A wise man once said, before we can propel forth, we need to roll back a little bit... history class ladies and gentlemen.
One scorching summer’s day in the year 2006 on March 11th, the first official meeting for the then movement of Nelspruit artists and producers, was held at somebody’s garage in the township of Kabokweni, close to 23 km away from Nelspruit. Names like Mr. Goophstar; Ray Mags; the late MG Bone; Nasty Sluy; I-Scream and Ehm’sHe (pronounced M-zee), were on the agenda. Thanks to One Room Producer, Mr. Goophstar, for forgetting his beat CD at Ehm’sHe’s garage, a song titled: “March 11th , 06” was penned by rapper / producer to commemorate the events of the day. October 9th 2006, the first VCD hit the Nelspruit streets, boasting 18 chapters of Nelspruit content shot on a no budget plan. It featured TUT Nelspruit Poetry Movement founder, Matete “TT” Moloto; ex Nativz Squad member now house muso, Kliff Oday; Dikwa Jazz Band founder, Ntando Lekhuleni; acclaimed wordsmith and hip-hop producer, Wax Lyrikal; VenGhuard, Sello The Tyrant of Words; then Nasty Poizen member, Given the Venom; One Room Producer, Mr. Goophstar and the avant-garde Ehm’sHe to mention a few. This project gave birth to a new dawn, on a somewhat small scale...
Play the March 11th, ‘O6 Video – Music Composed by Mr. Goophstar from One Room Entertainment.
Early 2007, saw the NelCity Basement founder’s endeavours to legitimize the then NelCity Movement as a unit that serves as a haven to fellow performers and visionaries. The Basement Sales was a name that was given to the mixtape sales community that was being initiated by the NelCity Movement. This is how the name: “NelCity Basement” came to be, this was in December 2007. The sales community did not materialize because of limited resources and lacking commitment.
On to 2008, that was a very fruitful year for the NelCity Basement, as they were invited to perform at the 26th Ligwalagwala Birthday Bash and at the 1st ever Blue Moon Hip Hop Festival furthermore, they landed a spread on Hype Magazine (published on February 2009), the biggest hip hop Magazine in South Africa. To add to that, Ehm’sHe’s “A Promise feat. Avuya” secured him a spot on the Hype Magazine Cover Disk. To top it all off, The NelCity Basement and its settlers were profiled on the 1st ever Nelspruit page on Hype Magazine (get front pic)... a great year indeed. The NelCity Basement continued to function as a movement that housed a fair number of progressive muso’s and cliques alike, like: Hebza Mabza; Sello The Tyrant of Words; J.O.B; Perr; Pedro Kan-ill; Wax Lyrikal; Ehm’sHe; Switch Flow; Nu Error; Beat Engineurs and RNB Entertainment has a good relationship with the basement as well.Ehm’sHe’s Humms & Mic Checks: The Preseshin was released officially on March 11th, 2008 under the Bit Boxxx – Arcuestique Productions (BBAP) imprint. According to the man, he released this advance so as to celebrate two years since the inception of the NelCity Basement Movement. This release was sponsored by: Blu Peach Productions; Bula Sekele; Kasi Solutions; Rev Tosz Productions; Arcuestique Imagery and the then Bhit Enginyers (Now spelled Beat Engineurs). The Rapper / producer worked with then emerging artists: Hebza Mabza; Sello The Tyrant of Words; Mr. Goophstar (production); M.C; I-Scream; Thabang (feature and production); Tsheps Mash; Avuya and Kulprit. Only 200 original copies were pressed, click the links to download the full mixtape or the BIGGEST Single off the mixtape: A Promise by Ehm’sHe featuring Avuya (Produced by Ehm'sHe) for FREE.
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| ABOVE: The remaining members of the NelCity Basement at The 2008 Blue Moon Hip Hop Fest. |
2009 was a very progressive year, in the sense that we saw an increasing number of local artists releasing some well packaged and recorded projects.
I.N.I released his long awaited album, Griot. We will post you a link for you to download: Synergy by I.N.I feat. Nyam-B, lifted off his album
Nu Error's Hold On EP hit radio Ligwalagwala and debuted at No. 25 on the top 60 charts. They were performing at the Fifa Fanparks during the 2010 World Cup. Click the link to download: Hold On (Grand Piano Edit) by Nu Error (Produced by Joe Cymphonic)for FREE.
Hebza Mabza's The Fantasium World mixtape was launched on 31 July 2010. Click the link to download: Solo by Hebza Mabza featuring Man-X (Produced by xXx) lifted off the mixtape.
Perr's Sati Sase Mpumalanga album hit the streets, this album was launched jointly with Hebza Mabza’s mixtape on 31 July 2010. Click the link to
download: NelCity Anthem by Perr featuring Joe Cymphonic (Produced by
Spyro) lifted off Perr’s Album.
Flexi re-released and
repackaged Flexabilty,his album. Click the link
to download: Afterparties by Flexi, (Produced
by AB Crazy).
Wax Lyrikal released his sophomore album, The
Peasant. Click the link to download the title track: The Peasant by Wax Lyrikal (Produced by Floowid Flow), lifted off
his album.
The changing times and the acquiring of new knowledge constituted
to the NelCity Basement’s continuous morphing. Today, the NelCity Basement
adopts a model synonymous to that of a non-profiting organisation which stands as a foundation for all of those who are willing to be
committed to its cause. The Basement centres its focus on creating long-term
and short job opportunities, for the members and community alike. The NelCity
Basement always keeps an ear in the streets for those sons and daughters who ooze
potential. The Basement strives to make sure that everyone that they help or
work with, need not face the same challenges that any of the basement members
had to deal with in their crawling stages. This organization is a means of
self-empowerment - ONLY to those who want to help others and or themselves. Forward us your e-mails: subsnb@gmail.com, or
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