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THE son of legendary musician Ringo Madlingozi, Phila, is walking firmly in his father’s footsteps after releasing his single Phila. The self-titled Xhosa song features his rapper friend Solo. The 26-year-old described the song as being Afro hip-hop. The song is about the youth struggle in South Africa right now like the Fees Must Fall and worldwide like the Black Lives Matter movements,” Phila said. The budding musician says he created the song for SABC1’s drama series Mutual Friend, in which he plays a role. The song follows my character in the show but it became very personal for me because of what the youth are going through. I decided to release it as a single.” After being on season 11 last year, Phila said, people have been asking when he would release music of his own. This is my first release and I got a lot of positive reviews from people that I respect in the industry. The song is currently available as a free download but will be sold on iTunes from October,” Phila said. Mutual Friend’s co-producer Phumelele Mthembu confirmed that the song was Phila’s original work. Mthembu said the production company took a creative decision to ask him to do a song for the show. We asked him to create a song that was not only entertaining but also spoke to some of the themes which our show touches on, including varsity fee increases and Black Lives Matter,” he said. Long before he appeared on Idols, Phila had been making music independently. I don’t want to be on the stage too much. I want to produce a lot of music, shows and write a lot because I love telling stories through my music and acting,” he said. He broke into the industry in 2013 after winning auditions for SABC1 TV series Phila currently plays a lead role on Mzansi Magic’s Xhosa drama series Isikizi that airs on Mondays at 8pm.