Eugene: The crew wants to represent Alex in all corners of the world
ALEXANDRA – Their ear for melodies is matched by their talent for lyricism.
Talent can’t be measured as a group of four young boys from Alexandra found their calling in music and formed a rapping crew named Cloudy Gang 911.
They were inspired by one of the most solid crew to ever come out of South Africa, The Wrecking Crew (TWC).
Cloudy Gang 911 is a group of four young rappers, namely: Sanele Mbewe (17), Boitumelo Ramahlare (19), Nhlanhla Phikwa (17) and Eugene Selemela (18). Eugene’s brother was the first person to allow the boys to record their first song.
“For us to start our own crew … it was through the inspiration of The Wrecking Crew. We love how they represented their township and no matter what, they valued their friendship which is what we want to do, we want to represent Alexandra in all corners of the world.
“However, although The Wrecking Crew is the source of why our crew was formed, my brother is the reason why we started rapping,” said Eugene, the leader of the crew.
Their parents are very supportive towards them as they allow them to do what makes them happy but also encourage them to stay in school.
Early April the group released their first project, titled Undecided Luv EP, saying the project is just a foundation to their debut mixtape, Here we are, which is set to be released later on this year.
Their ability to explore new sounds is evident as they croon over guitar strings on their EP. As young as they are and expected not to know anything about love yet, their EP gives some background of their love life.
Their ear for melodies is matched by their talent for lyricism, both solid and easy on the ear. They cover a variety of subjects, ranging from relationships to desire.
When asked about the 911 on their crew’s name Nhlanhla said, “911 is a universal emergency number for citizens throughout the United States to request emergency assistance and the emergency team will arrive fast.
“So we use 911 as our coming-of-age code, we are growing fast and get recognised fast like a USA emergency vehicle arriving at the scene.”
The crew told Alex News that they have a dream and vision and will do anything to reach it, they said they are moving together as a family because everyone brings a different style to the crew.
