NELISIWE Xaba known to her fans as Nelz is a Durban mainstream hip-hop female artist set to take over the music industry. She has been nominated in the Best Female category at the 6th annual South African Hip-Hop Awards, which will be taking place on 13 December at The Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City, Johannesburg.
The BAT Centre hip-hop sessions alumni says she fell in love with music in general as a means to escape from her reality. “I would always entertain my grandparents and younger brother by performing for them,” she said.
“I would jump up and stand in front of the TV when my favourite song came on and perform it as if it were my own, I’m sure it annoyed them at some point. It wasn’t until my first year in varsity, at Mangosuthu University of Technology that I realized that I actually wanted to pursue a career in music. I had recited one of my poems over a beat a fellow classmate had produced. I knew at that very moment that the hip-hop genre was my forte.”
Nelisiwe started attending hip-hop sessions at BAT Centre (Durban) and began teaching herself more about the hip-hop culture and improving her art daily.
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Despite having only started rapping in 2013 after joining Magudu Music, Nelz has also appeared on SA’s first ever hip-hop reality show ‘The Hustle’ which aired on Vuzu AMP. She made it to the top10 finalists and was the last female MCee to be eliminated amongst a male dominated contest. This has propelled her to even greater heights in her young career, and she has been featured on YoTv as a special guest and had the opportunity to collaborate with AB Crazy of Kalawa Jazmee
“I saw an opportunity to showcase my talent on a much bigger platform and when I heard who the panel of judges were, it just drove me to sell myself better in those 30 second videos because they are people I look up too. I learned a lot from the show and the doors it opened for me are inexplicable. I have a track with Professor and AB Crazy both from Kalawa that is coming soon,” she said.
She has also shared the stage with popular artists such as Professor from Kalawa Jazmee; AKA ; WTF (Witness The Funk); Aewon Wolf and Sketchy Bongo, nasty C, Black Coffee and numerous other big names in the music industry.
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Nelz is working with Proper Files under Kalawa Jazmee and is pushing her latest music video for her single ‘The Top’, which she released on YouTube in January. Not only has it received great response from her supporters, but it has also been playlisted on Mtv Base South,Trace Africa and Channel O. The ‘Queen Of The Coast’ also featured on DJ Switch’s ‘Now or Never’ LeFemme Remix alongside Fifi Cooper, GiGi Lamayne just to mention a few. She has also performed at the KFC SoundBite Live Performance Experience. KFC SoundBite is an online music platform designed to unearth diverse groups of unsigned local musicians while seamlessly connecting fans with artists. Through this, fresh talent has been given a chance to be heard and seen through an online chart that is completely controlled by the fans.
Nelz is determined to be the best artist and overall entertainer and represent the women in this male dominated genre. “I always want to connect and engage with my audience and make sure I leave them wanting more,” she said.
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