All tracks published by Corporate Nemesis (pty) Ltd

It's been a while

2009-07-13T21:35:00.004+02:00

Yo, what's the deal? We've been busy, or maybe we held back so long just to make the statement 'it feels good be back' all that more meaningful. But that's just the thing, we've been around, and you would know that if you've been checking the twitter updates on the side of the blog.

Firstly, congratulations to our friends over at Mighty Records for successfuly recording the first live album in the Mountain Kingdom. A couple of weekends ago, the gospel group Yadah Praise Family, which falls under the Mighty Recs umbrella, undertook this recording. I'm not sure whether it's true that it's the first live recording, but big ups to them nonetheless.

Secondly, big ups to San the Instrumonumentalist, and to Trompie for seeing through the Re-Invention project, and getting a review in Hype magazine, South Afrika's hip-hop publication. They've also overseen another project whose review shall be coming in a bit.

Well, lastly Trompie has been through a great deal of tragedies in the past couple, but he's come out of it strong, and managed to set up another blog dedicated to his alter-ego, Black Sperm. Check it out here.

Oh yeah, our very good friend Core Wreckah has been working on a promo which he plans to take to a few radio stations in and around our planet. NASA already has their copy, which they are beaming out to the galaxy Alpha Centauri as we speak. We shall post a link once Core decides to let loose of it, most probably some time this week.

Paradigm shift: A short film featuring Ben Sharpa

2009-02-10T22:45:00.007+02:00

Peace to all massive and crew, hope everyone is good and getting into the swing of things. We are big fans of sharing, hence why we practice the art so much. This time around, it's a film we helped make which features South African hip-hop stalwart Ben Sharpa.

Last year, round about April, our good friend Tamar from the UCT Film and Media School asked me to help him out with being a Director Of Production on a film based on Ben, an offer I could not turn down. After close to eight months of on-and-off editing, he completed the project.

The film is called The Paradigm Shift, and sees Sharpa talking about things such as aliens, music, and the impact of technological innovations on modern society. Tamar keeps it interesting by mixing in various related shots with the actual footage taken during a day of shooting. It is approximately 10 mins long, and is well worth every minute (according to us at least!)

Now, Tamar was very specific that I should not put up any other parts of this doccie up apart from the intro, so we locked him up in solitary confinement just so that we could post the end-credits as well. Had it been up to us, we would have uploaded the rest of it and shared it with people out there. Also, we have not cleared some of the music used in the film, which might cause quips with various people in the world (i.e. the individuals who were involved in crafting those pieces of audio; see the end-credits if interested).

Offers have already come from film festivals as far away as France, and we shall keep you all in the loop with regards to what shall be going down. Check out the short intro, along with the end credits, and leave any comments.

The beginning:

...and the end:

Re-up: Lesotho hip-hop compilation

2009-02-05T20:25:00.005+02:00

Wadup people?!! We got a request for a re-up of the Lesotho hip-hop compilation we put on the blog a while back, and proceeded to heed the request. We've also decided to put two additional tracks on it, so grab it and enjoy. The tracks are productions from a crew called Artform . Here's some information on them:

Artform of is group made of three rappers, one vocalist and a producer/beatmaker. the rappers are strategy, fatal verb and queen mo. the vocalist is Lila and cymtom is the producer of the group. they have been together since june this year and have been working on tracks that will appear on an experimental project that will be released early next year.

Tracklist:

-Hymphatic Thabs: Who said (2007)
Produced by Kanife
Published by Iapetus

-Skebza: Errah (2005)
Produced by Maphoza
Published by X-Poem Records

-Papa Zee: Mokhotsi (2006)
Produced by Papa Zee
Published by Struggle Ent./EMI music (?)

-Pasco & Anonymous: Ha Peete (2005/6)
Produced by Anonymous
Publisher unknown

-Metal Jacket & Dunamis: High stakes (2008)
Produced by Metal Jacket
Published by KOL Productions (?)

-Core Wreckah: Dooinit (2007/8)
Produced by Phil the Kritik
Published by Uhuru Underground/Corporate Nemesis

-One Clip: One Clip (2006)
Produced by Third World
Publisher unknown

-Mighty Records: Praise chants (2008)
Produced by Benni B
Published by Media Graphics

-Fatal Verb, Strategy, and Cymptom - Take care
Produced by Cymptom
Publisher unknown

-Strategy (w/ Queen Mo) - You're not alone
Produced by Cymptom
Publisher unknown

And here's the link: Lesotho Hip-hop (approx. 33MB)

(DISCLAMIER: Corporate Nemesis is only filling in an empty place in Lesotho hip-hop, which is putting music that is inaccessible from anywhere else. In case you think we are contravening any Copyright laws, mail us, we can sort it out)

Rattex live on UCT Radio

2009-02-04T19:58:00.003+02:00

Yo people, hope you are all gearing up for the "Dunamis showdown" on Friday. Anyway, thought we should hit you up with footage from one of our favourite rappers this side of the Cape. Rattex came through to UCT Radio's Mzansi Mamela hip-hop show (Mondays 21H00 to 00H00), hosted by Benzo along with Core Wreckah. Peep the footage, and perhaps grab that free download of a brand new track of his. Peace!!!

Rattex - Ndiselapha [7.22 MB]

Support your own

2009-02-03T12:00:00.004+02:00

Yo, just a real quick one. Dunamis has been chosen, along with four other artist, to be on the "Live to 5 Upcoming Artists" on SABC1's show called "Live". All that is going down this coming Friday (6th February, 2009) at 21H00. Juast tune in, and sms "Dunamis" to the number that shall be appearing on the screen.

Also, you can download his 'Mastered seed' track here . And while you're at it, check out the video. Respect!!!

Papa Zee's lead single

2009-01-25T17:39:00.005+02:00

Wadup people? We've decided to share with the rest of the world a track that's been blazing the Lesotho radio waves throughout December 2008. Taken from his forthcoming album, 'Psalm 23', here is Papa Zee's single, 'Starring'. Shout-out to T-Mech for the hook-up

Starring (zip) - 5MB

Starring (MP3) - 5.1MB

Home-Brewed Five - First Edition

2009-01-23T21:50:00.004+02:00

As promised in a previous post, we've got the first edition of our Home-Brewed Five podcast, which aired for seven weeks on the Ultimate FM, Lesotho's premiere youth radio station. Download and enjoy, and if need be, feel free to leave a comment.

By the way, the interviews that I'd promised are still coming, so hold your breath!

