No One's Arc Rocks!

Keep watch for these NelCity natives, they've been around for quite sometime. Shame on you if you turned a blind eye on them. We attended their launch at the Emnotweni Arena in Nelspruit, they owned the night! We'll be giving you the 411 on them pretty soon, start the fire so long...

Now that the fire has been started... let's keep it burning... As promised, here's the 411 on the band...

Based in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, the band formed in 2001 while the members were still in their teens. The initial formation of the band was made up of Dylan Bolton (Vocals & Guitar), Robby Johns (Drums) and Lee Nicholls (Bass Guitar) with Phinda 'Goophy' Magagula (Slide Trombone) soon to follow. During 2006 the band made two additions to their sound by including Bongani Mavundla (Trumpet) and Mimi Mthethwa (Backing Vocals).

Their debut album “A Shot In The Dark” was released in 2006 which generated great opportunities and media coverage, taking them to a new level of publicity. After winning the RP Studios Emerging Sounds regional finals, the band gained success outside the boundaries of their hometown which led to many performances in the Gauteng area. The band started appearing on line-ups at Cool Runnings, Roxy’s, Café Barcelona, Tempo’s and Schiva’s Rock on a regular basis.

No One’s Arc has exceeded all expectations in 2010! Towards the end of January the band set off on a nationwide tour known as the “Tour of ARC”, performing at 11 venues in 3 provinces in less than 3 weeks. During the tour the band had the opportunity to appear on the line-ups at the “Up The Creek” and “RAKA” festivals near Swellendam. In the Cape area the band shared stages with the Black Cat Bones in Durbanville and also with Tidal Waves at “Die Jukeboks @ BOHEMIA” presented by Robertson Winery. The band’s debut music video for the song “Fire” was also launched on the tour and has generated enormous exposure with regular airplay on mK.

After the “Tour of ARC” the band featured on the “Jo’burg Burning” line-up with the likes of Ashtray Electric, Wrestlerish and Taxi Violence.The 21st edition of the “Splash Fen Music Festival” was a great highlight of No One’s Arc’s career. The band appeared on the festivals compilation album amongst some of the country’s leading artists like Albert Frost, Hot Water and Dan Patlansky and many others. On the 13th of May the band showed off their acoustic abilities performing live on national television on mK’s “Studio1” with their song entitled “The Days Of Make Believe”.

The final weekend in May saw the band performing outside South African borders at the “STRAB” Festival in Mozambique with bands like Boo!, Zinkplaat and Die Tuindwergies.

By the end of August, No One’s Arc was on the road yet again! The “Cape ARCus” tour was a huge success, which included an acoustic set live on MFM Radio and sharing the stage with New Holland at the “geROOSter” Rock Festival. Returning back home from the “Cape ARCus”, it was time for the “By Die Maan” Festival at Blue Moon. This year’s line-up included Arno Carstens, Zebra & Giraffe, Prime Circle and Die Heuwels Fantasties, just to name a few.

Following the success of the band’s 2010 career, No One’s Arc launched their highly anticipated self titled album at the Emnotweni Arena on the 20th of November. The band then pursued on a nationwide launch tour with performances at “Synergy Live”, “Park Acoustics”, and the “mK 5de Avontoer” with 9 of South Africa’s leading acts including Isochronous, Jack Parow, Pretty Blue Guns and Glaskas!

Sorry ladies and gentlemen, we wished to keep things short but there was no way of doing such when so much of a profile had to be published... READ! REEEEAD!

On their latest single “U.F.O” we see Mr. Goophstar slinging a few rhymes, which remind us just how prolific an artist he is. Check it out...

More on http://www.noonesarc.co.za

Nu Error's Destiny

Poet / vocalist Themba Banda and acclaimed local producer / engineer, Joe Phiri are the two secret ingredients that make up the power duo: Nu Error. Joe or Joe Cymphonic as he has come to be known to the industry is from eMganduzweni and Themba hails from Matsulu the ghetto. Since it’s inception in 2008 Nu Error has been going hard until this day.

We picked up their first ever single: “Hold On (The Grand Piano Edit)” and availed it for download on the blogspot, which did exceptionally well compared to the other MP3s we had availed. Today, their debut album is out, simply titled “Destiny”.

