“I woke up one day to (someone on) Twitter saying: ‘We’re going to leak your album because you’re always playing exclusive songs and you don’t want to share your track list’.” Kholofelo Ashley “DJ Shimza” Raphala puts his fork and knife down and places his back against the chair.
After a compilation as Bertrams Brandy’s Next Big Thing winner and a few more offerings under brands like Soul Candi and EMI, the 25-year-old Thembisa-bred DJ and producer has just released his debut album, Shimuzic. This is the official release straight from the artist himself, but a few weeks ago, an unauthorised version of Shimuzic was leaked on the internet.
“By that Monday,” he remembers, straight-faced, “I woke up and the album was online. These guys, more than anything, disrespected my craft. I don’t expect you to take my music without my permission and share it with everyone. I learnt that people who were going to download the album illegally were going to do that whether it had leaked or not. I also learnt that when making an album, stay away from the internet.”
By the time he breaks down his lessons, Shimza is back to eating his food. It’s clear that he’s not over the disrespect that resulted in him and his Soulistic Music team taking down all the links to the illegal download and shutting down a Facebook page that specialises in piracy of South African music. But it’s also evident that he’s ready to move on as this has sharpened his arsenal as a businessman.
With this 13-track album that smoothly traverses through deep house, tribal house and drum-driven dance, Shimza has transformed into someone who wears many hats in the music industry. He describes the journey to Shimuzic’s release as “a learning chapter”.
This is because “I learnt a lot about the business side of things. Now I understand what type of deal I went into with the record label. That making an album is about more than just going into the studio. What it’s like to work with people, especially when the energy is not right.”
He cites his infectious song about partying all night, Akulalwa, featuring Dr Malinga, as an example. After passing the song to a few artists, “it just wasn’t right,” Shimza explains. “But when Dr Malinga came through, he didn’t even get time to write and the song just came out like that!”
Lyrically, Shimza flexed his pen on songs like the aspirational No Lie, featuring King Jay, but also enlisted the talents of Mishka, Soulstar and BK. On vocalist BK, whose soft yet strong voice is the only one that features twice as a guest on the album, Shimza says: “Friends With Benefits, with BK, is the first single off the album and is about two years old. It’s still sounding fresh and I believe strongly in BK’s writing abilities.”
He also believes in his penchant for collaboration. He co-produced No Lie with Uhuru’s Maphorisa as well as Lolo with Heavy K and Friends With Benefits with Cuebar. The Metro FM mix DJ who has been doing his One Man Show (also a title of a banging song on the album) events to help orphans in Thembisa get school uniforms and stationery, can’t hide his excitement about what this album represents for him.
“I was just making music that’s going to best represent me and music I believed would grow on people,” he confesses. “That’s why Shimuzic is a word that I created to say: ‘this is Shimza’s music!’ I discovered who I truly am and am not just chasing hits. What I have to offer will make me stand out from a lot of guys.”
l DJ Shimza’s Shimuzic is at music stores.