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!