Rapper Blxckie on his album success and newfound fame
Rapper Blxckie on his album success and newfound fame
Not that long ago he was just a student with a burning passion to make his rap dream a reality.
He saw music as an escape and a passion he could live off. So a few months ago, he took a leap of faith and moved to Johannesburg to meet a producer and what was meant to be a once off recording session produced hits and launched his career.
Sihle Sithole (21), popularly known by his rap name Blxckie, is the new rapper on the scene. But his music is already making waves and topping charts in a space of a few months.
It's all thanks to his move to Johannesburg and the lockdown that had him in the studio recording all the time.
He was born and bred in Sydenham Heights in Durban. While the area had a lot of crime and violence, it is also where he was introduced to the arts.
He recalls a time when he was 8-years old and making music with friends. That's the foundation of the career he's building now.
“I grew up in a very small area but there is a lot that goes on there in terms of violence and criminal activities. When I reached high school I got into poetry. At first poetry was something I was doing to improve my English because at the time I didn’t know how to speak it. I read a lot and I started writing my own pieces and I also started performing those pieces on stage and I noticed that they were sounding more like rap.”
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When he realised that he loves to be on stage performing, he started recording music with his friends by downloading beats on YouTube and recording them in a studio in his high school.
“We were very passionate about music but it wasn’t like we were making poetic rap, we used to make trap music. It was only in university that I started music seriously, after I got my own small studio set up. I started getting recognition on campus and I was a part of a music movement and people started recognising who we are. We dropped a lot of music and people were excited about that.”
Before his music became well known and turned him a star, Blxckie was pursuing a degree in social sciences at the University of Kwazulu-Natal but says he couldn’t complete it because of the lockdown and he chose to focus on music instead.
“I came to visit a producer in Jozi and then the lockdown hit, I couldn’t go back to Durban because of the restrictions, so I stayed this side with that producer. We used to make music everyday and that’s how everything started.
“I made a few rands from my music last year and I went back home after lockdown lifted. I went back to show the family this is what I am trying to do.”
He released his debut album earlier this year titled B4Now which is a fusion of infectious melodic, slow tempo songs and upbeat trap hits such as the anthem Yex4 that he did with Nasty C.
“I recorded the song during the lockdown. When things started popping here in Jozi it became necessary for me to have a full length project. I had over 100 ideas and the challenge was trying to pick songs for the album. I started the album with a slow emotional song called Mama. It is just to tell my journey of where I was in Jozi. It's an ode to her because she raised me. I wanted to ease people into music before giving them the album.”
He recently received a shout out and acknowledgement from rapper AKA and he's excited. The shout out had fans asking for a collaboration soon.
“This one guy sent me a message telling me to look at AKA's story on Instagram and I was shocked to see a video of him playing my song and jamming to it. His manager and my manager have been in communication but nothing has been finalised but for sure we will be working something together soon.
“When I started music I wanted to be a legend and these are just the first few stages of it. All the things that have happened I had already imagined. I am looking forward to all the things that are going to happen.”
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