By Neo Kolane
Lesotho-based Congolese rapper, Yemba Shungu decided to level up his work and opted his songs to be mixed and mastered by South African (SA) producers.
The hip hop artist started rapping in 2006.
Yemba started recording seriously in 2011 but rose to prominence around 2013 as part of the music group D2amajoe.
He left the group in 2016 and he has been on a solo path ever since.
He has made songs like hele! Ke fashion nthoena, I hope and of course his most recent one, Cheuwe that features Phephela.
Yemba told theReporter that the producer who made the beat of Cheuwe is from Lesotho but when it comes to mixing and mastering it is done by a dude called Ron Epidemic, who is one of the biggest producers in SA.
Yemba says he almost felt like his songs started sounding the same.
“I think there is something that happens when one puts local songs on full blast. They sound distorted,” he remarked.
He talked about this issue with his team and the reason being that he thought the “local producers are not as experienced as the SA producers that mix and master the art.”
He therefore said his team and himself thought they should elevate a little if they want people to seriously consider their songs.
Yemba also mentioned that he has always been studying South African hip hop, But due to lack of sufficient finances, he could not afford to outsource SA producers some time ago until recently.
He said he wanted a song that would be good enough to spend money on, Soon, he recorded Cheuwe. When finished he got a few people to listen to it and they were impressed.
“The team then decided to go all out and get the mix and mastering of the song in SA,” he added.
Yemba said he has always known who is who as far as SA producers are concerned.
“I have one main producer Kdeck who has been producing my songs since I went solo; with my first single and every other song I have put out.
“I stick to one producer but it does not mean I can’t work with other producers because my producer understands my sound.
“As we grow big, my producer and other local producers are going to have to learn what these SA producers are able to do.
“Their sound is different and is professional, For instance, SA rappers like Emtee or Gigi Laymane have a different sound.
Yemba said he has been blessed to have worked with one of the producers on his latest single as he tried to go for a similar beat
He revealed that when one plays a local song, the volume becomes different from that produced in SA. This is because the producers know what they need as they do master the vocals that are audible.
Yemba chooses his own producer who is full of knowledge in producing good music flavor.
He does not want to work with a producer that works with everybody and according to him
a good producer can be defined by two qualities; creativity and quality.
“The beat needs to sound dope, the mix and mastering need to sound dope and advanced because the sound is evolving,” the 27-year old said.
