There are bands that are so significant that their importance surpasses that of their longevity. A band like Kwani Experience is still relevant today, regardless of the fact that they haven’t performed as a band in a while. This is because they represent something that is bigger than them.

Their presence in the live music scene almost eight years ago brought with it a vital change.

They are a renaissance band that redefined the Afrocentric sound, giving it an urban and worldly trait and representing voices of their generation that were more spiritual and rooted.

What’s special is that they were oblivious to this. They were just serving the music and their ideas.

The band’s frontman and rapper, Kwelagobe Sekele (pictured), known by his stage name, P.O. (short for P.O. Box), is coming up with a self-titled solo album, The P.O. Box Project. The Kwani Experience legacy is about to be extended. And this is its offspring.

But to understand where P.O. is taking the music, you have to know who he was before he joined the band, and the kind of artist he’s become because of it.

“Before joining Kwani Experience in 2004 I was working at a library in Newtown – loved books, but hated the job.

“I was a rapper on a street level and was with a number of crews, aspiring to big things.

“I started rapping in 1998 and I used to go to joints like Le Club and Metropolis. People who were big then were Amu, Skwatta Kamp, Tumi (and the Volume) and Omen.

“I’d hang with rappers like Pro Kid, who was not very popular then. I was confident in my raps and I had my cliques who supported me.

“But I had an identity issue when I was 18. I questioned why I sounded American. And the album that was instrumental to my awakening was Talib Kweli’s Reflection Eternal. I started getting into indigenous music,” P.O. says.

“And when I joined Kwani, there was something about the band that hit a nostalgic chord. It was funny how many things we had in common. We were grounded, spiritual, we all loved indigenous music and there was no religion. It was all about having fun and exploring this sound we had created.

“All we wanted to do was to perfect it. And we were open to a lot of things – from jazz, avant garde to bebop. I have absorbed so much from being and travelling with the band. It has made me a better musician. It has given me a deeper appreciation and passion for the music.”

Talking about his quirky stage name, it becomes clear that its origins are vague. P.O. is an urban legend, he says. A lot of people he does not know call him P.O. and someone even suggested that he do a comic strip with it.

He maintains it is not his stage name and acknowledges a band that already exists with the name P.O. Box in France and that’s why he’s going with name The P.O. Box Project.

Kwani Experience has performed a lot in France and this is one of the places that P.O. is targeting with his solo work.

“It’s a place I love and would like to tap into. But most people don’t know that east Africa is a musical market to also tap into before thinking of going overseas,” he says.

We start listening to some tracks, some still very raw, and he reveals how conflicted he was at the beginning of this project.

“I was looking for a sound. I was conflicted because I wanted it to be different from Kwani’s. But Victor Masondo told me, ‘What do you mean you’re looking for a sound? You already have a sound.’ From then on I relaxed and let the music come through me. And I had fun.”

The P.O. Box Project will be released in two parts and Part 1 comes out in April. This includes the first single, Positivity, and a track inspired by the 21st anniversary of Mandela’s release from prison, called Mandela the Symbol.

P.O. wrote the song after last year’s heated Mandela Day Facebook debate he was part of and after noticing how opinionated and divided the youth and the older generation were when talking about the icon. With the ongoing mixed feelings on the decision to put Mandela’s face on banknotes, this is topical.

“It’s a neutral song, but it reflects on what the man symbolises. We need to debate this, but we need to go beyond the politics.

“There’s a lot of victimhood in SA and people cage Mandela to be how they think he should be,” P.O. says.

The music is very progressive, experimental and playful. There are dubstep, electronica and urban influences, supported by an African backbone found in its drumming and percussive nature. We listen to Mahofi, which is still just an instrumental, boasting a resonant Sepedi percussive style.

But it’s the song Inspiration Got No Enemy that shows off P.O.’s production skills and musicianship, and we both agree, it should be the next single. Mahlatsi from Kwani Experience plays guitar on it and it’s an unapologetic, indulgent, ambient, groovy tune with a global but rooted vibe.

“With rap, you have to listen. But I wanted to experiment with making people move and listen at the same time. I want to introduce a different signature to what people normally rap to,” he says.

On the album P.O. will feature artists such as Pedro from 340ml and Zubs, to name a few. And he’s also worked with a producer friend from Holland. It has taken him four years to do this project. And judging by the alternative sound he has come up with, he’s about to give South African rap music a new face.

“I can’t wait to perform this project,” he says gleefully as the interview draws to a close.