Four SA Underground Mixtapes To Look Forward To In 2015

1. High $chool Dreams - Ill Scripts
Mack Records 

They've been active in the West Coast underground scene since 2012, and after diss songs, a hiatus, chart-toppers, winning second place in their high school talent show, South African remakes, street-cred, and whatever else goes with the ISOE brand, a coined term which stands for: 'Ill Scripts Over Everything', the Saldanha-Bay based rap crew promises that their anticipated debut mixtape, 'High $chool Dreams' is nearing completion.

Let's hope that this year, will be the year it releases.


2. The Fresh Prince of Kimberley - Big Twist
Star Media Communications | Twistyle Muzik 

Following his debut 'Twistyle Mixtape' in 2012, Big Twist returns to the scene with his sophomore LP, 'The Fresh Prince of Kimberley'. An obvious play on words from the popular TV-show 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' which stared the young Will Smith, Twist sees himself reaching his hometown and reflecting it in it's very best in both the West Coast underground and Kimberley underground scenes.

The mixtape is scheduled for release March 2, 2015, through Star Media Communications, Twist's latest distributor, and is released under the artists' own recording label, Twistyle Muzik.

3. #ShalomaFuture - Shaloma Muzik
Independent | Shaloma Muzik Recordings

After a year long hiatus from the music scene, Shaloma Muzik aims to reach broader audiences and new markets with it's upcoming mixtape '#ShalomaFuture'.

While this would be the forth mixtape project from the label following it's two 'Shaloma Friday' and '#Shalomatober' series in 2013, and '50/50: The Vision', the debut mixtape by it's founder Tha Real U - #ShalomaFuture promises be unlike anything heard before from the label.

It claims to be the future of Hip-Hop and is taking on the massive Cape Town underground Hip-Hop scene with this release. Already in partnership with various local brands, namely Music Generation Apparel, a growing Cape Town's street wear brand - this mixtape is something not to be overlooked by the revolutionary label.

4. SWGCTY.tk Presents We Are The Underground - SWGCTY
Cape Vinyal Beats Mixtapes

The leaders in West Coast Hip-Hop music, SWGCTY (formerly Swag City) plans to take to the mixtape market as well by further promoting local content with the launch of it's new website, brand and interface.

With their former tagline, "We Support Local Music" - the website now seeks to uplift new and undiscovered artists, whilst providing quality free, underground downloads from across South Africa all on it's website, hence it's new slogan "We The Underground."

The line is more than just a slogan now, as it gives birth to the first self-compilation mixtape the West Coast has seen. It promises to deliver familiar favorites with the addition of new artists and sounds - blending the West Coast with a lot of the other music scenes left unheard.

While all songs are featured on the website as  "SwagCityXclusives" - this mixtape is surely iconic and every-way and a first to promtoting the underground in a unified way.

Twistyle Muzik: Back Out Of The Shell

Recently, Vredenburg-based underground label, Twistyle Muzik released three solid kasi-flava heatseekers. With Lazy Catz, an enthusiastic duo consisting of Young Fl!p and General, their song Kasi Lam, became the second of Twistyle's three new singles. In addition to this, new voices such as Sai and Thando were featured in the listening experience, probing one to think how much more will Twistyle bring to the scene in 2014?

This lead to the follow up Ezphambeneyo, produced by label founder, Big Twist. One would think another Lazy Cat release is in store, but no, this track sees solely General taking the scene. With 124 downloads so far on DataFileHost, this song succeeds Kasi Lam which stands on 53 downloads.

But downloads are just numbers right? What really matters is the music and the reason for it.
According to Twistyle Muzik "Ezphambeneyo was just a track [for] fun, we got more of those coming up."

While the label's artists aim to reach their own level of recognition, the first track of the latest trilogy saw Big Twist make a return with Jacob Zuma. Released on May 7th, the 2014 IEC South African National Election Day, Twist expresses his views of what it must feel like being the president. Currently the song has been downloaded 163 times, a follow up from his previous release Somewhere In The World released in October last year.

He intends to release new music every Saturday, a first for Twistyle Muzik. This is said to take place in July and could be a worthy cause for increasing the label's support.


In addition to this, he mentions an upcoming mixtape in mind, to drop next year. Twist extends this thought with the mention of a new distribution deal with a Kimberly-based scheme entitled, Superstar Media Communications.

The label is cleverly planning ahead in excelling in more than just one music scene. The West Coast underground Hip-Hop community has seen various works from this label and one notable name is it's unique conscious and visionary artist, EM-K.

The label assures that what it has in store from EM-K will be promising. Recently, Twist rejoined Twitter under the handle "BigTwist_KBY". We trust that releases will be announced as this is another step to the label increasing its Social Networking usage.

