KLY – Too Much Featuring Riky Rick
by Phil Chard
South African Trap&B artist KLY impressed us immensely with the release of his debut project KLYMAX when it dropped a few months ago.
KLY recently dropped a new single titled Too Much featuring Ricky Rick, a song that KLY describes as “a song about the different types of problems people have and when that shit gets too much to bear]”
Riding over the signature trap style beat from Wichi1080 KLY deliberately slurs his delivery as Ricky lends a well suited verse to the song as he addresses some of the current stories about him in the news.
Watch Fifi Cooper & Riky Rick on The Season Premiere Of Coke Studio Africa
by Phil Chard
Coke Studio South Africa is back for its second season and the show that focuses on bridging the gap between genres and forcing unlikely collaborations that go from conceptualisation to performance and live recording all in just two days.
In the first episode of the show Fifi Cooper and Riky Rick appeared to produce some truly impressive Hip Hop /Pop fusion tracks. Fifi Cooper linked up with vocalist Ryki on a track titled Stop that sees Fifi opening up about her relationship with the father of her child and Riky Rick collaborated with Sketchy Bongo and Scales with the uptempo quasi rap ballad Sunday.
Shout out to Trey from Dreamteam who is now hosting the show with the recently married Nandi Madida (fka Mngoma).
Reggie Nkabinde Of Mabala Held A Press Conference But We Still Have More Questions Than Answers
by Phil Chard
After the serious allegations mounted against them by Julius Malema on Friday afternoon, Mabala Noise owner and ANC Youth League Treasurer General, Reginald Nkabinde decided to get out ahead of the scandal and convene a press conference of his own where he addressed a number of issues regarding the allegations laid against him and his company.
In response to how Mabala Noise is funding it operations and the allegations of an illegal relationship between the government , the ANC and the record label, Mr Nkabinde has this to say
“Mabala Noise is not doing business with any government.You are all welcome to go to the departmewnt of water affairs and seek a report about Malabla Noise. Malaba noIse is not doing any tender[s]”
In response to where the Mabala Noise gets its money, Mr. Nkabinde was defiant and openly declared that he has never received any funds directly from the ANC to fund Mabala Noise . He openly expressed that he was a businessman and he used the proceeds from his other businesses to fund Mabala’s operations.
“Mabala is an independent black owned company. It is not getting funding from anywhere else [besides Mr. Nkabinde himself]”
Major League G-42
Riky Rick at Major League Gardens
When asked about the potential conflict of interest that could occur if Mabala artists are booked to perform at ANC Youth League events (an organisation where Mr Nkabinde is the Treasurer General) he expressed that he was in business and running Mabala Noise long before he was elected into current position as the Treasurer General , yet he failed to actually answer the question. Whether he has been running the company for 5 weeks or 5 years the fact that he holds an active position within the company will present a massive conflict of interest if the man responsible for overseeing ANC Youth League funds is paying artists that work for his company.
In response to the insinuations made by Mr Malema about Mr Nkabinde's relationship with Minister Nomvula Mokonyane, Mr Nkabinde described it as as a mother and son relationship.
However when asked asked to address one of the biggest questions we have all had about Mabala Noise, a question I have had from long before Malema's accusations - about what Mabala Noise is offering these artists, Mr Nkabinde once again failed to provide to concise answer. He also kept referring to Riky Rick as Riky Riky which I found very amusing.
“Riky Rick[y] it's a public knowledge that he charges R65,000.[per performance] . There’s never been a weekend where Riky is not working . Just in a weekend Riky Rick[y] maybe he has 2,3 shows. When you calculate that in a month, it tells you that Riky Rick[y] as an individual, as an artist he is able to make R500,000 to R600,000 . And that on its own suggests that Riky Rick[y] can live a comfortable life as artist so why go and sell yourself for 5 million when you can live to live comfortably and he has been an independent .”
Major League G-15So let's use the figures provided by Mr Nkabinde and use some rough calculations and estimations. Please note these are not based off any actually figures. If Riky is doing 2 shows a weekend at R65,000 that comes to R520,000 a month in gross revenue. Riky doesn’t have a band , so let's assume that his tour DJ is taking 20% and a manager/ booking agent taking another 20%. That estimation leaves Riky with R312,000 a month. Which is R3,744,000 a year. That's a pretty decent living wage. So the question remains Mr Nkabinde. By your own admission, Riky was earning upward of R3.7 million a year (we have not factored in brand endorsements), so why would he sign onto your label for anything less that what he was already earning? Even if you subsidise the costs of music and video production. Why would he sign onto a label when he was doing pretty well for himself as an independent ? (those are also your words)That R5,000,000 figure does not seem so far fetched now that you have given us a glimpse into Riky’s earning potential. (Sidebar; get your paper Riky)
This press conference seems to have left more room for new questions rather than addressing the ones raised on Friday. I am still wondering about the conflict of interest if Mabala artists are booked for ANC gigs . I am still wondering how lucrative these contracts are and what their details are; does Mabala own all the publishing rights? Is it a 360 degree deal? Do artists have signing bonuses and album budgets?
