Words by Mercia Tucker
To refer to Sliqe solely as a DJ would be a disservice to the musician that he has worked to become. Lutendo Kungoane has shed the title in his recent offerings and is known solely by the moniker. His evolution from playing house to learning how to play hip hop and eventually becoming a producer is evidence of his tenacity and drive in becoming, not simply a DJ, but a well-rounded creator.
On making the move from playing at venues to releasing music, he says “There are very few DJs who are known worldwide for just DJing, they all have some kind of music. There’s certain levels that you will hit and there are roofs that you will hit [by not producing music]. So at a very early stage in my career I realised you’re gonna hit a roof.”
He released Do Like I Do and the song gave him both a smash hit and the tag that introduces his singles “Injayam uSliqe”. The remix, however, earned him a history-making SAMA in 2016 as the first hip hop DJ to win the prestigious award in South Africa. Asked if the win raised the standard of expectations from him, he said “I think [it did] amongst my peers. Artists were able to now take me more seriously and work with me. I feel like it advances your career in very small ways, it just depends on how you wanna take it as a person. But you can really use it to elevate yourself a little more, take your dreams a little further. Most people decide to dwell on it and when you dwell on it, that’s when you die. I don’t dwell on it, it’s an award; take it, pat on the back, thank your fans, and keep moving.”
He raised the roof and released Injayam, Vol. 1, working with the crème de la crème of the South African Hip hop fraternity in curating a masterpiece of a debut. Although the album was predominantly rap-oriented, he wanted to show his versatility as a producer by including the likes of On It featuring Shekinah. A pop single, he says of it “Pop has a stigma that it’s this type of 94.7 music [but] pop is just popular music. That’s all it is. Because music just has that power to drive people, I think the message is more important in a song, message and beat. That’s what people get wrong.” As evidence of his views on the public’s musical appreciation, On It went gold as a single and the video had over a million views on YouTube.
Growing as a musician, to him, means expanding his reach with regards to genres. “I don’t know what to call the music we’re making right now but all I know is [that] it’s exciting. It’s not something you can just bump into randomly, it was well thought of. Also, limiting music to genres I think should be a thing of the past. Because there’s a Drake who raps, but he sings. And people say he’s soft but he can actually go hard. On Scorpion he went hard as a rapper so you can’t really box anyone.”
In pursuing the amalgamation of genres and sounds that he calls “African pop, South African pop” he began working on Injayam, Vol. 2. “Sjava’s on the ball, Samthing Soweto’s on the ball, Sun El’s on the ball, Shekinah’s on the ball, Kwesta’s on the ball, Kid X is on the ball. So if we bring all that together… Those are different pies but South Africans are chewing all of it cos they love all of it cos it’s what we are. So for me, we took it back. Listened to the Brendas, the Hughs, we listened to a lot of stuff for the next album. I felt like it would be too much of a jump from the first album, from it being a completely hip hop album, to jumping to something that’s very dance-progressive, pop, African, you know?”
Navy Black was born. The child of a hip hop oriented Vol. 1 and an African pop sounding Vol. 2, this hybrid served to introduce the audience to his musical progression. “I feel like this album caters for the greater South Africa. Not the immediate Joburg, westernised, side of it but the more Matatiele, Lydenburg, Mpumalanga, Nelspruit, Durban, Cape Town, [countrywide audience]. I feel like black people were neglected. We were all forced to listen to English music and no-one is going back to make music that our people understand. That’s why there’s a big mixture of vernacular on this album. It’s just to cater for everybody.”
Co-produced by Makwa, you hear a lot of Makwa’s vocals supplementing the arrangements on Navy Black. “Me and Makwa sat, we shared ideas, I wrote, he wrote. But I only did a few [vocals], I didn’t… I don’t put myself out there like that, I’m not tryna be an artist. So I would rather write and give it to you, I will not do it myself.”
In his quest for longevity in an ever-changing industry, he chooses not to be front and centre as an artist but rather conduct that orchestration from the background. “I’ve accepted my role as a creator; creator in terms of music, creator in terms of lyrics, that’s my place. I don’t want to sing on stage, I DJ though. It’s not that I’m scared but an artist has a lifespan, a producer has no lifespan.”
With his albums released under his own label, he has a distribution deal with Sony but stresses the importance of finding a good balance between label relationships and independent artistry. “People don’t take control of their entire business. They just wanna record and then they chill and then they hope for the best.” He adds “People shouldn’t sell the wrong message. You can be independent in your creative process, but if you don’t know the business, get someone who knows the business.”
Meticulous with his process and deliberate about his success, he’s had to put in the time required to materialise it. “I’ve always had ideas of how I’d want to do things, but I never had the know-how. So over the years I’ve acquired the know-how to do certain things and now I’m able to help people write their hooks, produce the beats, help mixing, help mastering. So there’s nothing that I can’t do now in my field.”
It’s this very tenacity that had him send a direct message to American singer and rapper Sy Ari Da Kid on Twitter requesting a feature. “I followed him and he followed me back. I was like ‘Let’s not waste this opportunity’” and after sending him four beats, he recorded on two of them.
Sliqe recaps his goals when getting into the music industry “I think I’ve just always wanted to be the best in music. I didn’t really know what exactly and I found out along the way. Everything else just came together.” His journey is far from complete but as his artistry meanders, centre to it would be his growth and constant evolution. “If you don’t evolve as a person, look in the mirror, there’s something you’re doing wrong.”
