Reason HD on exploring Amapiano as Sizwe Alakine

Could you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and your background?
I am from Katlehong and Tembisa, to a certain degree. The first nine years of my life is the Tembisa aspect and then I spent the latter part in Katlehong. I grew up in my grandmother’s house first, and then moved in with my stepdad and my mom when she remarried. I kind of got introduced into music by my uncles. They used to have a bottle store outside the house and then I guess that kind of evolved, I started discovering music by myself, I guess.

You recently joined Warner Music, please tell us a little bit more about that.
I think for a very long time, especially under the Reason brand, I was quite committed to being independent, having had a not so nice experience with major record labels and independent labels. When I eventually started making this music, I saw a need to expand and to have a partner that could make it bigger than before. I think I played it safe a lot under the Reason brand and so with this one I was a bit more aggressive; I knew what I needed. And I wanted a company that also had something to prove, and I think that’s the one right now. So yeah, it was necessary.

You’ve decided to relaunch yourself as Sizwe Alakine, which is your alter ego’s name. Why did you feel that was necessary?
Reason is just a brand that I’ve attached to hip-hop, to poetry, lyricism and storytelling – everything completely and unmistakably hip-hop related. Sizwe Alakine is just for South Africans; South African music, whether it be gqom, whether it be ampiano, whether it be Afro pop, Afro soul. This is what I want the brand to live for; everything commercial, anything mass market. It’s about taking the skills set that I have developed from my other brand [Reason] and just creating a new identity for it.

I’d rather just create something new and maybe, I guess, even just show off a completely different side of myself. The craziest part is people tend to forget that I grew up in townships, I grew up in the hood. And that alone means there’s a desire for me to explore beyond just ‘I’m a good rapper’.

Please tell us more about After Tears, what inspired it?
Still within the premise of telling authentic South African stories, I think After Tears is always an untold story in South Africa, something so common, something so regular, something that we experience on a consistent basis.

I found myself at an after tears, and I felt the need to create a soundtrack for that mood, for that environment, because it’s like we are in pain but we are having joy at the same time. I think that’s life also.

Sometimes you catch us just in good moods, but deep down we’re not so happy. It could be the loss of job, losing your car, or losing a relationship. A lot of the times, I think, because people will find themselves in juxtapositions when they’re drinking, we’re laughing but we’re in pain. That’s what After Tears represents to me in a literal and metaphorical sense.

Speaking of loss, you have lost some close friends in the industry, Riky Rick and DJ Dimples, recently. How have their passings affected you?
In a good and in a bad way. It’s just the reality of the fact that, I live in a world with no Riky Rick or Dimples. In a good way, it’s just a reminder of how fragile life is, and how, if there’s anything that needs to be done, it needs to be done now because we all know how fragile life is. You can never guarantee that you’re going to be here forever. Let’s make the best of it.

What are some of the challenges that you’ve faced along the way and how did you overcome them?
Well, I guess the biggest one is Covid-19. Being unemployed for a year is the biggest challenge a lot of people have ever, ever had. So, a lot of stuff is just part of the game, but I think for me, the biggest thing is just living in a world where you don’t work for about two years and having to survive that. That’s wild, and very painful.

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What are some of your plans for the rest of the year and beyond?
I think releasing this project is the most important one, getting After Tears to number one is also an important one. Just making sure everything goes as planned. We’re motivated, we have all the resources we need to execute it, there’s really no reason things can’t go as well as we imagined. So that’s the only thing; is just to put all our energies behind this project and take amapiano to the world.

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What message do you have for people that look up to you?
It’s been a while since I’ve had to share one of those. Operate something. Just operate something and keep operating. If it’s an idea you have in your mind or business or whatever is out there that’s just standing in your way just operate with other operators and see how they can help you operate.