Tracklisting

1. One, two, six - Poltergeist
Produced by John Tanners

2. One Clip - One clip
Produced by Third World

3. Isosceles - Get pissed
Produced by Phil the Kritik

4. Dunamis - Time has come
Produced by Strrryk 9

5. Benni B - Lift em high

Grab it here

To all massive and crew

2009-01-02T14:09:00.005+02:00

First and foremost, thank you very much to anyone who took time out to check the posts on this blog, it really means a lot to know that there are people who show interest in what we do. Even more respect to those people who return regularly to check out the updates.

Corporate Nemesis has decided to put together a short brief for anyone who is involved with radio, television, or the print media. In it, we detail our biography, our body of work, and our vision and mission statement. It is available for download in PDF format, so grab it if you are interested.

Attached with the physical copy of the media brief is a selection of five tracks which we've recorded and mixed throughout 2008. Its purpose is to afford the artists a wider platform than that which they may have otherwise been exposed to. We'll probably be doing more of these samplers, probably on a six-monthly basis, so keep your eyes peeled.

Since we can't distribute physical copies to everyone, we've uploaded the sampler which anyone can download. For this first sampler, we have Poltergeist, Codi Cox, Mellow, and Isosceles. Give it a listen, it's pretty cool.

The Media Brief [3MB]

Corporate Nemesis 2008/09 Sampler [24MB]

A producer's album

2008-12-27T12:18:00.003+02:00

Yo! Corporate Nemesis is planning to have interviews with some of our favourite artists real soon. We'll post them up, in audio form, once they are done. Look out for chats with Skebza, San the Instru-Monumentalist, and possibly Konfab.

Talking about San, here's the finished product of RE-Invention: A producer's album. Check the facebook group to get the full list of producers, and to read further about how the whole project came about.

Click here to download the project.

Expansionary movement

2008-12-26T11:56:00.001+02:00

I've been keeping mum for over a month, but it's [partly] not out of my own doing. I did an interview nearly two months ago with Cape Town hip-hop crew Ill-Skillz, and have been waiting for their management to approve it ever since. The guys promised to get back to me after they'd checked it out, but that still has not happened to this day. So, pending their approval, let's talk about other things.

Corporate Nemesis has been a constant supplier of jingles across a number of radio stations in Lesotho. We've formed a number of alliances with deejays, but the strongest thus far is that with DJ Dallas T, who hosts the afternoon drive show on Lesotho's premiere youth radio station, Ultimate fm. We've got a segment on the show called the "Fifteen Minutes of Fame" in which we prepare fiteen-minute hip-hop mixes which are played from Tuesday to Thursday. That has been going on for about a year and a half now.

We also produced and presented another segment called the Artist Feature in which we interviewed people in hip-hop who are making moves. That came to a halt earlier this year. However we are back again, and this time around, we are doing a hip-hop chart show called the Home-Brewed Five; it is on every Monday from 1730hrs to 1800hrs. We're only in the fourth week, but the reception has been pretty dope. The concept is to playlist five hip-hop tracks which just happen to be made in Lesotho, and let people vote for their favourite songs. The two songs which get the most votes get to hold the number one and two positions on the next week's show. The other three tracks are randomly selected.

The Nemesis RE:publik t-shirt range has been doing rounds amongst a selected few people, and everyone who has seen the designs is showing much love. It is quite inspiring, and motivates us to put in more effort into producing doper designs. The I AM FRESH range (code# Rep_001), is nearly sold out. No more of it shall be printed; if anyone wants that particular design, they shall have to pay a premium price for re-print. The next range shall be ALPHABET SLAUGHTER (code# Rep_002), so be on the lookout for that!

The Corporate Nemesis website is up (click here). We are still working on a theme, but shall be updating it every now and then in the interim. Keep checking it out after a while; we shall also put up podcasts of the Home-Brewed Five show.

Lastly, San the Instrumonumentalist from Other Intelligences has been on a grind this year, releasing singles and beattapes for all who care to listen. He has also been coordinating a remix project which sees producers from Lesotho, South Africa, and Zambia collaborating to do some re-workings of hip-hop classics from yester-year. The full list of producers on the project is:

Myth
D Cha
J-One
Daliq
Alias
Cymptom
Trompie
SubZero
The Rebbi
DJ PeeWee
Dharma Bums
Biz-ark-human
San the Instru-Monumentalist

The album shall be dropping in a bit. For now though, you can grab a digital download of the sampler here.

The Cipha - Part Two

2008-11-20T12:14:00.005+02:00

What's good people?!! We've decided to do the second part of our on-going review of The Cipha documentary which features a range of emcees from the LES. The clip under dissection today features Anonymous, who needs no introduction since I've talked at length about him in previous posts. Please note that we've posted other segments of the documentary on our Youtube Channel; you can gladly go there to view them.

We shot Anonymous' scene on the same day that we did Blitz' and Kislev's scenes. The latter two shall be reviewed in due time, but I reckon it is a significant point to note since the three emcees' appearances are interspersed within their respective scenes. For instance, Kislev can be seen on the last shot of Anonymous' scene. Incidentally, they were also the first scenes that we shot and edited, and, to our eyes at least, the level of experience is quite evident. Some of the techniques we used make for quite interesting viewing tough!

This part of the documentary opens up with a video we shot for Anonymous. In it, him and Sanhedrin (from Other Intelligences) happily sit in front of a shop while munching on some fatcakes and kicking freestyles. The video then progresses into other scenes which deserve a totally new post all on their own. For the sake of this review, I shall not dwell on them. The narrative gels in well with the different scenes as the narrator tells of Anonymous' maturation over the years, using phrases like 'prolific rhymes and style' to bring to the viewer's attention this emcee's genius.

This has got to be the most left-field of the emcees we managed to interview while compiling The Cipha. He talks of the perfect cipha as taking place during night-time when zombies and wolves come out to play. The snare will be provided by some other-worldy figure hitting a spade against a huge chunk of metal, and an eyeless figurine would be centre-stage, ripping his fair share of the microphone apart. I don't know about you, but that is some pretty hectic stuff, legendary indeed. It is just a whole lot better when you view it yourself.

After his anecdote, the documentary cuts into a cipha scene where Anonymous himself is representing, bringing lines like:

"Kicking freestyles is what I do per night see/ I'm kicking freestyles on a
super-mic/ you can't touch this/ Anonymous I am the roughest/ and if you look in
my eyes, you'll see enough shit".

Stylistically, we went for pretty interesting edits as mentioned earlier. We had just discovered how to do the split-screen effect, and made very prolific (if I should say so myself) manipulations of it. We also put the mirror effect to good use by taking a single shot and pimping it so that it seems as though the scenes were shot at different times, albeit with duplicate hand motions and all. Once again, it makes a whole lot more sense when you view it yourself.