Just like the promo EP they put out, the album is a blend of Hip Hop with a dash of Rhythm &Blues (R&B). We’ve heard the radio friendly “Hold On” and the re-affirming “Uthando lukaBaba”, there is more where those songs came from. Get your ORIGINAL copy of the album and hit us back with your favourites. Let’s support our own sons and daughters...

For Bookings / Telesales: c: Baxter @ +27 (0) 83 383 7701 | e: 8kyk@vodamail.co.za

Afro'traction Owned The Night!

So, where were you on the night of 2 September 2011? This was a very memorable night indeed, you really did miss out on a very good show. Supporting acts like Sizwe Gates, Chocolate, Babyman, Nativz Squad and Chillax took to the stage and the Smoke of Rhyme boys - Hebza Mabza & Perr, repped NelCity well. Kliff Oday (Kasi Empire), Madumane and Sweet Mike of Ligwalagwala FM played very good build-up sets to the main event of the night. TheBigZill from Ligwalagwala FM, was the host for the night, he carried the show well...

When Afro'traction crooner, Wandile Moya, hit the stage, we all sort of knew these guys were here to reclaim what was rightfully theirs - the night of course. The other main attraction, Teargas shook the whole of Ground Zero, Matsulu, a memorable night indeed, bowukuphi?

Check out more pics here.

Afrotraction hits Naspoti!

Afrotraction, birthname Wandile Moya, one of NelCity's rising son's is touring the country promoting his debut album, Soul Deep. Songs like Ngim'tholile and Ngawe are currently making the waves on every reputable radio station countrywide. Hit the play button below and be wowed by this Nelspruit native's musical genius...



Afrotraction and Teargas will be bracing Naspoti (or NelCity, as we have come to know it) in September this year. One of his biggest goals is to channel the spotlight back home, this event is one of many that he will be bringing home in future. Watch this space and start saving up, it will be a very memorable Naspoti night!

The Audio Version of the Advert...

The house version of Ngawe, with the Mechanix of House. There is another very soulful version of this song... keep your ears open, you might just bump into it on the next Afrotraction release.

Now that you've seen the videos and heard the music, it's time to go behind the scenes. Here's the making of "Ngimtholile", the Music Video.

3 Days to go before the event finally goes down. Have you saved up? Are your Original CD's ready for autographs? Good! The NelCity Basement team will also be at the Afro'traction event, so let's all meet there and support our own!

The Official Women Salute Video

We finally got hold of the Mr. Hebza Mabza’s Women Salute Video... Yes! There was a major and unnecessary hold up with getting the video here but we eventually did get it here. Lessons were learned; patience was tested; true colours were shown; there were disagreements but the agreements outweighed them; love was shown; good actors discovered; we got chased away; had stubborn 1400 vehicles speeding to hit us; ego’s clashed and all the stuff that only the cast and crew knows...

The original storyline and direction of photography for this video was done by Rapper / Producer: Muzi “Ehm’sHe” Mbungela, sadly he couldn’t see the project through because of his sudden move to Gauteng. On Ehm’sHe’s absence, Martin Mabilane, who was also quite pivotal in this whole project as the producer and sole camera man, had to step in to do the final editing without any input from Ehm’sHe.

The Cast:

Hebza’s Mother Figure - Dimakatso Thabane

Hebza’s Little Brother – S’fiso “Yung Fess” Mabuza

The DJ West’s entourage – Pedro Kan-ill & Lungstar

Special Thanks to: Pamela; Yung Fess; Perr; Romeo;  Hoodrat; J.O.B; Kliff Oday; Kwasi Akontoh; Lungstar; Pedro Kan-ill; Sanza; Dj West; Tebogo; Sga and all who braced us with their presence.

Without further ado... Hebza Mabza, with Women Salute, enjoy. Please send us your comments to subsnb@gmail.com or a facebook / twitter.

Meet The Cru

WRECKED is the CRU' and motswako is what they do. The style which comprises of Setswana and other indigenous dialects like: Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa and poison English is the discipline that the crew chose to share their life experiences. It's all about expression and the interplay of language, text and context. To describe the crew's style we would need to discuss mad flow, with slick lyrical content and of course beats that you can move to.

