Makhendlas biography samples

There are many methods to sampling old music and integrating it into new tunes. On the one hand, producers opt to use old lyrics to give birth to entirely new musical compositions. On the other, producers use melodies, or whole musical movements, as the basis of a new song.  

Here is a list of our top 5 South African hits that use parts of songs released before them.

Zulu Mobb – Comfort Me
Zulu Mobs ‘Comfort Me’ speaks about the everyday struggles that plague townships in South Africa, primarily focusing on the personal stories of the group’s two members. The song sampled Billy Preston and Syreeta Wright’s ‘With You I’m Born Again’, where the couple sings about how they are complete when together. Zulu Mobb samples the phrase “Comfort me through all this madness” as a call to God to protect them through the hardships.

Here's the original:

Makhendlas – Iminwe
‘Iminwe’ sampled Nightcrawlers’ electro dance hit ‘Push the Feeling On’. ‘Iminwe’ uses the instrumentation throughout the song. The song was recorded by Makhandlas, who committed suicide following a shooting at a music event he performed at.

Here's the original:

H20 – It’s Wonderful
'It’s Wonderful' is a classic South African rap song by the duo H2O featured on their 2003 debut album Amanzi’mtoti. The song is about embracing African pride and samples Ella Fitzgerald and Her Savoy Eight classic ‘It's Wonderful’ which was released in 1938.

Here's the original:

Mafikizolo – Emlanjeni
'Emlanjeni' (Meet Me at the River) is taken off Mafikizolo’s album Kwela released in 2005. In it, a couple chooses the river as a meeting point after the boyfriend returns from a trip. The song sampled Miriam Makeba’s 1978 song of the same name from the album Country Girl.

Here's the original:

Mandoza – 50/50
The song ‘50/50’ comes from the late Mandoza’s 2001 album Godoba. It speaks about people pulling their own weight and putting 50% into relations

Posted on Jun 11, 2006

Thanks to the record label What’s Phat we now have two MUST-HAVE “kwaito classic’ cd’s that will take you back, shake you up and down till you say more! The first Kwaito Cassic cd covers the early 90’s and the second the late 90’s.

We leave the official intro up to editor and journalist Siphiwe Mpye, we just say GO AND BUY BOTH cd’s and turn the Volume UP and the bass deep!

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STRONG>VOLUME 1 – THE EARLY NINETIES

Kwaito’s influence has pervaded all spheres of society and provided a platform for young talent to etch their names into music history and in the hearts of its citizens, through engaging with almost every aspect of their lives.

This music has for example spoken to the political issues of the day. When Mafokate came out with “Kaffir” in 1995, President Nelson Mandela had hardly settled into his seat as the country’s first ever democratically elected president. While some commentators called the song “controversial”, Mafokate was only reflecting a society that was still far from change. Ten years down the line, hindsight – what with lion murders and the like – has shown us the wisdom in that iconic track.

If would be remiss to downplay – on the other side of the spectrum – the role of sex appeal in this genre and Brenda Fassie topped the list when it came to openly baring ones’ sexuality on stage. Though she might not have always been kwaito in sound, she was always miles ahead in displaying the kind of attitude required to call oneself truly kwaito. Right till the end there was immense interest in her musical abilities as well as her outspoken nature and sexual exploits.

The hit “Vuvuzela” along with fashion forward styling and hot dance moves on tracks like “Ayaphanda” made Arthur, the former Mr Soweto, an instant sex symbol. His pr