Anonymous' scene ends with another cipha. We went into the crates and dug up a gem we took the day Dunamis was shooting his "Mastered seed" video; we'd decided to go to the location just to show support. Hymphatic Thabs, who is the video's director, joined us in the cipha, and we all had mad fun. Shout out to Matz and Karabo who were also with us. Anonymous' genius is revealed as he freestyles lines like:

"You can't have it/ cuz now it's mine, under my matress/ I'm that kid who comes with that black magic/ I stab anthems/ I kick freestyles and, you can't imagine the stuff that I come with/ you know that you new to here/ I cut your head off and take you to souvenirs.../

Check out the clip in question below, and please leave your comments. We will highly appreciate your support. Peace!

Beatsmith who makes things happen

2008-11-18T09:25:00.004+02:00

What's good people??? Great! I thought I should share this great newspaper article on Phil the Kritik with you all. The interview was conducted by Sechaba Keketsi for The Weekly Mail. Read on...

One cannot help but get their ears glued to the speakers when pumpin out Phil the Kritik's production. Sechaba Keketsi, Weekly Mail reporter, took time out to find out more about this talented, hardworking produer.

Sechaba Keketsi: Sir, can you please introduce yourself and tell us what you do?

Phil: My real name is Philip Lionel Luru. I am originally from Uganda, but have been in Lesotho for about six years now. Basically I am a produer/beatmaker, and also a graphic designer.

SK: When did it all start for you?

Phil: It started back in 2002, but I was not really serious then. In 2004 I met Core Wreckah, whom I have been working with ever since. So I actually immersed myself into production in 2005. The very same year I met Skebza, who greatly helped me to acquire necessary skills.

SK: You said you are a beatmaker/producer. Do you mind shedding light on the difference between the two?

Phil: A beatmaker, as the name says, is someone who just makes beats, while a producer makes the beats being the sound engineer, the composer, and manager. Hence, the producer shapes the music.

SK: Thus far, who have your worked with (locally and internationally) ?

Phil: Locally, I have worked with Core Wreckah, Mic Vandalists, Codi Cox, Z-Digi, and Mpho Brown (Poltergeist). Internationally I have worked with people like Hasty, Merel, Trompie, and the Academics from the US.

SK: What do you think about the standard of music in the country?

Phil: We have talented artists down here, and there is progress, but some people are less determined to come out and show off their work, while others are lazy to put more effort into perfecting their work. All in all, one could safely say that we have a long way to go. One thing that can also weaken the standard of music is lack of competition. Without much competition, artists and producers are likely to realax in lieu of working towards sharpening their skills.

SK: What major challenges do you come across as an unsigned producer, especially based in Lesotho?

Phil: The main challenge is that of distribution problems; every cent spent to burn CDs, print sleeves, and distribute the full product comes from my own pockets. Due to that, progress is greatly hindered. The second challenge worth mentioning is the lack of proper recording facilities. As a producer, I am negatively affected by that.

SK: I was fortunate enough to have watched Corporate Nemesis' documentary entitled "The Cipha" in which you feature. One thing that you mentioned that caught my interest is something about producers regularly meeting. Please clarify.

Phil: What I was talking about was a case where producers regularly meet to exchange ideas and skills, and show each other different useful techniques. In countries like the US, you find that many different producers come together to hold what is known as Producer's Conferences. It is in these meedtings that they learn new techniques, know each other, and exchange beats. If such conferences were held down here, our standards would rapidly improve...

To gain full access to the article, click here. Check out Phil's segment on The Cipha below. ONE!!

Update on the t-shirts

2008-11-04T14:41:00.004+02:00

Yes y'all, this is just an update on the whole t-shirt situation I posted about here. The t-shirts have been printed, and are looking good. In case you want to place an order, leave a message/comment on the blog and we'll get back at you. Alternatively, go here to join the Nemesis Republik group on facebook.

Code: Rep_002

In true Corporate Nemesis style, we've decided to share some of the designs with you guys. I personally think they rock, shout out to Fairo!

Code: Rep_003

Code: Rep_004

Code: Rep_001

Core Wreckah and Anonymous

2008-11-02T16:40:00.005+02:00

Yo, peace to all. Nothing much to say really, just wanna drop this clip of a freestyle session featuring Core Wreckah with emcee extraordinaire Anonymous. The beat's provided by Dim Light. Enjoy!

The Cipha - Part One

2008-11-01T13:00:00.004+02:00

Yo!! Hope all are still well in this field of life. The post today is centred around the first part of 'The Cipha'. I shall walk you through what went into shooting the scenes, and how they were put together. So, hang on, and enjoy the ride.

The scene opens up with a shot of the National University of Lesotho's main entrance, then cuts into the first emcee to bless the documentary, Black Ice. We shot the scenes with a beatmaker called Symptorme (nuff shout), who assissted with some of the camera angles. During editing, we managed to get hold of some old footage which had Black Ice on it, and it became a perfect fit into the whole plot.

After a short interval/break in transmission, the documentary cuts into a scene of Black Ice spitting freestyles (something the man does quite well). The reason for this stylistic decision is that we had edited the second part of the documentary prior to the opening scene; actually, the opening scene was dictated by the narrator's script, which, by the way, wasn't scripted at all! This was another stylistic decision - to keep true to the tradition of the cipha, it was only fitting that the narratives should be freestyles.

Another break in transmission comes after the freestyle, and the documentary proceeds to the section where Black Ice breaks down his definition of the cipha. We used two cameras (another one courtesy of the man Symptorme), so the different angles make for quite an interesting view. Poisonfoul, another emcee from Lesotho, sits in the background as Ice carries on with his thoughts.

Black Ice's scene was one of last parts we shot for the documentary, but ended up being the opening part. We had already gotten the hang of the editing software, so for the hallway scene where he's freestyling, a split-screen stylistic effect was chosen. I find it quite amusing how people who have seen the documentary in my presence become boggled by this particular scene. Secret: well, there is not secret at all, we used two cameras - camera1 on the left side of the screen, and camera2 on the right, on either side of the emcee. One can even see Symptorme holding his camera if proper attention to detail is paid.

The documentary then reverts back to the interview where Black Ice continues to explain what the cipha means to him, amidst noise from a passerby truck (the joys of filming outside!). All in all, that's a bit of info on how this first part of the documentary was put together. If you dig it, leave comments. Please forward any questions through, we'll be happy to answer them.

Peace!!!

The Cipha - Intro

2008-10-24T08:24:00.004+02:00

What's the deal people??! Still staying alive I hope, and keeping positive vibes flowing. Today's post concerns a film project me and Fairo worked on towards the tail-end of 2007. It's a documentary details the gwaans in the Lesotho hip-hop circles, especially the cipha scene.