This is the cover art of the current EP that they are pushing

Three members make up this outfit: Bafsy, Proph and Impo's. Bafsy – is a Mooi Dorpie native who thrills with punch lines and slick delivery; Impo's – is the 'Ghetto spokesperson' and heart of WRECKED CRU', he is responsible for the unique sound WRECKED pride themselves with and is a proud representative of ITSOSENG - township in North West province about 45 km from the capital city Mafikeng. Proph - is putting GALESHEWE on the map with nothing but desire and lyrics. This Kimberly native flips his flows in Afrikaans; English and Setswana in order to claim agency over a place where Afrikaans' "Moeder Taal" is forked and furious.

The cru's influences stem from greats like: HHP; Tuks; Zola; TKZee; Busta Rhymes; Tupac; Heavy D; Dru Down; Outkast; Mos Def and The Roots. The cru's highlights, among others – include appearing on the following compilations: The HYPE Sessions vol.20 cover disc; the Babble Rap mixtape - an international mixtape, with over 30 MC's rapping in their indigenous languages; The Benchmark by Black Moss - one of Durban's acclaimed MC's and; the Brainstorm compilation, starring Brain (Life check's all elements battle producer of the year 2008).

They have shared the stage with the likes of Slikour and Shuggasmax from Skwatta Kamp, Mo Molemi, Tuks, HHP, Ewok, Big Idea and Black Moss. Anyway you don’t have to take our word for it, just hit play below and judge them yourself. There is more to these gentlemen than their professionalism and their fresh graphics. 

For more of Wrecked Cru’s music click on the photo above or just click on their album cover on the sidebar to download one of their songs. . .

As Toxic As They Come

Mpumalanga born, Zakhele Lekhuleni, known to you as “Toxic”, hails from Nelspruit aka NelCity the city that sleeps no more! Coming from a musical family, it was inevitable that this 23 year old ended up pursuing a career in music. After getting good reviews at the tender age of 7, for his stage acting, he has focused on his education and music.

His first recording was in 2004 with a group he had formed with his friends. Working in a studio setting opened his eyes to numerous things, like how the beat they had was under standard. This led to him producing his own music which led to him founding his own stable, 256 Productions.

From that day onwards, Toxic honed his skills behind the mic and on production. Some local acts that he has worked with to date include Kaspero and Sdunkero from Groova Records; Stone Krekha from Nativz Squad and Sean Sharell of Tsonga Blooded Productions and numerous up and coming Hip-Hop / R&B artists.

He concluded by announcing that he will only be releasing and album late this year or early next year, he will be writing and producing the entire project himself. The title of his offering has not been finalized as yet however, a promo disc will availed for radio very soon.

In the meanwhile, you can download Ngiyohlala Ngik’khumbula by clicking on Toxic’s photo above.

Achieve Lowveld Magazine

Yes! We finally have our own youth owned magazine. I'm hoping this will evoke some patriotism in all of us. Let's support our own and buy Achieve Lowveld Magazine. This is a bi-monthly lifestyle and business publication and it retails at R6.50 per copy, at your selected Shoprite / Spar Supermarkets. The June / July issue is in the shops already. Well, ruuuun! what are you still doing here? The Magazine is not going to buy itself...

Our Local Visionary, Mr. Kliffoday, The Music Video Director

Year 20 Elevate: Projects to Expect

First and foremost, we must apologize for this very long absence on our side, but we had to pay some bills, rub some shoulders and make some new friends so we could grow this blog for your our avid followers. Year 20 Elevate...

Hebza Mabza's Hunger Makes Hard Work mixtape will be dropping in August or October. Horny featuring Rhymer T (produced by King Bufu) has been released as a promo single for the project which will also boast some production from King Bufu, RomeoBeats. Unfortunately we cannot add the song onto the Basement playlist because of the heavy sexual content in the lyrics. Please click on the name of the single to download it and hear why.

