For the final instalment of Tonight’s Heritage Month celebration of South African music, Helen Herimbi sat down with one of the sonic architects of today’s mainstream scene, Anatii.

The nice thing about the Artiifact Tour is I wanted to give people an experience of how I see the music being presented. I thought, ‘let’s start with Omarion first’. We’re going to add more dates and take it to more people. There’s also a mystery guest who will jump onto the tour.

So, Jump with Cassper Nyovest and featuring Nasty C is an iTunes release bonus track. I like how you start your verse off by telling us the beat is 150. I presume that’s R150 000. Facts though?

Ha! It used to be facts. Old fact. (Anatii is asked to take a phone call with a popular radio station. When he hangs up, he mischievously looks up at me and sings: the beat is 250!)

So you and AKA fell out shortly after you made The Saga together. Then he released Composure, taking jabs at you and others in the industry. What’s your relationship like now?

It’s interesting because I met him in LA. But there’s no bad energy. I don’t keep that sort of energy.

So is he the mystery guest on the tour?

Ha! Can we get him? No, we ain’t that close.

The last few seconds of So Many Rooms is interesting because it sounds like you’re playing Composure…

Those seconds are not Composure. It just shows you where Composure came from. That’s what Artiifact is about. You’ll listen months from now and see that this (points to himself) is the guy who made this and that song. It tells a story.

It seems like you were being tongue-incheek because we go from The Saga with AKA into the braggadocios So Many Rooms and then into The Long Way which is about how you didn’t take shortcuts.

(Being tongue-in-cheek) wasn’t the intention. It’s just to keep people aware of where certain things come from. I can tell you where that sound you heard in those seconds is in three places on my album!

The first track on your album is Almighty. Then you go right into Pray for the Children and the back of your merch T-shirts says: “don’t forget to pray.” Is your faith a huge part of your music?

Faith is a big part of my music, but I would like to say more than that, spiritual consciousness is important. It’s really time for us to wake up to what’s really going on in the world. At the end of the day, we are the new generation. I care about conscious youth.

Anatii’s Artiifact Tour featuring Omarion and appearances by Riky Rick, Nasty C and more is at Gallagher Estate in Gauteng on Friday and at Wavehouse in Durban on Saturday. Tickets at TicketPro.