For them who don't know, in hip-hop terms, a cipha happens when emcees form a circle and start rapping - simple as that. It's a big thing all over the globe, and we as Corporate Nemesis wanted to get a Lesotho-based emcee's perspective on the cipha scene; how it influences/inspires them, what they get from it, etc.

We've uploaded a number of clips from the documentary on youtube (check out: www.youtube.com/nemesisRepublik), and I'll be uploading the links here on the blog and giving inside information on how the particular clip was put together.

First up is the introduction. The beat on the clip is done by a fairly unknown Lesotho-based producer who goes under the moniker Profane Hermit. For those who don't know, the quote "Time for s**** y'all n**** ain't heard yet/ cuz the radio is repetitive bull****", is taken from a Lootpack song off of the Antidote album. Madlib recites that particular line.

Check it out; love it, hate it, and please, give some feedback. Peace!!!

Poltergeist

2008-10-17T09:50:00.009+02:00

Hey y'all, princes and poets across the universal sphere, what's really good? Another day, another opportunity for us to discover more about artists in our beloved land, Lesotho. Today's post is on the emcee Poltergeist, a part of the Lesotho Rhyme Force crew who is now based out in New York City.

He's been on the scene for quite a minute now, and, through the extensive amount of work he's done with Corporate Nemesis, I've come to respect him as a well-rounded artist, fully worthy of a record label's money. Trust me, he is that good! We did some stuff with him over these past June holidays when he was at home. Didn't get a chance to edit all the tracks, but peep the link below for this one banger that he left.

Currently, dude is down with a label called Invent Horizons (check em out on myspace, a Ney York City-based independent label founded by Jonathan Tanners about three years ago. Big things are currently in the pipeline, so keep an eye out. The following extract is taken off of Po's myspace page:

About Po

Poletrgeist as an emcee emerged from frlorida streets in Maseru, Lesotho in 2002. I started rhymin after meetin up wit my boys poison foul, kislev, spit ferrocious, and Fairo to mention a few. These catz were all emcees and i loved and still love what they do lyrically so i started spittin as well. the crew, then Cutz on Rapz, was where i grew as an emcee under the wing of Fairo and the Catz mentioned above and alot more actually... Basically that's about it...if u wanna hear more just holla at yo boy. One.

So he's on the grind, and has recently started a hip-hop society at Columbia University, the place where he's stationed. I've decided to post a good number of goodies, so check em out and leave comments in the comment box. Respect!!!

Fresh joint:

Untitled Track (Biz-ark's mix) - approx. 4MB

An interview I did with him (he comments on important issues related to emceeing, air play, and the authenticity of certain elements in hip-hop):

Poltergiest interview - approx. 8MB (10 mins.)

P.S. If you want me to post up part two of the interview, leave a comment in the box.

Oh, wait up...more goodies. Check out this video of a performance he did!!!

Now, please say thank you! Happy weekend ;-)

Empty Tin Can event

2008-10-16T10:00:00.001+02:00

Word! Check out the flyer pertaining to this event.

ONE!!!

Re: Nemesis Republik

2008-10-16T05:30:00.002+02:00

Peace to all! In case you don't know already, my man Fairo is hard on the design front, and we've got a whole clothing label concept that's taking quite a while to get off the ground. But, once that's done, it'll be HOTTT. You can join the facebook group for more updates. This is the message that's been sent out to all members of the group:

A brand formerly know as strange fruit a.k.a. Nemesis Re:publik is dropping a limited number of "i ma fresh" units [10], on the 25th October 2008 to coincide with "DURBAN FRESH DESINGERS" exhibition hosted by [loopin' events] at KZNSA Art Galley.
Since this is the first release, an item of clothing will be going for R250.00 without shipping. The second time around the price will increased by 50% in order to discourage influx of the same material streets.
"fairo"

Peace!

Internal Affairs EP

2008-10-11T09:44:00.002+02:00

Quick one...what' good everyone??!! The Internal Affairs is a free, downloadable EP released by Childakapoet, under his Wes-Creations imprint based in Bloemfontein. It features production from the likes of Blacksperm, Phil the Kritik, J-one, and others. Featured emcees include Rob One (England), Isosceles (Lesotho), and Childakapoet (Bloemfontein). Here's the tracklist:

01-intro-produced by stainless
02-food fight-rob one-produced by shoxxen
03-internal audit-childakapoet-produced by 4824
04-get pissed-isosceles-produced by phil the kritik
05-balance the scales- relevence-produced by madnotes
06-lost plane ticket-produced by stainless
07-tequiller shots-rob one and the I.O.C produced by Shaister Master/ relevence and shoxxen
08-out the gates-childakapoet-produced by blakksperm
09-rider music-l dub-produced by blakksperm
10-child raps (remix)-childakapoet-produced by J one
11-hot 16-the I.O.C feat rob one-produced by 4824
12-not okay-the I.O.C produced by 4824

And there goes the link:

Internal Affairs (approx. 39MB)

Download and enjoy. Have a blissful weekend.

P.S. Check out the cool gadget we've added on the sidebar panel. Planning to do more of those. Peace!!!

Phil the Kritik

2008-10-09T07:16:00.002+02:00

Peace be to all of you and yours, ladies, gentlemen, lads and lasses. Hope all are staying up, positive, and recharged to make an impact upon the world.

I've decided to do a write-up on one of Core Wreckah's favourite people to work with, the Uganda-born produer Phil the Kritik. And I would say the single most favourite, but that would just be undermining the man's [Core's] underpinning philosophy: "be cool with everyone as long as they are cool with me."

Phil's musical achievements, according to me at least, are nothing short of staggering. In a period of about two years, he has managed to go from a regular bloke to a very respected producer, held in high regard by his peers and other beings in and out of Lesotho's hip-hop circles. His profile states that he has done work with, among others, Codi Cox, MOX(one half on rap group One Clip), and Poltergeist. He is part of the Mic Vandalist crew, but also does a lot of work outside of that camp. I reckon that refusal to conform is what forms the basis for his success. Apart from that, his humility just elevates him a step higher above a good couple of producers.

Recently, The Kritik released a promo, Loud and Out EP, as a prelude to his forthcoming LP/compilation which goes by the same name. To be honest, I have no clue why he chose 'Loud and Out' as an album title, but it sounds cool nonetheless. Featured on the EP are an array of artists from within the Mountain Kingdom right through to North America. Now tell me, isn't that dope?!!

Before I leave, these are direct quotes from The Kritik's profile:

On Loud and Out, the profile has this to say: "Although it has been a difficult and challenging experience since it was my first music release the project helped me gain a positive attitude and increased my abilities in the production field. The mixtape features various artist from Lesotho and South-Africa."

And another quote follows...

