Rising Afro punk stars defy stereotypes

WHEN eMdloti resident Kitty Setzkorn wrote to us to tell us about Lungani Zwane who is making waves in the music scene as part of the up and coming Afro Punk trio, 03 Lanez, we just had to meet him. Zwane, who goes by ‘Luniquie,’ performs along with his brother, Vuyani ‘Vatical Major King’ Zwane and their long time friend, Vukile ‘100kz’ Maphumulo. The brothers hail from Verulam while Maphumulo is from KwaMashu.

Zwane, who works in administration and sales for Setzkorn’s Car wash business, said she has inspired him to pursue his dreams.

“She just bought me a guitar, which is a great motivation. She always told me I have to focus on my career, not look somewhere else. She has always been there for me, since day one,” he said.

When Setzkorn recognised Zwane’s talent, she wanted to help him.

“I believe you must help people who have started from nowhere and are trying to do something for themselves. Lungani really has the talent for music,” she said.

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03 Lanez recently scooped a sponsored music video after they performed at Ego Fest, a music festival organised by Ebristo International in August this year. The video dropped on social media platforms recently.

“We performed our song, uThando at an event and the promoter of the event loved the song and asked for a music video of us,” said Zwane

“We felt great and we enjoyed it a lot. We did really well with the music video. It was fun,” added Maphumulo.

The group started in 2008.
“We started as a group of three and we started doing Afro pop music,” said Zwane.

“In 2010, we started doing RnB music. I started as a producer. I found Lungani’s voice to be so great and I found Vukile. We came together and created different kinds of music genres” added Vuyani, who continues to work full time as the group’s producer.

The group write lyrics together and share the creative control to create music that has something for everyone.

“Some people want to understand the lyrics in the song, some people like the flow, some like the beat, so we came together and created something bold and new. Our sounds draws on RnB, but it’s mixed up to combine genres,” said Zwane.

They defy the stereotypes of the rap genre, aiming to inspire the youth with positive lyrics.

“Our lyrics are about life, love and having fun-going out on adventures. We want to show children that they can showcase their talent. By saying that, firstly, you have to get to school. Education is out future, so you have to start with that, and once you have an education, you can use your talent to go further in life,” said Zwane.

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“We are trying to break away from thug lyrics and show that hip hop music is not thug music, it just good music for everybody to heart.

We actually talk about respect, and the Bible and God in our rap. We would like the children to gain knowledge about respecting others,” added Vuyani.

The group, which recently partnered up with manager, Sizwe, has faced obstacles on their journey including access to recording equipment. Despite the limited resources they have, 03 Lanez uses their small studio to develop young talent in their community, working with school learners.

The community can support 03 Lanez by following them on social media by searching for 03 Lanez SA and purchasing their music and merchandise.

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