Giving lessons

AS AN artist with a cult following, it would be easy to assume Simiso Zwane is constantly the cat that got the cream. But, the Primustof artist who is popularly known as Okmalumkoolkat and one half of the boundary-breaking group, Dirty Paraffin, was not sure if he really had a following. So he issued a challenge to his fans to reveal themselves.

In August, with just 70 000 likes on Facebook and about that number on other social media, Okmalumkoolkat promised to drop a much-awaited project for free download if he reached 100 000 followers on Twitter and Instagram or 100 000 likes on Facebook. And so, the 100K MaCassette challenge was born.

Sitting down at an eatery where everybody knows his name (and order) like he’s on Cheers, I ask the Holy Oxygen hitmaker if he felt it was a risk to put himself out there like that. If he thought there was a possibility he wouldn’t achieve the goal he publicly set out to in the time that he had planned.

“It’s always been a risk to me,” he says, stirring his juice (the one the waiter called his usual). “When we started throwing our own shows as Dirty Paraffin, 20 people would show up. We never stopped, though. So the 100K challenge was to my fans because of the place that I was at.

“I was at a point where I would be at shows and play tracks I was featured on and people would go crazy for those verses,” he remembers. “Then I would delve into my own songs or stuff on Holy Oxygen and then only about 40 percent of the crowd would be going crazy. In that way, you start to see the pockets of the crowd that are really yours and wonder, ‘where are the other 60 percent?’”

So while this Boyzn Bucks member was being inundated with requests for new music, Okmalumkoolkat had an idea.

“I wanted to gauge how many fans I had. Sincerely,” he shares. “It helps if my fans say there are 100 of us and I put out something and really see there are 100 of them.”

Although some people got wind of the muso who loves to dance on stage through his collaborations with the likes of Major League DJs, Sibot and LV, he does have scores of fans who know the deep cuts. The ones that appear on Dirty Paraffin’s DPEP or his own album, Holy Oxygen – which has a follow-up album that will be released next month.

These fans – and people who just want to get to know him – will be pleased with the 100K MaCassette mixtape. It features skits