Since bursting onto the Mzansi music scene, music producer, DJ and artist Tsholofelo Mokhine, known as Felo Le Tee, has made quite a name for himself as one of the hottest.
The amapiano artist is one of the individuals who benefited from the lockdown, which saw him establish dominance in the genre. His music was a staple feature at parties hosted during the first Covid-19 wave.
“A lot of artists got discovered from those lockdown parties. ‘Bopha’, ‘Adiwele’ and ‘66’ were amplified with those lockdown parties,” he said.
The DJ has achieved huge success with the “66”, “Manca”, “Dipatje Tsa Felo” and “Bopha” being played at every venue, which saw everyone echo his famous tagline, “Tsa Felo”.
He has worked on various projects such as the soulful “French Kiss” with DbN Gogo, which was his first amapiano release.
“I feel people must revert to ‘French Kiss’ because that song kind of defines me as a human being,” he said.
“As much as I do all these commercial songs, the core of my musicality comes from a soulful house background and as much as I love the soulful part, groove is very essential for me. A song, for me, has to have groove.
“That’s what sets me apart, I make sure that there is something that is going to give a vibe. You can give me a soulful song, I’m going to add something that’s going to give it rhythm and groove.”
Felo Le Tee has been in the mainstream industry for a few years now, but one would think it’s been a lifetime (blame it on the speed of amapiano’s growth). He even mentors a few artists under his belt, such as rising DJ KMat, who he discovered at Zanzou in Pretoria.
“Mentorship, I think I did it because of DJ Maphorisa, when he gave me an opportunity and put me into his house, without questioning my stay in his house or studio. For me that opened my eyes. I was just giving back to someone the way he gave to me.
“And opening up the culture even further, cause I always believe I can’t have it to myself through and through. I always have to pass it down to someone else.”
Having been in a dark space before, the DJ always wants to be able to help another person and change their lives, just as his was.
Felo Le Tee has gone from rocking lockdown parties to playing across some of the country’s top venues and events such as the “Big Brother Titans” finale watch party and amapiano festival Ama Fest, in London.
He jokes that he needs to start learning how to dance now for his performances.
“I don’t practise my sets or whatever I do on stage, it just comes naturally according to the energy I’m feeding back from the people.”
The talented music producer has once again collaborated with amapiano and Bacardi producers Mellow and Sleazy to release a joint EP, “The III Wise Men”.
“I’m amped up about the project and keen to see how it will do. It was dope working with Mellow and Sleazy, talented okes. We created some dope jams and some dope music,” he said.
“I think the whole idea of dropping a joint project, it’s something that I always wanted to do ever since we did ‘Bopha’ because I feel like we are the young leaders for the sound, which is the young bacardi sgubhu sound.
“So I always wanted us to create something that will push the sound further.”
“The III Wise Men” is a celebration of the trio’s shared love for the amapiano genre, showcasing their unique production style on the eight tracks.
“We started with ‘Midnight Prayer’, that’s the first track that we did. Then we moved on to ‘Gedlela’. I think after that, when the song started moving on the internet, then that’s when I started to realise that we need to drop a joint EP.”
He added that Mellow and Sleezy were keen on the idea from the get-go and they started adding music to the project.
“Streaming platforms have become a bit of a flooded place, with music constantly being dropped, creating an overflow, with some drowning in the sea.
“Digital platforms are flooded but branding is not flooded and I think that’s the first problem that we are going into. If more of us can just work harder to brand whatever we are releasing then instead of just releasing it, I think music would sustain even longer,” he added.