As part of networking with other people in the production field, I have with Dj Macs on a street cred mixtape which featured a lot of Local artist from Lesotho. With the success of the street cred mixtape we are currently working on the second installment.

Peace people, thank you for visiting. Oh, and some goodies for you to download and enjoy:

Loud and Out Vol.1 EP

And check The Kritik out on his space:

The Kritik's myspace page

N.B.You can also become friends with him on facebook. Just search for Phil Lionel.

...the loudest nise...

2008-10-08T22:28:00.002+02:00

Yo, what's good people??!! I usually stay far away from posting about stuff that I get up to, preferring, rather, to use this magnificent platform to share, expose, and perhaps liberate heard and unheard voices. But, like everyting else in life, I experience tangential moments - maybe because the event influences me in a very strong way - and decide to share what it is I get up to. Note that this by no means meant as a statement downplay nor demote some of the other things I get involved in. For this post and the next one, I shall be sharing what it is I get up to.

The person who sent me the mail I have quoted below is a strong, beautiful Venda woman who goes by the name Masana Mulaudzi. Apart from studying, she is a noteworthy poet/performer/writer (amongst many things), who believes very firmly in her work, and in the power and ability of a Higher Being to provide for whatever it is humankind may want, given that the very same humankind asks humbly. Read through it, get schooled, hate, deliberate...it is all up to you really. Pace!

This is a personal invite to each and every one of you to be a part of our Empty Tin Can Arts Showcase and Fundraiser next week Saturday, 18 October.

I have met all of you personally and find you to be amazing performers, writers, artists, actors, story tellers, photographers, musicians, poets... The list of your infinite God-given talent is humbling. You have leadership skills, are initiative takers and vision makers and this is a call to you:

Empty Tin Can, founded June 2006, is an organisation committed to reconciling artists to a need in the community. It is based on the saying "the empty tin can makes the loudest noise" and is a social commentary on artists with so much things to say and too little of a platform to do anything. And here is the opportunity to fill the empty tin can by helping us reconcile the Cape Town community with skills, hope and arts.

To date we have been working under Young In Prison, with Sent, for a few months with awaiting trial young women, bringing in artists every friday to have a skills exchange. This has proved fruitful and inspiring - the depth and magnitude which arts reaches is beyond what any Life Orientation book can teach. However, it is not enough that we as artists stop there, there is a whole world of people with creative juices flowing within them and hopeless circumstances in need of you, as skilled performers to show them how to put hope, vision and initiative into what they do using arts.

For too long, art has been the "poor man's" life, with little or no pay and indeed money pays the world to spin on its axis... But we hope that by merging life skills and career options (in partnership with an organisation called Sent) that we would not just teach people how to use arts but to make arts work for them.

At the same time, this organisation is committed to growing and expanding the vision of you as artists and what you can do for those around you. Not just painting visual images that might fade with time, or speaking words that will drift beyond the ears of men, but rather for you to make use of the canvas of young people's lives and help make an everlasting artwork.

I hope I have you all interested!

The Arts Showcase is going to be on 18 October 2008 and will serve as a fundraiser for our expansion next year: still working under Young in Prison, we hope to work in the juvenile male awaiting trial and sentenced section and the female juvenile awaiting trial section. We will also be working in two homes, one for boys and one for girls. And we need to raise money and on top of this we need volunteers to work with our participants and share in their lives as role models.

We need artists to perform at the showcase, who will also be interested in helping Empty Tin Can as a family reach into those communities, to perform and help us raise funds.

We also need a team of comitted leaders to take ownership of Empty Tin Can and be a part of its leadership, held accountible to the participants, the performers, the community and God. The posts available are Chair, Deputy Chair, Treasury/Finance, Logistics, HR, Curricula, Public Relations and Fundraising. These are volunteer posts and need application in the form of a CV and letter of motivation. However, volunteers are not judged by what they have already achieved but by what they aim to achieve.

If you are interested and would like to hear more please reply to this email, drop me an sms or a call back or ANYTHING (smoke signals maybe?) and I will get back to you.

Also, I know all of you, so on top of that, I will probably follow you around begging and pleading for you to help us help others...

Finally, there will be a meeting this week Thursday between 2pm and 3pm as a debrief and a QnA session on Upper Campus UCT. More information will be sent tomorrow as a confirmation.

I look forward to hearing from ALL of you... otherwise, please expect my phone call.

Be blessed,

Countless Regards,

Masana Mulaudzi

Founder, Empty Tin Can

For more information regarding the activities:

mldmas002@uct.ac.za
empty.tincan@gmail.com

Some good music

2008-10-01T07:20:00.001+02:00

Yo, wassup party people??? I'm good y'all, mic check one two.

First up, shout out to KOL Productions for another perfectly-executed video in the form of Dunamis' "Time has come" (with Glory). I'll try to figure out how to embed the video on this blog (if there's a way). But yo, it's really dope!

Shout to Fairo for the design

Next up, a certain guy called Laurentstumbled upon this blog, and mailed me requesting some Lesotho hip-hop joints (check his website out here). So I uploaded some joints featuring a number of artists, some of whom I've included in the list below. If you just want one particular track, holla at me and I'll upload it for you.

- Hymphatic Thabs: Who said (2007)
Produced by Kanife
Published by Iapetus

- Skebza: Errah (2005)
Produced by Maphoza
Published by

- Papa Zee: Mokhotsi (2006)
Produced by Papa Zee
Published by Struggle Ent./EMI music (?)

- Pasco & Anonymous: Ha Peete (2005/6)
Produced by Anonymous
Publisher unknown

- Metal Jacket & Dunamis: High stakes (2008)
Produced by Metal Jacket
Published by KOL Productions (?)

- Core Wreckah: Dooinit (2007/8)
Produced by Phil the Kritik
Published by Uhuru Underground/Corporate Nemesis

- One Clip: One Clip (2006)
Produced by Third World
Publisher unknown

- Mighty Records: Praise chants (2008)
Produced by Benni B
Published by Media Graphics

And here's the link: Lesotho Hip-hop (approx. 60MB)

(DISCLAMIER: Corporate Nemesis is only filling in an empty place in Lesotho hip-hop, which is putting music that is inaccessible from anywhere else. In case you think we are contravening any Copyright laws, mail us, we can sort it out)

Still alive

2008-09-29T23:54:00.000+02:00

In case you are a session visitor to this our humble blog, you might've noticed the unsettling absence of updates. Good (or bad, depending on how one looks at it) news is that I am still alive, not sure about Fairo though.

Amongst other things to look forward to:

Rattex

The man's got an album coming up. I've had the chance to hear an exclusive preview of the tracks, and they sounding hot. Will post some audio clips of performances and freestyle sessions. Otherwise, you can always check out for any details.

