The Spirit of SA Music - Spoek Mathambo

“Spoek Mathambo, is a Johannesburg visionary who bridges South Africa’s past to its brilliant future through his gleaming electronic rap tracks.” The Fader

Lets get it out there, I was a huge fan of Sweat X.  In fact everyone seemed to be huge fans of Sweat X. So I was pretty unhappy about hearing they were no longer. Lucky for me, half of that duo, one mister Spoek Mathambo, has embarked on a solo career and the praise is already flowing in!

“Building on the kind of heavy electro and crunk framework that have made him a European blog phenomenon, its lyrics add politicised topics like racism to the hedon- istic party vibe of old while turning back to Africa for musical inspiration drawn from its rich melting pot of domestic and imported sound.” DJ Mag

Getting on the cover of Fader Magazine is just one of the signs this guy is about to become a global phenomenon. He is our ambassador of the new, hip, extremely cool South Africa, if you will. Spoek is taking our post apartheid eclectic chic out to the world. Outside of all this arty stuff, his beats are raw, very base driven and cool as ice! I caught up with him for a quick interview, while he was busy traveling the world and owning it.

Kai - First off, who is Spoek?
Spoek - Spoek is Nthato Mokgata

Kai - Why art and music - do they naturally combine, or two separate entities?
Spoek - it's all the same thing.

Kai - Whats happening with Sweat X?
Spoek - nothing!

Kai - Tell us about your first solo album?
Spoek - I was happy to put all the different songs I had been writing over the last couple of years together and not to have to compromise. It was my album the way I wanted it done.

Kai - Where do you want your music to go - where do you want to go as a musician?
Spoek – I want money like Barry White, a perm like Eazy E, and more money...like Patrice Motsepe.

Kai - Tell us about being on the cover of Fader Magazine.
Spoek -It is great that they have been so supportive over the last 3 years...that was a culmination of the relationship.

Kai - Do you take part in any action sports - surf, skate etc?
Spoek - No

Kai - There have been some pretty amazing descriptions of your music, how would you describe it?
Spoek - New South African music

Kai - Where to next for Spoek?
Spoek - To the moon...to the Grammys...to the cemetery.

You can follow the man at his website - Spoek Mathambo

Check out his latest track - Control

SPOEK MATHAMBO - CONTROL from spoek mathambo on Vimeo.

and


Spoek Mathambo - Don't mean to be rude ft Zaki Ibrahim from leneopen on Vimeo.