Award-winning DJ and music producer, DJ Sliqe has just released his first single for the year and is all set to release his second album.
The single, Do It For Me, is off his upcoming album, Injayam Vol2, and features rapper A-Reece and new songbird on the block, Bhlaklyt.
“I was on the ‘Who’s Tour Is It Anyway’ with A-Reece and we spoke about being on a song together.
“We actually wanted to make music together for a while, so on one of our days off, while on the tour, we got into studio and we actually made Do It For Me in a day,” he added.
Sliqe said that both he and A-Reece agreed to take the single to a different commercial direction and agreed that it would be Afro-pop.
“The song is a bit of Afro, a bit of pop and some elements of dance as well.
“We got into the song and I heard of this girl (whose real name is) Bonang, but she goes by the name Bhlaklyt.
“I asked her to join the song and it became very colourful, happy and summery,” Sliqe said.
On his new album, the DJ said he started working on it two months ago.
“I started working on it at the end of November, right through December, so it was party less and work more for me this past festive season.
“I was very clear about what I wanted, I went into the studio and created a new genre, Mzonkonko.
“It is a mix of house and dance music. When Gqom was first introduced to us, people said it was like house music but it isn’t, it is its own genre - just like Mzonkonko,” he said.
“Mzonkonko is about to shift the culture.
“Along with my artist friends we are going to change the sound of the day. We are going to make it popular,” he added.
“I feel that it’s about time for me to come out with new music.
“Since my first album over a year ago, I haven’t released any new music.
“I just released singles from the first album. I think now is perfect timing,” Sliqe said.
“South Africa is a dance nation and I felt that we lack new dance music.
“We are still figuring ourselves out and yet we dance to foreign genres. So I am trying to get that sound right,” he added. We used to have your Soul Brothers, Mbongeni Ngema, Brenda Fassie but we don’t do that stuff anymore.
“South African music makes people happy, it’s nostalgic and I want to mix the old with the new,” Sliqe said.
He added that Injayam Vol 2 signifies his growth in the industry.
“My album last year was just an introduction and I am proud of it.
“I won a South African Music Award and collaborated with some fantastic musicians. In life there must always be growth and this new album signifies my growth in the industry and understanding of music,” he observed.
“I always say that I am like an owl. I am very observant and that’s how I learnt a lot of my lessons, by watching others.
“I am very excited for my fans to hear my new music,” he added.
Sliqe said that he is also passionate about opening up the industry and said that many of the collaborations on this album will be with new South African artists who are relatively unknown.
“With every phase of music comes a new wave of artists and I love working with new talent.
“It’s very important that we open up the industry,” he said.
“There will be collaborations with big stars but there will be a lot of new talent featured as well.”
Sliqe added that fans will appreciate the lyrical content of this album.
“This album is South African and people will enjoy that.
“You know that I DJ at clubs and I see how tired people are of American music. This album has something for everyone, it’s celebratory and has a wide range of emotions.”
Sliqe plans to release his new album in the first quarter of this year.