Motswako rapper Hades drops Hula
Motswako rapper Hades (or Seth Hades), recently dropped a new single titled Hula. Born Willy Makgobi, Hades is an underground hip-hop artist from Maun, who is a teacher by profession, professionally trained as a music teacher.
Hades is signed to Dagee Records, after being discovered by the US-based label director, DJ Dagizus, who identified his talent and brought him on board as one of his artists earlier this year. This is his first project under Dagee Records. The introductory single displays Hades’ lyrical content, talent and versatility.
Hades said he grew up listening to conscious rap music that addressed on socio-political themes that tore into actual and relatable issues. He said that he was fascinated by the ingenious lyricism that artists of hip hop music possessed and exhibited when they touched on controversial topics, or when they chose to be creative with abstruse concepts.
“I held these underground artists in high regard, especially concerning their penmanship. I looked up to the likes of Immortal Technique, The Last Emperor and Chief Kamachi, among others, and they had a huge influence on how I wrote my songs and structured my ideas,” he said.
The Motswako rapper explained that he came up with his name, influenced and inspired by Hades, a mythical character who was the god of the underworld in Greek mythology.
“I chose the name Hades to symbolically levitate above the rest of the “underground” artists as their god. It also symbolises Set/ Seth/Suetekh, who was the god of war, chaos and storms… and was taken from Egyptian mythology to metaphorically inform the competition that he is a ‘dangerous rapper.’ A combination of these characters became the formidable rapper that is ‘Seth Hades.’ I am aware of the parallels of the characters I chose to use have with those in the Bible, but the Greek and Egyptian mythologies are older, so they take precedence in this manner,” he said.
Hades noted that for him, music is more than an art form that is made for the enjoyment of the audience, but it can also be used to convey knowledge, and tackle social issues, adding that social consciousness is at the heart of his creativity. “Music can also be used as an outlet that artists can use to decompress and vent their displeasures over the current situations, or to applaud and revere public figures, who are doing an excellent job and so forth.”