Hymphatic Thabs

I figure it's time I wrote a proper review of the said artist's album. Proper music if you as me, still bumping the tracks to this day. Mind you, it's more than a year since I got it.

So yes, I'm still around. Peace and love!

Luminaries in Lesotho's hip-hop scene

2008-08-02T14:58:00.000+02:00

It's been close to three weeks now, and I rose with one question at the back of my mind every morning: when shall I update the blog?? Well, by some hand of fortune, I gathered enough strength and might to holla today, and figured that Lesotho hip-hop has been making strides over the past couple of months, qualifying it as a candidate worthy of mention on these parts. So here goes a list of some of the people who've been making serious moves.
Note: this is by no means an ordered list, so please do not interpret it as some sort of 'top-five' grouping.

Z-Digi: He is one of the signees on an upsurging label called Mighty Records, and dude's been on a personal grind for the better part of 2008. His launch back in May has been deemed as one of the biggest in Lesotho hip-hop; not bad for someone whom a good number of people had never heard of before. To his claim thus far is a mixtape entitled Street Culture Music Vol. 1. Check out the sleeve below, I managed to grab a hold of the copy. While it does not possess that wow factor, it is worthy of giving it a bump. Through my conversations with him, I discovered that he's begun work on another project, tentatively titled The Instruction Manual. Production shall be handled mostly by Benni B, with guest spots from, amongst others, Core Wreckah (I hope!!!).

Papa Zee: It's approaching a full year now since I last heard from him, but the noise he caused with his Signature Album is still causing chills to this day. This fact is evident when one listens to radio in Lesotho, and one of the songs from the compilation gets played. It's not really his album solely, but a showcase of various signees on his Struggle Entertainment imprint. And just so that people know, he is one of the first people I know who put in mad amounts of work into the establishment - and consequent acceptance - of Lesotho hip-hop amongst people. Definitely one of my inspirations.

Dunamis: Now, you know that someone is making moves when you google Lesotho hip-hop and come across comments like this one. His first video, Mastered seed, received mad spins on a lot of television stations (including Channel 0 and SABC1). But the man hasn't rested on his laurels; he actually shot another video, Time has come (featuring Glory), to keep the momentum going. This time around, eTv and MTv Base have jumped on board in terms of screening the video. Not only that, his label, KOL Productions, has recently released a compilation featuring a range of artists in and out of the Mountain Kingdom. A review will follow shortly, I just have to sort a couple of things out. For more information on this guy, check out the KOL website.

Kommanda Obbs: I bought this guy's album immediately after hearing his tune on radio, a track called Ke lorile (produced by Dim Light). It did take me a while to sink into the rest of it, but he's definitely on point with the flow. Being that he isn't based in Maseru, I do not get to hear a lot of the stuff that he's doing. I did get to have a chat with him in July though, and he let me in on some of his plans. I'll upload what he had to say (yep, I managed to get it all on tape baby!!!), just to share with y'all. Amongst his plans, he wants to start, or, more appropriately, has started a movement called Ts'epe, which pushes distinctly Sesotho raps.
3.32
I shall push myself to update the blog more, share whatever lies in my thoughts. And, just for old time's sake, here's the Time has come joint by Dunamis. Download, enjoy, and share. ONE!!!

Time has come - 3.3MB

Mortal sin!!!

2008-07-03T23:43:00.000+02:00

Wassup people?! Sorry for not keeping my promises, but life goes on, right?

I've been enjoying home, can't complain really. That's a picture of Core Wreckah performing in Zaire back in 1970 (actually, it's at the Poetry Buffet which was held two weeks ago at the Maseru Sun Cabanas). It was a dope event overall, shout-out to Pytur, and the whole Poetry Farm collective.

My man Phil the Kritik is on the grind, working on his mixtape, Loud and Out Vol. 1. The tracks thus far are, to me at least, hot-a-lot (trademark that word!!!). A couple of artists are featured on it, but I won't be name-dropping lest I'm forced to re-tract my statements. It deserves a post all on its own. The lady on the picture is that pretty in real life!!!

Yo, later days. Keep warm people. Oh, the chick on the picture is that beautiful in real life! Peace!!!

P.S. As an extra, how would this look on a t-shirt??! I know, we dope. Shout out to Fairo.

Dunamis' video

2008-06-23T20:35:00.002+02:00

I've been home for a full week now, while it's been about three since my last post. Well, obviously one would deem it proper come up with an excuse, but I shall, for the benefit of this post, refrain from such. The usual punishment that I put upon self is consecutive 'musings', which is exactly what I intend to do.

Remember that write-up I'd promised to do on Dunamis? Well, I still plan to do it. I actually spoke to him shortly after I arrived, just to inquire about his plans, what he's busy with, and the KOL Mixtape which shall be dropping in the near future. Big tings a gwaan, that's all I'm saying. He's even managed to shoot a second video for his debut album Mastered seed. The video, which features Glory, si called Time has come. Word on the streets is that it's currently on high rotation on MTV Base, along with having received spins on ETv, and other known music channels. Big ups to the man, he is indeed a huge source of inspiration.

On the other side the Mighty Records Crew, headed by, amongst some of his accolades, rapper/producer Benni B, have been well healthy when it comes to grinding hard. If you paid attention to this post, you will have an idea of who they are. The launch was apparently the best thing related to hip-hop in the country, so nuff shout to them. They pulled all the stops to ensure that the night went down in the minds of many as one to remember. It's quite evident even now when people talk about it that the night was a worthy one. What impressed me more was hearing how positively the artists on the bill responded to the manner in which they were treated. It is commonplace everywhere for stagings of this stature to be marred by maltreatment of performers, leaving one to wonder what the organisers' main intentions are. I have in my capacity as Core Wreckah, done work with Mighty Recs Crew as the stable is affectionately known. Check out the link below for a remix to one of their tracks (it features close to ten Lesotho emcees).

Radio is still holding its own down when it comes to supporting locally-grown content, though it seems some stations are doing more than others. It's all fair and well, as long as the ones lazing behind do not jump onto the bandwagon once this 'local' sound starts to make a real impact on the global platform. In my honest opinion, the Ultimate Fm (link) is topping a lot of frequencies in the afore-mentioned regard. It does worry me that certain people on radio deem it as doing one a favour when playing their songs. I never do get why this self-conceited mentality persists. Then again, maybe I shouldn't worry much, should I? As long as there is a platform then everything is well and proper.

Another post shall be coming soon. For now, big yourself up if you've ever stumbled upon this blog and bothered to read the content.

