THEE UPDATE

Whoop Whoooop!
Yep, it's been a minute and 2 seconds, but the blog is still alive and spillin' the spit!
Here's an update of what went down and what will still go down in the life of the RAZ!:

PAST:
1. Shelela Remix ft. Clu (AKA's Do it Do it; SKWATTA's Hey Hey), Tuks (Senganga), Ntukza (Teargas, Cashtime) was recorded and released to stations and has been getting major love. We're distributing it to more stations.

2. I recorded a Shizznizz performance AND a Jam Alley performance that features Clu, Tuks and Ntukza all on one stage for the first time. Look out for all of these on E-TV and SABC 1 respectively, SOONER than you can say 20!

3. 2 weeks ago myself, Pro, Zuluboy, Red Button, Morale , Sean Pages and Tee Pee played terrorist and left Durban city on FIRE after a hectic Joe Cool's performance. Shout out to SAB.

4. This week, we chuffed up the Hip Hop Powernights with that crazy dude C-Live. This one was epic!

STILL TO COME:
1. Tomorrow, I hit Durban again! This time, with a bigger bomb! CLUB PLUSH WILL BURN TO THE GROUND. And you know Durban clubs don't close, so, Zakwe, Oz, Snazzy, Vumar, ABBU, Dr. Sguddy, DJ Mdu and MarazA will party till the sun waves a white flag!

2. We will be shooting the music video for the shelela remix soon!

3. I shot an episode of Headrush with Tuks, and THAT'S gonna be interesting. So far, it's my best one yet.

4. Tomorrow night I'm on Ukhozi from 19:30. Do best and tune in. Live on-air performance of Shelela.

SO...
There is so much going on that I can't reveal yet. But keep your eyes peeled. The rize is everywhere now and harder to ignore. WATCH IT!

PS: Check out my online interview with justcurious.co.za

TWENTY!

GIMME MA MONEY!

So many great developments THIS WEEK ALONE. I'm fresh out the booth as we speak! Just laced a hawt 16 on the remix of Oz's single "Imali Yami" [My money]. A pretty cool video has already been shot for the single, and it's getting spins all over radio and TV. Now my homebuoy Oz has asked me and Kay-E to add some heat to an already erupting volcano.

WAAAAT! I can't explain how impressed I am with Kay-E! As I write this, he is backing up one of the hottest vernac verses I've heard this year! Serious competition on the horizon for these other rappers. Oz is yet to lace, but I know he's got fire only! It seems remixes are gonna be the order of the day for me for the next few weeks, as I'm doing another remix with some very popular cats on Tuesday the 18th. This time for my own track. THAT my friends is going to be epic. I picked up the beat from Yaw Bannerman yesterday, and also caught a dose of groupie syndrome for the guy. He IS the best.

So, look out for Oz' "Imali Yami 2 ft. MarazA and Kay-E" on your local radio station soon. I promise you nothing but heat! And that other remix I was talking about? Well, that's a secret well-worth waiting for!

20!

WATCH SHELELA ONLINE

People told me One Foot In The Game was huge! I obviously can't judge, I can only nod and stay grounded! But my mind was blown away with what has happened with Shelela. What we achieved with One Foot In The Game in 3 months, we have achieved with Shelela in 3 weeks!

Thanx to a lot of support from Channel O, this is probably one of the most played Hip Hop videos in South Africa right now. With lots of love from all over the internet (twitter, facebook, myspace), even before this video was available on the net, it's only fitting that we take this to the next level! So here we go: SOMETHING BIG IS ON IT'S WAY. Even bigger than the fact that you can now watch Shelela online, during the few minutes when Channel O is not playing it. And it's also shot by CHRIS GREEN of GREEN FILMS, so, you know to expect only fire. Click HERE to watch Shelela ft. Dezza RIGHT NOW!

Happy New Year people! If it starts this way, it's gonna end phenomenally! I love you all.

20

CHANNEL O EXCLUSIVE VIDEO PREMIER

It's been a hectic year. With lot's of opportunities utilized and a few missed, it's time for us to literally slide into the festive season and Shelela into the new year. So, in the spirit of Christmas and doing it big, me and ma team (MUSE Entertainment/ AMO PR/ JURY MUSIC/ GREEN FILMS) will be hitting all of AFRICA, with a music video exclusive at 17:30 CAT on Channel O (Channel 320, DSTV). It's off of 20 The Album and it features Dezza. Get your 2011 Swagg on . . .

Ingeniously directed by Chris Green of GREEN FILMS, with online editing from Tall Post, I can't help but mention that my second music video is one of the best I've seen in the past few months. Channel O, Africa's biggest music channel, has decided to give this baby special attention. The video will hit African screens at 17:30 CAT on channel 320, DSTV, on the Crispy Fresh music show. It's definitely something to look forward to, as me and Dezza do bestest in threads organized by Vie of Twenty Two. The whole video in itself is in crisp High Definition black and white, and features a guest appearance from SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE finalist Shelley Nicole Christians, but that's all I'm giving out. For the full experience, tune in to Crispy Fresh on Channel O at 17:30 on 20/12/2010.

Oh yeah, the EMERGENCY ENTRANCE MIXTAPE is still available for download. The Album is available in January. Merry Christmas. 20 grand out!

