“I will never stop grinding to make it, I am optimistic,” said Malvern resident and hip-hop artist Phinda Mazibuko, known as Muzik’M.
The 27-year-old Mpumalanga-born Phinda said following his passion was not easy.
“Growing up in Mpumalanga, in a small township called Elukwatini, we did not have any rap crews, hip-hop artist or much of a hip-hop crowd to do music with. This was a huge struggle and challenge for me. Being a hip-hop head was not always cool. You would rather claim to be a Bhujwa or Pantsula. That was popular in the township,” said Phinda.
He said he grew up listening to the likes of Ja Rule, DMX and Xzibit, to name a few, who had a big influence on him.
With the love of creating and writing poetry, Phinda felt at home in hip-hop.
He said it was not easy following his true love because of the area as people misunderstood him and what he was about.
“I experienced great prejudice and hate caused by something that people did not understand or get. I went to boarding school and I was bullied. For two years I was picked on, teased, humiliated and beaten down for wearing oversized clothes, bandanas, fake chains and braiding my hair. The stress of being bullied caused me to fail my grade 9 year,” said Phinda.
He said like any other challenges in life he never gave up on his love for hip-hop and his dream to be a hip-hop artist.
He was determined and wanted people to understand his love and in 2006 he entered street dancing, which is also part of the hip-hop culture.
“We started a dancing crew called Kluster and we would perform at street bashes, weddings, birthday parties and any other event.
“We participated in almost every local competition whether it was hosted by a shop or the Department of Arts and Culture – we always showed up,” said Phinda.
In 2008 he moved to China to study for a degree in business administration but even when he got to China hip-hop was still a big part of his life.
“I met other hip-hop lovers and we formed a crew called Da Grand Trappers. I started spinning records in clubs, was a videographer and into music production,” said Phinda.
In 2010 Phinda decided to kick-start his hip-hop career.
“In 2010 I released a solo mixtape without a record label or management. The mixtape was titled, ‘Going Somewhere’. The mixtape did not do well in the market, but it got me recognition so for me it did well for a first release,” said Phinda.
With the first mixtape Phinda managed to secure interviews and get his foot in the door.
“The mixtape opened doors for me because people got to know about my music and who I was and that was important as an artist,” said Phinda.
Phinda graduated in 2012 with a four-year Bachelor’s in Business Admin and says that was important to him.
“The music industry is not easy and having something to fall back on is important because sometimes you find that artists are funding themselves from their own pockets to kick-start their careers,” said Phinda.
He currently lives in Malvern and is working as a sales consultant but his passion for hip-hop remains.
“My passion is music and I will never stop working on it,” said Phinda.
He is working on his second project called ‘6AM’ and hopes it will get to the right doors.
“I am so very excited about my second project which I started working on in 2014. I’m still not signed under any label but I am releasing it under my own company, Kluster Networking Group,” said Phinda.