• Follow Big Twist on Twitter (@BigTwist_KBY)

Top 5 Most Downloaded Twistyle Muzik Songs

Official list of the Top 5 most downloaded Twistyle Muzik songs:



BONUS 
6. Interloper
AB
24 downloads in total








5. Take Me Away
EM-K
29 downloads in total









4. Apology Thru A Love Letter
Big Twist ft. Mi3zy
37 downloads + 4 downloads (pre-release) (on Soundcloud)
41 downloads in total

3. Fast Lane
Big Twist
27 downloads (on Soundcloud)
7 + 13 downloads (on Kasimp3)
47 downloads in total








2. Out 4 Da Kill
Big Twist
72 downloads in total (on Soundcloud)







1. Somewhere In The World
Big Twist
112 downloads in total (on DatafileHost)

TOTAL DOWNLOADS FOR TWISTYLE: 

422 downloads 

on Soundcloud, Datafilehost & Kasimp3 combined

Note: Statistics as SwagCity Xclusives and elsewhere have not been included due to unavailability and restrictions.

Twistyle Muzik Announces "Singles Day"

Vredenburg's youngest underground Hip-Hop label, Twistyle Muzik, has recently had it's share of success as well in the rising stages of West Coast Hip Hop.

With more than 200 downloads online so far, the production scheme houses about 4 artists, namely Big Twist it's founder, AB, EM-K & the Lazy Catz duo Young F!ip & General, along with it's key producers.

It's artist debuts have seen some light, with AB & EM-K collectively earning 53 downloads. To further their walk in the music scene, the label has introduced it's own series entitled "Twistyle Singles Day" a 24 hour release period or brand new music from it's artists.

Last week, this proposition was confirmed as the underground label announced the return of both AB & EM-K with songs 'Dreamer' and 'Word Is Born'. In addition to this, the current top single 'Out 4 Da Kill' would be accompanied with a Kimberly Remix, the hometown of both it's founder, Big Twist & AB.

So far this release has been out for 4 months, and is Twist's second latest release, followed by 'Somewhere In The World'. With a 4 month lead the song has accumulated 72 downloads so far, the second highest after the later release, which currently peaks the labels list at 112 downloads at the moment on file sharing site 'Datafilehost'.

While the upcoming "Singles Day" becomes Twistyle's first effort in releasing a music series, it still has a few broken promises on it's social networks, namely various releases such as 'You & I'. This however is understandable as the label proves to be hard at work representing the West Coast on stages around the Cape. The date anticipated is therefore yet to be announced, but with eagerness the label guarantees it's supporters that it shall provide what is expected.

Big Twist To Release 2nd Mixtape

Following the quiet delayed release of 'Twistyle Mixtape', Big Twist doesn't stop there. The Vredenburg rapper has found inspiration to create a follow up mixtape subject to be released next year. The title is yet unknown, the same applies to the amount of songs and artists it might feature but Twist suggest that it might be a second edition to the previous mixtape.
 

The content however is guaranteed to be mind blowing. Twists intendeds to deliver a message as to how life is being a teen rapper and ensures it will be 20 times better then the current tape.

 

He plans to give Twistyle artists a framework to build their artistic careers. Through the 2nd release a variety of instrumentals will be used instead of self-produced - enabling a quicker and more convenient production procedure for the team.

To download 'Twistyle Mixtape' visit: www.bigtwist.tk.

There's A Twister's On It's Way!

Meet Big Twist, a serious rapper, with a serious aim. Born in Kimberly, the 17 year old underground Hip-Hopper does more then just throw lines over a microphone as lyrics, he produces his own music and in visions the goal of revolutionising West Coast music.

As a resident Hip-Hopper on the coast, Twist has so far been known to feature with the skills of his mates General and Young F!ip. These artists are yet but a few of the names endorsed by Twist's freshly-made label 'Twistyle Music'. Apart from the coastal action, he is one of Kimberly's G.L.A.P (Ghetto Life Akadamie Productionz) artists, a production line founded by Gapz, a multimedia producer who started doing his thing in this biz as early as the year 2000.

So far Twist's biggest debut as a solo artist would be his latest, the underground hit, 'Fast Lane.' The song received airplay on 92.3fm Radio West Coast along with his earlier release 'Apology Thru A Love Letter' (featuring Mi3zy).

What does Twist have up his sleave? A heavy duty debut mixtape. The tape named after the new label, will feature unique sounds of not only it's main artists but also various Twistyle artists, as made evident with the single 'Amagents' by General. In Twist's case this characteristic promotes both the artist and the brand equally promoting strenghtened support to the label. 

Subject to the mixtape's release, will be a launch party, live and exclusive at Lapland, Vredenburg on September 29th. The event is hosted by GTK Entertainment along with Twistyle and features performances by Lazy Catz, Torando and DJ G Twizt. So far, enterance is free and all is welcomed. This is surely not to be missed as the celebration begins early at 4pm.



To RSVP for this event visit http://www.facebook.com/events/423380924387544/

Twistyle Label page:
http://www.reverbnation.com/label/twistylemuzik