Pedro Kan-ill  is working on the 013 Street Tape scheduled for release between August and October, Cash Music (produced by Pedro Kan-ill) featuring his wing man, Shaun G’eezy is the first single (the official mix is yet to be released) lifted off the project . This is how Shaun G’eezy explained the track, “Cash Music is like a struggle song for us and fellow artists, the only difference is that our party is S.A.B and not the A.N.C lol! Too Many promoters take us for a rides and that sucks, completely. Other than that, it’s just me and Pedro doing what we do best, bringing good heat to the streets ”. Click on the full song name to download it. Another single called The Breakthrough has been availed for download... click on the song name to get it now...

J.O.B has wrapped up his sophomore album, Mii Cra2ier Dream. He made some additions to his team this time around, the project boasts production from Tebogo Boshomane, Big Man from Tshwane the capital and the legendary Budda Roc (worked with Pedro Kan-ill, Shaun G’eezy; Tarps Mash; Ehm’sHe; Given the King and D-Charms). A prelude EP to the album is around the way. We will have it for you soon enough, keep watch for it on the blog. For those of you who missed his first album, now you can play and download I’m Not A Gangsta (produced by Ehm’sHe TheMelo). Just click on J.O.B's Cover art to download the song.

Finally Ehm’sHe is at work on his debut album simply titled, Music, a release date has not been set as yet since he is still in the beat collection phase, and there is no word of a single as yet, we are now very tired of A Promise... aren’t you? We do however have a link to his 2006 live performance for Journey To The Top / Listen (Medley) feat. Matete Moloto, one of the songs that will be included in the album. If it’s anything to go by, it seems like Ehm’sHe, just like his fellow peers, is also travelling in the direction of the light, which is a good thing right? Watch the video and tell us what you think. There is also word of the Beat Engineurs coming back into the scene. For those of you who don’t know this is the producer society Ehm’sHe, Romeobeats and Kornway founded in 2007.   

Dikwa Jazz Band, the Mpumalanga based Afro Jazz duo released Vuk’utentele in 2009 (sorry we were only given the rights to add them this year). Oral Alexander is the piano maestro and Ntando Lekhuleni on the acoustic guitar and the overall production of the band. They are officially the first Jazz act to grace this blog with their musical genius. We will also have their video for Mbale Mbale under the videos tab and Vuk’utentele (the song is now available for download, click on their photo to download it or just hit play below).



Now you can join us on our Blackberry Messenger group: TheBasementQuarters, just scan the QR Code below with any handset that has a QR Reader, On your Blackberry Messenger it's "Scan Group Barcode". We are Waiting... 

Tarps Mash aka The Sinequanon

Tarps Mash aka The Sinequanon, remember him? You must not have seen Ehm’sHe’s 2006 VCD, “To everybody in Nelspruit show me the love?” Don’t these lines ring a bell? You do know Possibility or For The Pheenz right? track 4 and 2 respectively on the Smoke of Rhyme Fest Promo Disc of July 2010... well, Cluedo’s over, time to re-introduce Tarps Mash to you...

Tshepang Mashego began hip-hopping in 1995, and he only started putting the pen to pad in 1998 with One Off, a clan founded by him and 3 other MCees, Fiz: Hotchacoal aka Papiki, Tshepiso aka Biggie and the late Task Master aka Tenicious (may his soul rest in peace). One Off split in 2002 but that did not in retard his progression, in any way.

Two years after he started working with Ehm’sHe (Then spelled M-zee) after seeing some potential in him. Some of the songs on which they worked together did not reach the masses due to the challenges that the two had in terms of distribution channels. Ehm’sHe lent his vocals to songs like Respect; Madness and one of our personal favourites, Rocking The House, all produced by The Sinequanon himself. Ehm’sHe remixed Rocking The House and they performed it at The 26th Ligwalagwala FM birthday bash in 2008.

Today, Tarps is looking to expand his reach to the rest of Africa and abroad. To officially kick off this mission, a mixtape will be realeased before the fall of this year as a prerequisite to let his voice be heard however possible. He is calling on all true MCees and hip-hop DJ’s alike from all over the Province. “I can assure you that we, in Mpumalanga province do have subterranean hidden original Mcees and DJ’s. We’re just waiting, like troops in the battlefield, for that time to descend upon us”, He added.

Tarps is very passionate about what he does, those who have seen him on stage bare testimony to that. He endeavours to establish an empirical hip-hop source in the Mpumalanga province and he strongly believes that it will be found very soon.