Juju The Magnificent
While we ask these questions we should not let Mr Malema distract us from the fact that this whole incident might have been inspired by sour grapes. Besides what you may think of him or how the media paints him, Mr Malema is a very intelligent man who has used smoke and mirrors on a number of occasions to twist the narrative in his favour. Throughout his conversation on Friday Mr Malema continued to reiterate that his small upstart of a political party could not keep pace financially with the ANC and their main opposition the DA. According to Mr Malema the ANC spent R1 Billion where the DA spent R350,000,000 and the EFF pledged to spend no more than R10,000,000 on their campaign budgets. We should also not forget that artist like Cassper Nyovest, Riky Rick and Major League seemed to have aligned themselves with the EFF as well performing at EFF events.
We Used To Be EFFriends - Curated tweets by PhilChard
Now every artist has the right to be compensated for their work and they are free to perform at events organised by any political party , even if that means performing at a party they may not necessarily support. But in all honesty, South Africa might be free a country but it is not THAT free. Just ask iFani about the fallout after he accepted a DA cheque. We also have the tweet spectacle AKA made on about Cassper , Riky Rick and Major League returning to ANC from the EFF. The timing of their return, just before the elections and just after signing their deals at Mabala is more than curious. (as far as we know Cassper is still independent and has he has no affiliation with Mabala) .
There is clearly more to the Mabala story that meets the eye , whether or not all these questions will be answered remains to be seen. At the very least I hope this results in an incredible record label versus political party musical beef that is on levels we have never seen before.
Riky just dropped his new FAIRFAX freestyle where he declares “when you see me going up you wanna see me going down, every time I need you , you never come around “ . Considering the fact that the video dropped just 4 days after Julius’ statement sit is high likely that this song was recorded before the allegations. But we can always speculate can’t we ?
Watch Riky Rick’s Interview on DJ Capital’s Rap Up Show
by Phil Chard
Riky Rick recently stopped by DJ Capital’s show on Cliffcentral to discuss a number of issues in a long and detailed interview. He kicked the interview off by addressing his ”if niggas can buy these awards, then I don’t I want them” line from SIDLUKOTINI and whether or not it was directed at Emtee, he also breaks down his lyrics about his reasons for leaving Motif on Le Mpitse.Riky alludes that he left Motif for the same reasons 50 Cent and G-Unit fell out. He also speaks on his past work with Da L.E.S and their Last Summer mixtape as well as his work with Gotti Gambino.
According to Riky every song on his debut album were beats that he sent to other artists who all rejected the music. Riky also touches on the formations of BoyZBucks and how Riky met OKMalumkoolkat and Scoop when OK was working at the Nike Store in Melville and Scoop was wearing AMA Kip Kip sneakers.
Boss Zonke also had a candid conversation about his drug addiction and why he decided to quit and go into rehab before he returned with Amantombazane as well as tackling the hard hitting topic of his recent choice of outfits at the SAMAs. Watch the full video above.
When Noisey Came To South Africa: The Problem When Outsiders Tell Our Stories
by Phil Chard
Last week Noisey released a documentary said to chronicle and document the growing Hip Hop scene in South Africa titled Born Free: Hip Hop in Johannesburg.
The 16 minute documentary chronicled the rise of the Hip Hop scene in South Africa as it focused on Cassper Nyovest and Riky Rick as its main subjects. (With cameos from Family Tree artists- Nadia Nakai & Gemini Major and the Major League Twins).
Though it was great to see the culture of South African and African Hip Hop at large portrayed on a platform as large as Noisey I did walk away with some gripes of how the culture was portrayed. Before I continue I think it's important that I mention that I am massive fan of Noisey and their parent Company Vice. It would be a massive omission on my part if I didn't share that I have always looked at what Vice has done as the template to running a successful culture and music blog enterprise. Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi have been two individuals that I look up to and one hope to replicate their path to success.
Now that that's out the way, this doccie, as well intentioned as it may have been had some gaping holes in its narrative. Holes big enough for Cassper to drive his tour bus through that lead me to question the level of research that went into making such an offering
The documentary sets out to document South Africa's growing Hip Hop scene amongst "born free" artists using their new found freedom to express themselves and speak to youth of the nation from the perspective of Cassper Nyovest and Ricky Rick. In doing so however it fails to address several issues. Mainly because they look to tackle an incredibly complex and layered issue that has been influenced by multitude of people, yet the documentary chooses to use a very limited scope of focus.
In the film Fillippa Von Stackelberg (no relation) conducts her interviews at the following locations,
Cassper Nyovests home
The home of Cassper's parents
A few locations in Tembisa
Major League Gardens.
For a documentary set to document the growth of South African Hip Hop these are very restrictive locations that will only give you a very focused and limited experience of the movement as a whole.
