Poltergeist says yo...

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

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]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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]

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

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

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!