Young rapper Solo is regarded by many as a breath of fresh air.
New kid on the local rap scene, Solo, has the ultimate story on how he became one of the country’s most talented up-and-coming rappers. In a landscape that is currently ruled by the likes of AKA and Cassper Nyovest, Solo has a much cleaner sound, with well thought-out lyrics and an honest take on his life. With little to no bragging (something usually dictated by rap music), Solo manages to grab your attention with his debut album, Dream.A.Plenty, which has been so successful that Universal Music has had to re-release it as a deluxe edition.
ORIGINS
All kids sing when they are young, it’s part of growing up. Yet very few actually know at that age that they want to follow music for the rest of their lives. Solo is one of the few who did.
“I think hip hop was something instilled in me very early on. I am the last-born and have two siblings. My brother is 10 years my senior and my sister is seven years older than me. I looked up to them and growing up they were bumping hip hop. I listened to it as much as possible and fell in love with reciting it to them because I saw how surprised they were that this four-year-old was reciting Ice Cube’s lyrics, for example. I guess that’s when I fell in love with the theatrical part of it as well,” he recalled.
But anyone can recite lyrics, so for Solo that was not enough. There were things happening in his life that he, too, could talk about just like the rappers whose music he loved.
“I stopped writing people’s lyrics in a notebook and started writing my own lyrics. Fifteen years on I am still obsessed with writing my own things,” he said.
BLIND FAITH
Yet the decision to follow his passion was not as easy as reciting an Ice Cube verse. Several things were to be placed into perspective.
“You know when people say that identifying what you are supposed to be doing is important? I feel like also knowing what you are not supposed to be doing is equally as important,” he said.
“I studied BComm accounting in ’varsity and worked for a bank. So there was proper application for all the things that were theories in school. Through that experience I was able to say: ‘Oh, this is definitely not the thing I want to do for the rest of my life’. I believe that being capable should not mean that I should then be stuck in that job. The experiences outside music showed me where I should be heading. I made a tough decision to drop out of ‘varsity in my final year, just to burn the bridges of Plan B,” he explained.
THE BIG BREAK THEORY
When you are destined for greatness, nothing can stop you and for Solo, despite the hiccups, the music that was put online brought back some positive feedback.
“When I put out the mix-tape No Shades of Grey, the idea was to put it online for free for only six months and then take it off. Kabomo happened to be one of the people who stumbled on the project and he told a couple of people that he liked the material and I could not believe it. The first time I met him he told me he was a fan. The rest was history. We kept in touch and I kept learning a lot of industry stuff from him and when I finished a track called Stardust, I asked him to listen to it. He liked it so much he signed me on the spot,” he explained.
DREAMS.A.PLENTY
Today, Solo’s first album Dreams.A.Plenty is out and something to look out for if you are a hip hop head.
“I was so nervous because people took out loans for the project we were working on. Today I am nervous and insecure about other things and you can feel all those things on this project. I simply mirror what I go through because I know someone out there will relate,” he said.
• The deluxe version of Dreams.A.Plenty will be released later this month.
Born Zothile Langa, he is a pleasant surprise in the hip hop industry that has been marred by the artists’ desire to portray fictitiously affluent lifestyles.
For a young musician he could have been forgiven for following that route, but as you will hear on Dreams.A.Plenty, the rapper is more into storytelling. You will have to appreciate his lyricism and clever innuendos, if you get them, as he first thinks through everything he does.
For instance, the video to the Stardust remix sees Tumi, ProVerb and Solo on a bus driving around Joburg with a bunch of university students. The obvious interpretation of the video is that it’s just another “party on a bus” track, but if you look closer you will realise there is more to it. ProVerb and Tumi have years of experience. Then in comes this kid whom you might not know and he holds his own. The way the three artists relay the mic makes it obvious that the “fathers” of local hip hop are initiating the young cub into the cool-gang club. It’s almost like that Rafiki and Simba moment in The Lion King. This is the message Solo was going for, but if you want to go with “party on a bus”, that works too.
His very name is Solo and it sets him apart from the rest. Get it? Give it a sec.
Vilakazi took long shot on little-known Solo
As a musician, Kabomo Vilakazi is thorough. He is on the same level as Musiq Soulchild and Dwelle G when it comes to production.
Our past conversations have made it obvious that very few musicians impress him and his own material explains why. For him production is key, but originality is just as important.
With each Idols SA season that comes, you know Vilakazi is going to have something to say. He even tweeted about signing Khaya Mthethwa if he did not win the show. When he could have signed anyone on his label, of all the contestants on Idols SA, Vilakazi took
a chance on little known rapper Solo and now we know why. After getting a 4/5 rating from Hype magazine for his mix-tape No Shade of Grey, Vilakazi went into the studio with him and Solo emerged as the Freshman/ Newcomer of the Year at last year’s South African Hip Hop Awards.
To show his range, his album features a number of artists including Nothende, Reason, Kabomo, Tumi, Lilly Million and Dineo Moeketsi.
That’s a lot talent for one project and that’s why you should care.