In the documentary Cassper notes the massive influence Kwaito and the Pantsula sub culture had on his music. However the doccie completely ignores the massive role Kwaito played in shaping the sound and style and South African pop culture and chooses to focus on the Pantsula dance movement instead. While doing so it focuses on the sights of the culture at expense of the sound. It also never fully explains the connection that Hip Hop has to Pantsula.
The documentary also completely ignores the generation of rappers of rappers who came before Cassper and Riky Rick that helped create the fertile culture that has allowed the current crop of artists to reap from it.
Even with its laser focus on Cassper the documentary still leaves holes. While speaking to Cassper it briefly discusses his influences, before speaking to his father and grandmother about his decision to make music and then speaking to him again at the culmination of the documentary after his performance at Major League Gardens, which, it paints as a massive achievement in his career. At no point does the documentary even broach the bigger landmark achievement of when Cassper successfully filled up the Dome. Nor does it even explore the incredible effect Doc Shebeleza had on the continent. Though Cassper's performance at Major League Gardens could be seen as another sign of the incredible growth of the culture it was in fact a bigger achievement for the Major League Twins.
The Mbere twins achieved something incredible that night. With an all-South African line up consisting mainly of Hip Hop acts they managed to cram close to 15,000 kids into Nasrec arena for an event that they promoted themselves. An incredible achievement that left me in awe that was clearly ignored by those unfamiliar with the struggles Hip Hop acts on this continent endure. A few years ago Hip Hop generating such numbers was a rare and lauded achievement. Instead the twins were reduced to extras in the documentary only appearing beside Riky Rick while he is interviewed. The events at Major League Gardens and Back To the City coupled with the new 90% local content mandate at the SABC point to a massive cultural shift occurring in South Africa, one that will change the face of the SA music scene for years to come, yet not a peep about this was mentioned.
Secondary to the massive achievement that was Major League Gardens was the crowd it assembled. Consisting mainly of young adults and teenagers, the energy was electric and the fans showed their rabid support for south African Hip Hop in a big way. That same energy and love almost reduced Kwesta tears on stage. I witnessed a crowd sing Zola lyrics word for word from songs older than a decade, with a passion and verve so strong it was like those songs were radio hits on high rotation today. That was a noteworthy achievement that marked the growth and influence of South African Hip Hop and Kwaito on the youth that was also missed in this documentary.
A big clue as to what motivated the narrative of this story is in the end credits and the three words "Sponsored By BMW". It is after seeing this that I understood why the film made the very lose connection between Cassper's first big hit, Pantsula culture and spinning. It's hard to tell if the film is an ad wrapped in Hip hop culture to promote a brand or a documentary that was forced to short tweak its story in order to suit the requirements of a sponsor. In any event when you peel below the surface this is nothing more than an advertorial piece with native advertising that uses the culture we love as the hook.
Noisey created these lofty expectations with their misleading title and preamble only to disappoint. Had they marketed this as a piece on a week in Cassper Nyovest's life (which is what it essentially is) with the growing culture of SA Hip Hop and Cassper's influences taking a secondary role in the story I would have stood and applauded. But you cannot claim to be documenting the Hip Hop movement among "born frees" in Johannesburg and not venture into the vibrant Hip Hop scenes in Braamfontein, Newtown, Maboneng, Soweto and even Sandton. You cannot claim to speak on a movement and ignore all the those that influenced it. You cannot claim to be documenting the growth and ignore the massive achievements that were taking place in front of your very eyes that you somehow missed due to a limited understanding of the cultural movements and their significance at large.
While it is important to celebrate the growth of Hip Hop and make sure the world sees out story, we must also guard how these stories are shared very carefully.
I was at Major League Gardens that night. I witnessed Fillippa conduct a great deal of interviews backstage. I'm surprised that this is the end result. You can't begin to document a movement as diverse as the one in this documentary and compress it into a 16 minute offering.
Therein lies the problem. When we as fans, supporters, and reporters of this culture fail to document cultural movements and let outsiders tell the story for us, they will portray the narrative through their limited view lenses. This particular case, though it may have been well intentioned displays the dangers of allowing outside voices in that don't fully comprehend the scope of work that resulted in us reaching this point.
While it is important to celebrate the growth of Hip Hop and make sure the world sees out story, we must also guard how these stories are shared very carefully.
Watch The Gidi Fest Aftermovie & Riky Rick’s Set
by Phil Chard
Eclipse Live Africa, the organisers of the Gidi Fest, which they tout as “the biggest music festival in Western Africa” just released the after movie for the 2026 edition of the festival. This year the Fest featured acts like Yemi Alade, Phyno, D’banj, Tiwa Savage, Adekunle Gold, K.O, Riky Rick, DJ Obi and Small Doctor among other artists who all performed at the Fest over the Easter weekend.
Gidi Fest also released part of Riky Rick’s set at the fest. Though the Boss Zonke delivered a solid live set it is clear from the crowd reaction that SA Hip Hop still has a way to go before it becomes part of West Africa’s Urban mainstream. Peep it below