PS. Imma post some trax up in due time. Bandwidth constraints prohibit me from doing so now

I'm not alone

2008-05-31T12:09:00.000+02:00

A triple post within the period of one week!!! Wow, congratulations to myself!! On the real though, it is quite a feat by any average blogger's standards. The website that was promised is still undergoing the pangs of birth (READ: Internet mulfunction). Bonzy, the guy who's a silent partner of Corporate Nemesis, is still setting it up. Note that silent in this case does not mean not having a say in the final decision-making process; it just refers to the fact that you'll hardly ever hear him talk. In the same vein, that goes for Fairo too. I'm the self-proclaimed 'loud-mouth (tm)' of the crew.

So you thought the title of the post was inspired by a certain being by the name Michael Jackson, huh?!! Well, think again. It was inspired by one of the guys I go to school with, saying how heads sometimes think they are all alone in what they do/like, until a revelation dawns upon them that hey, maybe things aren't so bad after all!!! The statement can be applied to many situations.

I am not alone in the sense that I'm not the only one trying to ensure that the voice of Lesotho hip-hop gets heard beyond just the confines of approximately thirty thousand square kilometers of land (that's the area of my country, seriously!). This blog is dedicated to San the Instru-monumentalist (...and yes, it's still a mouthful to say, check this post out). He's just dropped a beat-tape, and I thought I should lend a hand and make it known through this medium. Find the link below, and check out the sleeve. Give him feedback on facebook (search for Moeti Damane). I'm sure he'll greatly appreciate it.

Link: Golden Chariots Volume One - 17.1 MB

A promise kept

2008-05-26T16:40:00.000+02:00

Word is James like Bond, bonded with 3.50 Maloti supa-glue at the Maseru taxi rank!!! As promised, I'm hitting you people up with the images from the Levi's gig that I attended. Dig it.

Jitsvinger

Jits jetting into interstellar spheres

Jits as seen in heaven

The rest of the band

And the ETC crew wasn't to be left behind...

Logical puts on 3-D glasses

Bonsai Bush and Logical

Bonsai vibing with the audience

Rest of the crew (DJ White Nite in the background)

Til later people, I'm out!

Pay dues, stay true

2008-05-23T14:44:00.000+02:00

Yo!!! Since it'd been a while since I last scribbled, I figure that it's only right to pay my dues. Cape Town is handling me well, went to peep a gig hosted by Levi's as part of their Young Guns initiative. It featured Jitsvinger and ETC crew, both of whose performances were something to take home and digest, before finally realizing just how dope they both were. It did take quite a huge amount of searching to find the venue, but all went well afterwards. Will post up some pics in the interim.

Corporate Nemesis' other function is to design stuff, you know, stuff like logos and random, ultra-inspired, other-worldly things. Fairo posted me some of the stuff he's been working on, and I became so flubbergasted that I found it fitting to share with the masses the enormity of this man's ability to manipulate Photoshop up to the point where it calls him master. This particular design would look good on a t-shirt I think (Hint: we ARE working on a clothing line. When we're rich like the corporations that we are, for lack of a better word, so 'incensed' by, your boy/girlfriend shall be wearing Nemesis Inc. underwear. Jokes!!!)

On the artist front, I shall dedicate some space to San the Instru- monumentalist (a mouthful, I know!). He's another beatmaker/emcee from L-E-S. He, along with Barameds of Green, belongs to a crew called Other Intelligences (or OINTS for short). Their style is subtle hip-hop, bordering - and perhaps sometimes crossing into - the field of poetry. It's what a knowledgeable person would call 'beautiful music'. I, on the other hand, just call it hip-hop. To their acclaim is a single entitled 'On becoming human'. I should be a bit biased when it comes to the track that I was supposed to post, but the one you shall hear after downloading is what has been doing rounds on a couple of radio stations around L-E-S. It's called "Scribllings (sic) of rememberance",hope you dig it. The two are on to some big things, and I'll surely keep the massive and crew who come here updated on their gwaans.

Scribllings - 4.12MB

Stay tuned, I'm doing a post on a dude called Dunamis real soon. He's also onto some big stuff without a doubt, and deserves a mention. Till later, tarrah!!!

PS. Check out the links below for some interesting sites

Pioneer Unit - A Cape Town-based independent label (home to Ben Sharpa, Konfab, and Rattex)

Africasgateway - Premium hip-hop site...check out the forum section, it's dope!

2020 Radio - A podcast by Rob One..niceness!!!

Eliminate The Competition - ETC Crew's official website

I refuse to succumb

2008-05-22T14:34:00.001+02:00

Yo!!! Exams pressure is building up, but I refuse to succumb to the preshas (pressures) of Babylon!!!

This is a real quick one. My man Z-Digi is launching his mixtape in L-E-S at the end of this month, and I decided to put up this flyer for anyone who may not know about the event. Nuff shout to Benni B and the whole Mighty Recs crew for pulling this one together. From what I hear, it's going to be BIG!!!

Click here for a larger image.

Faya!!!

Titles irritate me

2008-05-02T12:32:00.001+02:00

Skebza D

Weekends can only mean one thing, and that is free stuff!!! This week, I present you another favourite of mine, Skebza D, whose real name is Mokebe Mohasoa. This dude has made a number of notable moves in the Lesotho hip-hop scene, and in Bloemfontein. He's got a crew with Pasco under the banner Maseru. I knew him through his former crew Hipnotica, and first saw them perform in 2001 at a show that was held at Lesotho's National Convention Centre.

At times, I really thought he had it all figured out, but became not-so-convinced when he switched his style from time to time. This character trait would be what defines him to this day. He is quite versatile, but, to a large degree, inconsistent as well. Deals have been promised, but nothing solid has materialised. The Maseru tracks that I've heard are pure fire, but I see nothing transpiring out of that. He seems to be caught in limbo, or maybe cannot chase after a dream for too long in order to realise it. Whichever the case, I respect him dearly. He is a dope lyricist, and covers a range of topics in his rhymes. The track I shall share is called Errah, recorded back in 2005/06. Just listen to it, and decide for yourself. Oh, the other reason I chose the song is that he mentions me in his raps (ha ha ha!!!). It's taken off of his Sotho hop EP.

Errah!!! -Skebza D (2.65MB)

Otherwise, check out this post on africasgateway.com. I found it quite refreshing. I've been a member of the site for ages, and have seen it morphing continuously right up to the point where it's at now.
While I do not like the status quo, I still go to it daily, and check out what is on the minds of AG-ians out there. And this is the site that has introduced me to so much of the stuff that I know now, musically and otherwise.

Lastly, we are trying to put up a www.corporatenemesis.com domain that'll enable us to do more than just posting links to songs we've uploaded elsewhere. It'll contain songs that you can download straight off the site, and maybe a couple of the video and design stuff that we do.

