MY LIFE IN MUSIC
1. Genres I’m into… As mentioned before, I don’t have favourites. I listen to everything. For instance, I may not like Cardi B’s music but there will be one particular song of hers that I’m drawn to. I know it may seem a bit out of character of me, but I love hip-hop and I love getting down to it. I listen to both old and new school hip-hop, but the former speaks to me more. I love your Mos Defs…now see, that’s a crush [chuckles]. My range is quite wide — the only music I struggle to warm up to is house music and that’s only because I’m a sing-alonger. Oh, but kwaito [insert beaming face]! On my way to the cover shoot, I struggled to decide on a song that would get me in the right mood for a photo shoot. I shuffle my music a lot and Zola’s Ghetto Fabulous came on and, just like that, I hit the highest high!
2. Artist I’m yet to listen to… Boblo Boat featuring J. Cole Roy Star. A friend sent it to me recently but I still haven’t gotten around to listening to it.
3. Last CD that I bought… The Soil’s self-titled debut album in 2012.
4. Last live music DVD that I bought… A Tribute to Bob Marley that features Erykah Badu, Queen Latifah, the Marley sons and a few other spirited artists. Yoh, I’d love to attend a live show of that nature. I can’t remember if it was the last DVD I bought, but it’s the one I keep rewatching.
5. Childhood soundtrack… As kids, we used to love singing along to Luther Vandross’ Dance With My Father. When I learnt of my dad’s passing 15 years ago, I’d just bought my car and was driving from Cape Town to the Eastern Cape with my one sister and my cousin. Not knowing that my dad was no more, we played that track until we got home and were told that he’d passed on. My dad loved Teddy Pendergrass so naturally his music rubbed off on me.
6. Soundtrack to my teens… There are so many — SWV, Aaliyah, Tevin Campell, Shai, En Vogue, TuPac!
7. Soundtrack to your early 20s… I was very Rasta, into hip-hop and trying to act all thuggish and hardcore. My dreads were starting to grow and I mostly wore long skirts with socks and flip-flops. That phase was characterised by my obsession with the likes of Mos Def, Common, Busta Rhymes, Floetry and many other soulful artists.
8. Soundtrack to my 30s… This was when my appreciation of jazz kicked in and my love for soulful music solidified. Gregory Porter, PJ Morton, Benjamin Clementine as well as young ones like Sam Smith and Daniel Caesar. I play certain music at different phases in my life. For instance PJ Morton’s Claustrophobic is song is about someone telling him that he needs to be more commercial in order to make it in the music industry. And he was consistent in responding by saying that ‘I’m sorry if that’s how you feel and if that is the case, I’d rather sit at home and make more music until I find a platform where I won’t have to change who I am’. At some point, I remember feeling claustrophic in this industry.
9. Songs that get me up in the morning… I shuffle my music a lot and always think that whatever song comes on is what I’m supposed to reflect on.
10. Artist that I discovered while travelling… New Zealand-Autsralian musician Jordan Rakei. I heard his music while in Germany, then when my colleague SK Khoza played his music one day. I eventually remembered where I knew him from.