Track By Track: Spoek Mathambo on Mzansi Beat Code

Want Ur Love (ft. Kajama and Fantasma)

A song about taking charge. "Want Ur Love" is really fun to me. Was fun to make. It's fun to play live and reminds me of my favourite times hanging out with the Fantasma crew. Pure synergy. Pure vibes. Pure fun. Jumping Back Slash mixed most of the album and co-produced some tracks, this is one of them... it is an absolute stormer featuring the graceful vocal talents of the Kajama sisters. They featured on a lot of the Fantasma album and those sessions spilled into this album.

Black Rose (ft. Damao, Suga Flow, and Tamar)

A ode to my people. A tribute to the roots of club/dance music. A tribute to resilience and pride. Damao is a link between late '80s, early '90s township disco, and synth pop, and later, the house movement that took SA by storm. He played bass in a ton of bands back in the day, and has been producing beats for the past decades. I met him because he's a neighbor of DJ Spoko and Mujava. He invited me to listen to some ideas he had, and from that meeting "Black Rose" was born.

Blast Fi Mi (ft. Loui Lvndn)

A song about that undefinable thing that makes you scream OMG in disbelief. I made this beat and although it was really fun for me with that broken beat, and rolling bassline, I knew it needed a vocal element. The song is built on some exclamations that South Africans make that express disbelief. The "eh", "tjo tjo tjo", "yohs"... I used them as rhythm elements. I am a huge fan of Loui Lvndn. I love his tone, style and songwriting... he knew it needed an expression of disbelief so he came with OMG.

Landed

A trip through the cosmos in search of love and/or sex. The intro is from one of my favorite sketch comedy shows, Pure Monate Soow... it sets the stage for Loui's intergalactic love interest who's already told you in the intro that "it's not my fault I'm drop dead gorgeous". When we made this, I hadn't heard a really melodic or soulful take on the gqom genre; at some point, gqom by definition was supposed to not be melodic... so I think we brought something fresh with this one.

The Mountain (ft. Pegasus Warning, DJ Mujava, DJ Spoko, and Machepis)

A song about the steeps and cliffs of life. I once did a tour with Pegasus Warning, he's a phenominal drummer, and for a 12-date tour in the US he was my drummer. As well as playing my songs, he would open up the show with his beautiful electronic soul music, singing like an angel and bringing the house down every night. "The Mountain" is originally a kind of gospel track... I became so infatuated with him that I asked if I could do a remix. While working on that, I met Mujava, Spoko, and Machepis, who added that Pitori house, Bacardi house vibe of theirs. So many relationships tied up in one very emotional song.

Volcan (ft. Ceci Bastida)

An ancient Aztec myth about two star crossed lovers, Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl.

Ceci Bastida!! I am all about Ceci! So happy to collaborate with her. I love how this song brings so many cultures together, Mexican meets Zulu meets Shangaan meets Robots crying via synth violins.

Libalela (ft. Langa Mavuso)

The song used to be called "Pray". When Langa Mavuso was in his final year of high school he sent me an email about wanting to "shadow" me in the music industry, just follow me around... I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't respond to the email. After about six months I had a nagging feeling to read it again and listen to voice note attached to the email... it blew me away, the maturity and control that his voice had, really astounded me. That was six years ago now and he is only getting better with age. Wiser in his writing and confidence.

I Found You (ft. Kajama and Fantasma)

I found myself in articulating this sound that I have dreamt about for so long, blending Zulu folk music with beats and soul. Kajama are incredible in their ability to harmonize, and as sisters who have been singing together all of their lives there is a real seamless to their vocal arrangements.

Nothing's Ever Perfect (ft. Loui Lvndn)

This theme is pretty self explanatory. It was originally a Fantasma song with me singing the chorus and rapping, then I went through a long phase of really not wanting to hear my voice... it lived as an instrumental for a while... I knew that I was very proud of the beat... I tried to replace my vocals with a couple of different singers... but really Loui made it his own with the way he wrote the verses. Deep emoshuns!

Sifun'imali Yethu (ft. Jumping Back Slash)

Jumping Back Slash makes such muscular and robust beats, sometimes very melancholy, so I don't think it's obvious what a funny person he is... he just has the best sense of humour. When I head his demo for this beat I went with writing really funny lyrics on this one, in a ton of South African slang phrases.

No Congo No Cellphone

I absolutely adore this song. It's hard to pick favourites, but without a doubt this is my very personal favourite. Making it was a big breakthrough for me technically with beatmaking...and performing it is always incredible and transcendental. My percussionist Thomas Guie has built a log drum that creates the maddest tones on this.

This song is about tantalum/coltan mining and it's relationship with conflict in the Congo and how central it is to manufacturing cellphones and TVs and laptops etc.

Spoek Mathambo Internation Airport (Border Patrol Dub)

I originally made this beat for Okmalumkoolkat to rap on... I wanted you to hear it with nobody rapping on it.