PS. Check out Rattex on his myspace page. I was with him just a short while back in order to cop his EP called '7781'(go to the Pioneer Unit site to order a copy). He also let me listen to some joints that are going to be on the album. I shall say no more. Just keep a lookout for him, he's mad live!!!

Core Wreckah

2008-04-27T13:47:00.001+02:00

I simply couldn't resist the charm of posting two near-consecutive rumblings, not in this lifetime at least. Core Wreckah is as much an entity as he is a part of me, if that makes sense. I mean, it's the same person, just that the existential dynamics differ. Anyway, check out the page on iLike:

This is the picture for Core's promo, released a year ago. Time flies, only seems like yesterday. Read the full bio on that iLike page, and become part of the collective.

Faya!!!

The Weekender

2008-04-25T16:17:00.000+02:00

Okay, it's the weekend, so guess I should live up to the promise last week and bless the people with something to carry em through (a long one if you are in South Afrika).

This time around, the track is from a guy I've known for more than a minute, a very close acquaintance who goes by the name of Keyman Anomyous.This man is a maniac, behind the mic and production. The track is about three years old, and he produced it for another rapper from Lesotho who goes by the name Pasco. Don't really want to go into a lot of detail, so I'll let you guys download, enjoy, tell your friends, and give feedback.

Ha Peete - Pasco feat. Anonymous (3MB)

Hope y'all digging the images that I posted. Will do a picture blog in the near future. Oh, Anonymous is the one kicking the first verse.

A song a day...means you can play

2008-04-19T20:02:00.000+02:00

So here it is. 'Where' you ask. Well, right here on planet earth. I'll be posting up links to songs that we've worked on with a couple of friends, and tracks that I've done on my own. Maybe a beat here, a beat there, anything goes. Before I get started, check out my man Fairo's myspace page (click here).

First on the run is a gem from Codi Cox, an artist I met during my worthwhile scavenges in the streets of Maseru last December. I've recorded a track or two for him, and there are plans in the pipeline to do an EP in the not-so-distant future. I immediately related to his style, being that we started rhyming round about the same period (ninety-nine to be exact). His style is 'head-noddy', and he carries quite a range of topics: battle, party, love, more love...damn, I think the dude can do a booze track if possible. Oh yeah, there's an idea. Lemme stop stalling, here's the link:

Codi Cox - Pipe dream - 3.7MB

Check out Fairo on facebook, he probably has a larger image of the one I've posted. Easy!!!

PS. If you ever come across Codi Cox, or a creature that looks even remotely like he does, duckdown fool!!! His goatee kills, seriously!

Chain Smoker

2008-04-18T10:17:00.000+02:00

I take the arts quite seriously, and take advantage of any opportunity to express myself artistically. One way in which me
and Fairo have branched out is through video production.

Vortech 0.9 is a Lesotho-based electronic music producer
that I've known since my early days as an emcee.
He used to do production for a lot of the cats who influenced my style, including Dunamis and Glory (who went by the name 5th Element back then). Anyway, he saw one of the videos I did for another producer, Anonmyous (will make a post about him later!!), and decided that I should do something for him also. I did hesitate, but took it as a challenge to be faced. This was at the beginning of December 2007.

I asked him to give me a complete month to do everything, and leave me to my insanity. Being that I'd just obtained a working version of adobe after-effects (checkout this, I was motivated to indulge. Little did I know that it'd be quite a task. But yeah, all stories aside, I completed the project in about six weeks. Best thing: he dug it.

So time went on, and this past March, I got a call from his manager to tell me that the video has been approved for playlisting on Channel 0. Now, for someone who is an absolute amateur at this video thing, it was a total honour.

I'm planning to work on more projects of that nature, and anything else in between. To check out more images, go to my facebook picture page here

ONE!!!

Untitled is a title, right??

2008-04-18T00:23:00.000+02:00

Miles Davis is one of my favourite jazz musicians.

I love jazz, and he's one of the main people who embody what I sway to. Dude has influenced so many people (Coltrane, Tyner, Sanders), and done so much cross-genre dopeness that it's hard to ignore him. I've been getting multiple orgasms from the 'Bitches Brew' album. But 'Kinda Blue' happens to still be one of my favourite joints. Proper tribute to him coming up in a few.

Apart from looking at girls all day, my other pastime is writing, especially about stuff that I dig (oh well, what else can one write about?!). I did an interview with the elaborate Cape Town crew Ill Skillz, and it just got published in Varsity newspaper. Peep out the bigger image here. I've seen them at least four times since I got to here, and they rip it on every occassion. Their chemistry is just so dope, and I do reckon they are going far (well, technically, they are far already, for their European tour is well in place). But they didn't publish the photo I attached, so there you have it.
And the bigger image here

The Ill-Skillz pic:
Went to see 340ml live. Dudes are consummate professionals, know how to control a crowd, and can keep a show infinitely interesting. And people loved every second of it; they did songs from their debut album, Moving (2005), along with joints from the recently-released 'Sorry for the long wait'. I'm not sure about the latest album though, since every shop I've gone to does not have it in stock. I remember when I first heard these dudes back in 2003 on Yfm (shout out to AK). Thought it was a British reggae band by the name of Steel Pulse. But no, it was 340. Have dug them eversince. Check out the frontman Pedro on the pic.

Chilling

2008-04-15T03:22:00.001+02:00

I'm turning out to really love love Cape Town. Apart from the ridiculous amounts of school work that I have piling up somewhere under my bed, it's a lovely place, especially if one is willing to explore further than the confines of UCT. I've been to a good couple of shows, made links here and there, and trying to have a good time while I'm at it.

This is a real quick, random post. Just check out the pic or two that I've put up, more updates coming up in the next few. Am planning to make this some regular joint, so whoever you are stumbling upon it right now, please return on a bi-weekly basis to just check it out. Peace!!!

By the way, the image is that of Ben Sharpa performing live at The Assembly in Cape Town. He dropped a dope set, so did Wordsworth. One...

The Corporate Nemesis effect

2008-03-21T21:35:00.000+02:00

Ait, so this is where it begins. The concept for Corporate Nemesis came about from Fairo's disillusion with his previous crew, the G-Squad. Nemesis started out initially as a rap crew consisting of around seven members. Somehow, only two people are left now.

Fairo has rusted on the rap front, and has chosen to make beats instead. I, on the other hand, can step up to a cipha any given moment in time and reap it. I've also got some product in the ruggedy streets of Maseru, and have had the opportunity to preform a couple of dope shows. Also do writing for a publication here, and a publication there.

So yes, two people. Both into hip-hop, and both pretty much determined to kick major ass - think of the whole 'underdog' scenario. Keep your eyes peeled, be on the lookout!!!

2008-03-16T01:03:00.000+02:00

First one...looks promising...HELLO WORLD!!!