Real U Wears The Crown For The Underground

West Coast Hip-Hop raised the banner high this week as Saint Helena Bay rapper, Tha Real U reps his town and region well. The conscious rapper released his follow up to 'That I'm Dreaming' which reached a record breaking 100 downloads in 2 weeks, but that was nothing compared to this week’s happenings. The song 'Underground Kings' was produced by Shaloma Muzik following a similar production procedure of 'November 28 Girl' and a hard-core message echoing that of 'Long Nights' - the West Coast Conscious Hip-Hop banger which left many speechless after its release about 2 months ago.

Johannesburg rapper, TiTan Kai from the Eldorado Park Christian Hip-Hop group, UNIQUE, joined Real U on this groundbreaking new single. As another heat-seeker following Real U's two successful releases, 'Underground Kings' rapidly gained downloads and plays within just an hour of release. According to Shaloma Muzik's posts on Tha Real U's Facebook page, the song gathered 12 plays within 45 minutes and 10 downloads within 50, a number which normally takes some artists roundabout a day, sometimes a week or even a month to achieve.

The song then went on to beat its sister, 'Long Nights' by accumulating 60 downloads in just 19 hours, compared to the 56 — 'Long Nights' has after 2 months. Followed by an abundance of thanks from Tha Real U, the song initially reached 98 downloads at 18h00 (GMT+2) on Wednesday, December 19th; 24 hours from when it was subject to release. However, due to its actual release at 18h06 the previous day this result did not reflect the full 24 hours which at just a few minutes later saw the song officially reach the 100 downloads mark at 18h10.

In respect to the songs release, mobile music-site Swagcity (swagcity.wen.ru), introduced a new feature, entitled 'Featured Song' which places a selected track located on the site, on its home page for a week. Granted that 'Underground Kings' was a brand new addition, the song became the first to be featured in this promotion.

Reflecting some of Real U's work on his mixtape, the song is recorded on a Drake instrumental of the same title. Real U stated that he found the instrumental a few months back online and felt the urge to record on it instantly. He found the title appropriate to the message he (at that time) wanted to present. This occurred after he felt a little discouraged due to the fact that some suggested that they disliked Real U's rapping in comparison to other local rappers. A few others stated that his message is different causing him not be as good as the rest. Real U however did not record this song as a response to his haters, but rather an indirect message to other rappers and their fans, which vividly compare his work to theirs.

The center aim of the song is bringing consciousness to artists, particularly rappers in the West Coast region. Real U states that he is an Underground King, not because of status but because of his position. His message of faith through Conscious Rap is a way of repping his superhero, Jesus as stated. As Galatians 4:7 in the Bible states that they are heirs in the Kingdom of God and co-heirs in Christ, Real U suggests that they should be considered kings on Earth as the Bible identities them as princes in Heaven.

This Christian perspective is evident throughout the song and stretches till the end, where Real U concludes that those who exalt themselves, considering themselves to be better than the rest, will be humbled.

As initially intended Shaloma Muzik will soon release a lyrical video for the song on YouTube. Other than this, it has not yet been confirmed as to whether or not the song will be uploaded on KasiMp3, as it will follow the release procedure of its two predecessors, appearing on Zamob and other connected sites of the Wapload network.