I JUST WANT TO BE SOUTH AFRICAN

I am not the child of a struggle icon. I am but the child of a humble man, who struggled hard to ensure that I had a future that is worthy of icons. I am not born of a fallen soldier. I am the birth-child of a woman who stands today, braver than any soldier, in the front-line against poverty. I do not wish to have land handed to me on a silver platter. I only wish to have the chance to work hard and buy the world with my sweat. I do not care how much Economic Empowerment there is in BEEs. I only care that the bleeding land of my ancestors, still has the enrgy to give me milk and honey. YES, I am a young black person, but what I really want to be, is a young SOUTH AFRICAN.

"Kaptein/ Spaan by die suille/ want sy as sammer myne/ blah blah blaah blaaah want hooooo vir my" - The terribly misspelt lyrics of Afrikaans Pop icon Steve Hofmeyer.

As young people in this beautiful but badly scarred country, we need our uncles, fathers and mothers to guide us on a path that is not only going to lead us into wealth, prosperity and happiness for ourselves, but also to the happiness and prosperity of our country. I spent most of last year dancing to JR's "Make The Circle Beeger" and Steve Hofmeyr's "Kaptein". Although I did not understand the lyrics, I loved how the music was universally loved by ALL South Africans. So, when Steve labeled me, my brother, my mother, my sister, my uncle, my grandmother and my late father as criminals who felt "entitled to everything, including land quotas and low matric-results" and only gave my distant cousin the slight benefit of the doubt, I felt betrayed. Not because I loved his music, but because he falls under the same group of people that I feel should be guiding us young South Africans.

You see, I don't think racism will ever die, as long as we have a distinction between people based on colour. And, unless we cross mate all the colours of the world for 20 generations until we have a single-colour population, we will never shake the colour differences that are both the source of our discrimination AND of our beauty. We won't get anywhere if we keep pointing fingers. The truth of the matter is, most of us young people don't even know who was the one person that had the initial idea to segregate blacks from whites. But I am pretty sure that he is now dead. Why do we not allow Apartheid to die with him? Because most of our elders (black and white) are still clinging on to it's legacy. I have a lot of young friends, of many colours, and all we want to do is grow old in a country where "Farm Murders" are not a race issue, but a crime issue that everyone is working to fight. Where NO ONE is shot and mistaken for an ape. We just want to be South African.

So, Steve Hofmeyr and Annelie Botes, start teaching us something we can teach our children and stop pulling the clock back. After 2010 can only come 2011. You cannot make it 1976 again. And quite frankly, we've come too far to allow you to take us back to our starting point. I AM, PAT RIOT!

RED CARPERT HIP HOP EXTRAVAGANZA with MARAZA

According to Daily Sun, all the country's weird sh*t happens in Limpopo. Well, Daily Sun's reporters need to get out more, because in-fact all the country's beautiful things happen in this province! Polokwane to be precise . . .

I'm at a loss for words when it come to describing what this event was like. I kept saying it was gonna be epic, but now the word "epic" just isn't epic enough. I had imagined it would be too best! Yet it turned out even better! From the food at Cappello, to the hospitality of Limpopo's people, from the love from other rappers, to the props from my own team after I was done smashing that mic and midi, the RED CARPET HIP HOP EXTRAVAGANZA was miles off the chain! Just bossin'!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, maybe one of these photos of the event will have the word I'm looking for.

I love you PLK. See ya soon!

20!

BEHIND THE SCENES - SHELELA MUSIC VIDEO SHOOT

EPIC TIMES ARE AHEAD. It's one thing to have people tell you that you've grown as an artist, and quite another to look back at your years in the industry and see your growth for yourself. 5 months after debuting the "ONE FOOT IN THE GAME" music video, MUSE Entertainment have teamed up with GREEN FILMS once again, to shoot the music video for my latest single: SHELELA ft. Dezza, which is boung to elevate the growth!

I need to tell you first of all that, I am NOT interested in the TYPICAL Hip Hop music video with naked chicks and champagne. Not on this album. So to have a production team like GREEN FILMS, who share the same vision and realize that a music video must be able to tell you a story even when the sound is on mute is quite a blessing. We spent weeks on the concept and the treatment of the video, and it all culminated in a very long but exciting shoot on Sunday the 21st of November. We were up at 05:00 am and getting ready for something EPIC. Lehlabile Mashego, our make-up artist for the day, came all the way from the Vaal to help us out. Thanx a milli to Nini for organizing this. We were quite honored to have Vie of fashion store "TWENTY-TWO BOUTIQUE" dress us for the video! YOH! This lady knows her stuff. And how can I forget Zama and Zonke, the pretty fashionistaz with the sexy accents (not to mention a great eye for photography). These 3 "FASHION POPOs" made sure we didn't break any fashion laws.

It's always a pleasure shooting on the Cannon 5D, especially when the crew knows what they're doing with it. What we have here is a crisp, clean, HD music video which is going to exceed the standard set by ONE FOOT IN THE GAME. A special shout out goes to JURY MUSIC for all their help. Lerato Letsoalo, AMO PR, Coco, YAW BANNERMAN, Shelley Christians, Margarita Naydenova and the rest of the GREEN FILMS crew for everything they put into making Dezza and I look good on TV. We really appreciate that.

For a sexy teaser of what went on behind the scenes, check out more pictures here.

Lot's of love! See you in Polokwane this Saturday!

20!