They say the month is never really over till we wrap it up…
Ait! June was a crazy month in term of Eastern Cape music. We are now starting to see who really had a plan when they said 2017 is their year. We’re six months deep and even though May felt a bit dry, in June, we got our bounce back.
Singles
Most of the madness came from this section. With 17 tracks submitted and at least 10 of them being easily capable of winning the Pick Of The Month, this had us going back and forth trying to narrow the pool down to just five songs that will be presented to our guest judge.
Mikkie dropped some fire, B.LAQII came through with no apologies, Azi blew us away. Do not sleep on Third Sunn – Take and Liso Black – Black The Redeemer. EC has a tendency of sleeping on names they are not familiar with, StAy WoKe!
Pick Of The Month
Earlier this month we were at Ambitiouz Entertainment HQ wrapping up EC Hiphop Diaries Season 3. Over there we got the chance to kick it with Mpho so it only made sense for us to reach out to him. This months guest judge is Mpho.
Mpho is a photographer, videographer and a graphics and web designer. He has worked on 99% of the artwork that has come out of AE. The album covers that he has worked on include Avery by Emtee, Isinamuva by Sjava and Paradise by AReece just to name a few. Homey shot the Bonang video for Benchmaq too.
Outside music he makes movies… You can catch his short film title Ukhamaba which is currently in rotation on Mzansi Magic. His currently working on series for SABC 1. I could carry on all day but long story long, Mpho is a creative and the perfect judge for Pick Of The Month.
5 songs were selected by The Blacksmithed and sent to Mpho and the pick for the month for June is…
Title: Puffin Clouds
Artist: Arno Steez
Producer: Arno Steez
Submitted on the 8th of June Puffin Clouds was the first song Arno Steez had ever sent to The Blacksmithed and that’s all it has taken for him to get that pick of the month title. Who? How? Why? Trust me The Blacksmithed has these questions too. Arno Steez is one of the reasons why season 3 of EC Hiphop Diaries will not be the last season from us.
This is what Mpho had to say “I’m caught between Puffin’ Clouds & Goals… The melody game is on point with both songs and the quality of the music is too lit, but I dig the bounce on Puffin’ Clouds so Puffin’ Clouds it is… Big up to Arno Steez and shout out Azi!”
Tapes
4 Tapes were released this month on the site.
Songs Of Solomon – At 16 years old, Lutho has a lot of potential. The tape is raw but has its moments. We enjoyed moments on the Intro, moments on Open Your Eyes and Devil was our highlight for this tape. If Lutho is getting better with every bar he writes, he will be a problem for most at age 19. The Blacksmithed can only pray it’s still around to document that.
No Good Deed EP – Submitted last month, we bumped it for 2 weeks before published it, yall weren’t ready for it. The first time we heard Makheda was on the D.R.U.G.S. album. His the 3rd guy on Indian Sunset, the official track for #ECHiphopDiaries. We later bumped into him at the Escape event, that’s when he passed us his tape since then it’s been spinning. No Good Deed is a dope project. When High Speed hits you will lose it!
Transkei Stay Fly – Dropped on the 16 of June, Transkei Stay Fly is the only full length tape that came out this month. From the first track, right through to the last track, Mkenemy carries the region on his shoulders. In fact! on the Intro he says:
“Leway yaqala nge phupha, ndavuka ndahlala ndabhala kwab’hlungu neeNtupha/
/ndaz’xelela mna soze nd’vay aph’ eGcuwa, nd’zoz’nyusa, nd’zo hlupha, nd’zo Push iTranskei de nd’yobhubha”
Just a confirmation that he will carry the cross for Transkei. You can’t forget the history of Transkei. It’s the Homelands, an area that was systematically developed for black to not succeed. Yet Mkenemy is a black male, from Transkei, determine to succeed! Carrying the cross isn’t easy, Mkenemy shares his challenges on tracks like This Music Thing. #ClassicJoint
We need to revisit this project and really break it down. Mkenemy faced a lot of back lash after he posted “…so y’all hustled ways to pirate Jay-Z’s new 4:44 album & download it for free? But you couldn’t get my new “Transkei Stay Fly” Mixtape on The Blacksmithed which is just a click away?” which is weird when one of Hova’s main topics is supporting your own. Ok, that could be a reach… Some may argue that artist need to put work in and not just expect support. All We can say is “I’ll be damned if I drink some Belvedere while Puff got CÎROC”.
Recurring Dreams – This project, from EL connect Twitch and LLN, is a short offering. It’s apparently just a taste of what’s to come on the full length project the two are working on. We listened to the tape and we also saw what other artist had to say about it. We keen to see what where they will take the next project.
Videos
To be honest when we started this monthly wrap up posts we thought that this section would fall away at some point but NAH we still here talking EC Hiphop video!
This month one video was submitted, Crazy A – Hay’ Hay’. This is the first video from Crazy A and he has chosen to set the bar for his visuals sky high! The video was shot by @Blancanvas. The Thiird Eye crew mates Ree and Ulu are also in the video too for their part in the song. The location selected and edits to the video are crisp. The reception the video got was dope, it was sitting on a stack views after its first week. The most, if not the second most, we have seen from a video submitted to us. #WatchECHiphop
In other music video news, EezyThaDon and Lwaistar won a national competition, the #OMF_WHOSNEXT competition hosted by Ofentse Mwase Films. In the last week of June, they where in the J claiming their prize which is a music video shot by OMFilms. Lwaistar posted “On the video for #UMGQIBELO we are dressed by Walk In Closet, Kwantu Wear, Ndimbi Clothing and Lime Effect Clothing.”. It’s crazy seeing brands also get on board for this video. Now we wait…
Events
In July be sure to check out Yho Magazine’s block party. You might run into The Blacksmithed.
Please help The Blacksmithed report on events. Let us know when they will be happening and how they went. Email the details to info@theblacksmithed.com with the subject ‘Event’.
