TLT Amazing merges mbube with rap music
Inspired by Lady Smith Black Mambazo, rap duo, TLT Amazing is set to take the South African hip hop scene by storm with the mbube genre.
Rap duo TLT Amazing, made up of Vusi ‘Troublle’ Rantla and Phethego ‘L-Tech’ Makanyane, are set to release their first studio album later this year.
The Katlehong rappers signed to RapLyf Records in 2014.
“We used to pay for studio time at Kwesta’s studio, in his garage, back before he made it big,” said Phethego.
“When he and Kid X launched the record label we were among the first artists to be signed, mainly because of our sound and we had already established a professional relationship with their team.”
Vusi is originally from Springs but spent most of his teenage years visiting family in Katlehong and that’s when he met Phethego, and the two have been inseparable ever since.
The two were part of a rap gang which went around the township attending rap battles.
“We shared musical chemistry, and when it was time to take the hobby to new heights, others had left to dabble in new ventures, and we met Kwesta.”
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TLT began their groundwork in hip-hop professionally in 2016 when they launched their single Chankura, which was followed by their mixtape, 247he Money.
The duo’s career highlight came in the same year, when they were part of the line-up of musical acts opening for international, platinum-selling artist J Cole at the Ticketpro Dome in Johannesburg.
“In the same year we featured on Kwesta’s album DaKAR II, with the song Mnino,” said Phethego.
“That was our formal introduction to the hip-hop industry as RapLyf artists.”
They began gaining greater traction in their community and on social media after Mmino was released.
They continued working on features with various artists, including, DJ Zai Maya, who worked with them on her 2017 single, Keep It On The Low, alongside Makwa Beats.
TLT continued touring with other RapLyf artists in 2017 and managed a slot on the South African Music Awards performance list.
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“A lot of artists endeavour to sound American. We are inspired by the mbube genre which was made popular by the likes of Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Miriam Makeba,” said Vusi.
“We want to bring the hip-hop culture back home, because not everyone in SA is a hip-hop fanatic. We thought if we localised our sound, we’d have a unique sound, different from what other rappers were producing.”
They continued gaining traction on social media in 2018 when they were featured in Kid X’s Thank Da King album, on the song Thlakantswiki.
Their 2018 hit single, Mbube, featuring Kwesta, has made them household names and their video for the single, published on December 5, is currently sitting on 644 504 views on their YouTube channel, TLTVEVO.
TLT will release their second single in June, which will feature R&B vocalist Thabsie.
Their album release date is yet to be announced.
In future the two hope to work with Riky Rick, Focalistic, Mlindo the Vocalist, Touchline and Msaki.
Follow the duo on Twitter: @TLTamazing, Instagram: @tltamazing and Facebook: TLTamazing.
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