Music
Top 5 Tracks: FonZo
Hear the songs that have left an indelible mark on his memory
FonZo, a Cape Town based rapper, has a relatively short but eventful history in the South African music scene. From being mentored by AKA, to multiple features in Hype magazine, and endless EP/single releases, FonZo has been a busy component of the growth of hip-hop in Cape Town. Now signed to AKMG management, FonZo has dropped released Vol. 1 – The Return of The Boss Don, as well as ‘Memoirs From The Night Show’. He has recently released his first video, 20WW, off his latest project and is now working on his debut album. Here he shares five tracks that have stayed with him over the years.
Kanye West - Flashing Lights
This is by far my favourite Kanye record, ever. Produced and written by Kanye himself, with additional production by Eric Hudson, everything about this joint is just… right. The beat switches up every four bars, with the first four bars being drone-esque chords backed by a bassline, and the second four bars - a crispy Nord-Lead sounding synth, chopped up into an undeniable groove. Not to mention the gorgeous strings which include violins and cellos and all that good stuff, arranged by Larry Gold. I feel the song is very well mixed, in a genre not known for it’s exceptional mixing, but the strong point for me, was growing up side-by-side with the song, and finally understanding the meaning behind it.
This song is one of three by Kanye West with “Light” in the title, the other two are called “Street Lights” and “All Of The Lights”. I'm not sure if they're all connected or something, but "Flashing Lights" is definitely my standout from the trio.
Nas - The Message
The first time that I heard this song, it was one of those “yeah, this is that high-grade piff” moments. From the Sting sample, the “Fake thug, no love, you get the slug” opening lines, to the “A thug changes and love changes, and best friends become strangers, word up” ending lines, it was Nas in his element. The beat is mesmerising in it’s used of the guitar sample, the chopped and scratched-up-by-a-DJ vocal samples from Nas’ previous releases “NY State of Mind” and “Halftime” on the hooks, add to this the clean cut delivery of the raps, with Nas’ captivating near-monotonous voice tying all of these elements together so effortlessly, you’re left with a stellar record and definitely one of my favourite Hip-Hop joints of all time.
My reason for adding this song to the list is because it displayed lyrical maturity way beyond the years of the at the time 22 year old Nasir Jones. I am 24 and I am yet to effortlessly describe my day-to-day living and life lessons learned all in one beautifully crafted message like Nas did on “The Message”. The last rap line on the song is
In hindsight, it was something Nas needed in ’96. In terms of Hip-Hop in general, 1996 was a ridiculous year - I’ll go out on a limb to say it was one of the finest years in terms of quality Hip-Hop releases, ever: 2Pac - All Eyez On Me, Fugees - The Score, Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt, UGK - Ridin’ Dirty, Outkast - ATLiens, Ghostface - Iron Man, Snoop Dogg - Tha Doggfather, Mobb Deep - Hell On Earth, Makavelli - The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, all came out that year.
So to the aforementioned artists, they had to deliver solid releases to solidify their spots in the game, because man like Nas dropped the highly revered “Illmatic” two years prior, so everybody was charged up and hungry to prove their stance - for Nas, it was equally as important for him to drop a project to emphasize that “Illmatic” wasn’t just a flash in the plan, and for “It Was Written” to start with this record, it definitely was Nas laying down a marker to everyone else.
D’Angelo - Spanish Joint
The curious case of D’Angelo. What he could’ve been, we’ll never know - after two amazing albums in “Brown Sugar” and “Voodoo”, he then took a 14 year hiatus from music, due to confusing reasons you can find via a simple google search, and dropped “Black Messiah” in 2014 to critical acclaim. Let’s just take a moment right quick… 14 YEARS? Man. If you listen to the music, like, really listen, you’d understand why those 14 years are so heartbreaking, because we could possibly have been blessed with so much more music, but here we are.
What we do know for certain however, is that D’Angelo is a serious musician. As in, he does it all. Keys, guitar, bass, drums, you name it, D’Angelo can do it. Just have a glance over the production credits for his “Brown Sugar” (1995) album and revisit this statement. Now on an album as perfect as “Voodoo” (1999/2000) is, choosing a favourite is an extremely difficult task. There were 5 singles off of the album, of which Spanish Joint wasn’t one.
Spanish Joint for me, is a song on the album that I wish was left off the album, and personally delivered to me and me only, never to be enjoyed by anyone but me and those I decide to play it for. It’s that serious for me. The groovy baseline, the guitar, the horns, the lush layered vocals… man.
Jay-Z/Linkin Park - Encore
A song included on the (very short, somewhat confusing and very hit or miss) collaborative effort “Collision Course” by rock superstars of the time Linkin Park, and Hip-Hop superstar of the time Jay-Z. Both names still relevant right now (R.I.P Chester one time though), testament to their abilities, but they were definitely at the peak of their powers when this single was released in 2004.
The original songs that were based up were both released in 2003, “Numb” featured on Linkin Park’s Meteora album, and “Encore” on Jay-Z’s The Black Album. The mash up combines the lyrics of both, and predominantly the beat of Linkin Park’s Numb, which was originally produced by the band themselves, as well as Don Gilmore, who also produced the mashed up version.
This song introduced me to Linkin Park, which subsequently opened my ears and mind to appreciate a whole genre of music, which was otherwise described as ‘devil music’ by my angelic Mother, which is rock music. Albeit they’re labeled as post-grunge, alternative rock and nu-rock or whatever, the song opened my ears, and I ended up giving all the sub-genres of this “devil music” a listen, and some of it is genuinely really dope. Being from the northern suburbs of Port Elizabeth, I only really interacted with what was playing on the radio stations, in the taxis and artists my parents chose to listen to/buy music of, so all of this was new to me at just 11 years old - this song single-handedly opened my ears and mind to broadening my listening experience, hence it’s spot on the list.
Skwatta Kamp - Umoya
In a time where there was very apparent tension between the kwaito superstars of the time, and Hip-Hop artist of the time in South Africa, this song came through - and in my opinion, won the battle for the Hip-Hop cats.
It is by no means a life changing record in terms of subject matter, there’s not a single verse that will change your (or let me say, my) life or whatever, but the feel of the record is one of those things that genuinely just can’t be reciprocated.
The hauntingly beautiful hook, and surprisingly symbiotic delivery of all the artists in the group on the record, combined with a hypnotic beat, gave us one of the finest Hip-Hop records South Africa has ever seen, and it’s more than worthy of being on this list.
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