Mabuza drops debut album
Sharp as a needle and on a mission to turn the music game on its head, we let Mabuza tell you himself what he's got next.
Mabuza recently released his first album titled Survival of the Fittest on various digital stores. In an interview with tjil, Mabuza real name, Fillemon Stephanus Hafeni, shared that it took him about six years to finally release the album. “I used to be a backup dancer and singer for the Gazza Music Production (GMP) stable, more specifically Blacksheep. After my stint at GMP all I wanted was to release an album because I wanted to perhaps prove a point.
“Even though I felt the urge to drop the album a long time ago, I was also disciplined and patient enough to only drop the album when the time was right,” said Mabuza.
He shared that sonically, his inspiration comes from the likes of Brown Dash, Mandoza, TKzee, Arthur Mafokate and Tropies. “On the album I fused kwaito with the Afro-nation sound and the result was Survival of the Fittest. Pure kwaito does not sell anymore like it used to, so I had to find a way to make music that was going to be appealing to the masses.”
The mixing and mastering of the album was done by Andrew on the Beat, but he also worked with DJ K-Boz, Stika Zwan, Shakes, Skindo and Allie. He added that he was very specific with the producers that he chose to work with.
“I needed to work with producers who were going to give me the sound I was looking for. If you listen to the album, you will notice that it sounds different from a lot of music that is out now,” he said.
Speaking on what he wants to achieve with this body of work, Mabuza said that he wants to export his music outside the country. In the effort to do this, he mentioned that he is going to take his music videos to continental music channels like Trace Africa, Channel O and MTV Base Africa.
“I have an agent in Nigeria who has helped me get some of my music play listed on Warri FM, in Warri State, Nigeria.
“I am also going to take a different approach when submitting my music videos to different channels. It is difficult for a Namibian to be play-listed on these channels so instead of submitting these videos via email, I want to actually visit these media houses,” said Mabuza.
He announced that hard copies will be available by the end of August. The first batch will be distributed by himself and his team. “We are also planning to have an album launch soon. People should just keep an eye on my social media for the announcement of the album launch date,” he shared.
MICHAEL KAYUNDE
“Even though I felt the urge to drop the album a long time ago, I was also disciplined and patient enough to only drop the album when the time was right,” said Mabuza.
He shared that sonically, his inspiration comes from the likes of Brown Dash, Mandoza, TKzee, Arthur Mafokate and Tropies. “On the album I fused kwaito with the Afro-nation sound and the result was Survival of the Fittest. Pure kwaito does not sell anymore like it used to, so I had to find a way to make music that was going to be appealing to the masses.”
The mixing and mastering of the album was done by Andrew on the Beat, but he also worked with DJ K-Boz, Stika Zwan, Shakes, Skindo and Allie. He added that he was very specific with the producers that he chose to work with.
“I needed to work with producers who were going to give me the sound I was looking for. If you listen to the album, you will notice that it sounds different from a lot of music that is out now,” he said.
Speaking on what he wants to achieve with this body of work, Mabuza said that he wants to export his music outside the country. In the effort to do this, he mentioned that he is going to take his music videos to continental music channels like Trace Africa, Channel O and MTV Base Africa.
“I have an agent in Nigeria who has helped me get some of my music play listed on Warri FM, in Warri State, Nigeria.
“I am also going to take a different approach when submitting my music videos to different channels. It is difficult for a Namibian to be play-listed on these channels so instead of submitting these videos via email, I want to actually visit these media houses,” said Mabuza.
He announced that hard copies will be available by the end of August. The first batch will be distributed by himself and his team. “We are also planning to have an album launch soon. People should just keep an eye on my social media for the announcement of the album launch date,” he shared.
MICHAEL KAYUNDE
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