Phil the Kritik

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...

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

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

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

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!!!

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

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