The sky’s the limit for
Miss Pru has been nominated three times at this year’s SA Hip Hop Awards – without ever touching a mic. caught up with the DJ.
THIS year, most of Miss Pru’s prayers have been answered. In addition to releasing Ameni – which is one of the biggest smash hits of the year – she was able to return to her first love: hip hop.
Now, she has been nominated in three categories (Best Collaboration, Best Video and Song of the Year) at the fifth annual South African Hip Hop Awards (SAHHAs), which take place at Gold Reef City, Johannesburg on December 14.
Miss Pru, whose real name is Prudence Lesedi Sebalo, wasn’t quite sure how to take the news. She told me: “When we were at the nominees announcement, I wasn’t sure how to react, whether to laugh or cry or stand up and jump. It was just overwhelming. I’m glad that people are starting to recognise Miss Pru and the work that I’m putting in.”
The public was first introduced to Miss Pru as one of the graduates of DJ Zinhle’s FUSE Academy DJ school. The pair were inseparable. They eventually went in different directions and Miss Pru went on to release a dance song called Welele. But even with that success, her heart was always somewhere else.
“When it comes to hip hop and house, I’ve always loved hip hop,” she confesses. “That’s how I started. But because house music was so big when I started, that’s why I had to go into playing house. But I would say: right now, Miss Pru is in a good space, loving what I’m doing.”
“Every bit of work I have put in in the past has helped me to get to where I am right now and to be able to control my brand. I’m in a very good space now.”
That’s not hard to see. After all, Ameni, which spawned a sci-fi themed video, is one of the catchiest songs and features all of her label mates. This is the song that has established the Touch Central radio presenter as a force to be reckoned with in the industry. I ask her which of the categories that she has been nominated for is the one she wants the most.
“Honestly, people are usually very humble about this and say ‘being nominated is enough for me’. But I feel like Best Video is what we could take out of all the categories. Ours is a very good video! We put in a lot of effort shooting it, the concept and everything. That’s the category I’m looking forward to the most. With the other categories we’re up against some strong contenders, so we’ll see on the awards night how things go.”
In the Mzansi landscape, it’s become the norm for club DJs to label themselves artists. Even when they weren’t producing a stitch of the beat. Things are changing over time and with the encouragement from established DJ-artists like Sphe and Naves, Miss Pru has been supported as she embarks on her musical journey.
I tease her and say she is a producer in the same way that Puff Daddy is – one who has more vision and less technical expertise.
“When I hear a beat that I like and want to add anything to it, we have guys like (producer) Ruff and they can interpret whatever I am saying, they are able to put it together for me,” she explains.
“We have very good in-house producers that can interpret exactly what I want in a song. Ruff and the guys have been teaching me how to use the equipment, so when I get home I just take out the software and see what I can do myself. But right now, I’m like a Puff Daddy, I guess,” she laughs.
The Ameni beat idea was initially sparked by a chord Emtee kept replaying. “I was like: ‘damn! That sounds hot! I think we can take that and do something with it,’” says Miss Pru. “I took that, sat down with Ruff and explained how I would like the beat to be. Then we passed it on to Tweezy and Lunatik, who are amazing producers. They managed to put my concept together.”
It was always her dream to have a posse cut, but for her next single, she’s decided to feature fewer people. Called Ugesi, the single features Emtee, Sjava, Saudi and new Ambitiouz signees Flame and Neo. “I feel like I always want to introduce new artists from Ambitiouz and, for me, Neo and Flame are the next big thing,” Miss Pru exclaims.
“We were trying to find another song that was going to be as big as Ameni. We did a couple of songs and they didn’t match up until Ugesi. We decided to say people must expect great things from Miss Pru. Right now, I’m enjoying working on music in the studio and the journey I am on. Should there be enough good songs for me to make an album, then I’ll definitely do that.”
But for now, these awards are waiting to be scooped.
To vote for SAHHA-nominated acts, go to www.sahiphopawards.com.