POLOKWANE – Fans of the hip-hop musician Jackson Mopedy Marena can now breathe a sigh of relief, as he will soon release his much awaited album titled Peu.
His album is set to be released on Friday, 30 March and will be available to purchase from digital music stores and will also be available in a physical copy which will only be sold at his shows or by order.
You might also want to read: Limpopo artists lend their voices to the Help Us Dress a Baby Organisation
Due to a sharp decline in album sales, quite a number of musicians have opted to not release albums, thus fully relying on releasing singles, hoping that these will get great market coverage, resulting in more gigs.
There are only a hand full of artists who are still willing to record and release albums, although it seems unfavourable to do so and the Pedi pioneer rapper is one of them.
The last time Mopedy treated his fans with an album was four years ago when he released his debut album Moletangwedi, which consisted of 12 tracks, most of these which received a lot of airtime on both regional and national radio stations. “After releasing Moletangwedi I took a two year break from music and when I came back in June 2017, I felt more refreshed and enjoyed making music,” he explained.
The much awaited album was produced by four young producers, Decker, ER Beats, Slumkidd and Justine Sylvester and features a number of 15 artists with a single song titled Ke Rata Jwala Remix which features up to 10 Pedi rap artists. “I really can’t wait for people to hear this album, I enjoyed the process of cooking this project with young talented musicians. My target is to sell 10 000 copies to inspire young upcoming artists,” he explained.
Given the new album, he also explains that he is one who is now against abandoning albums to solely rely on the release of singles. “I still hold a strong believe that an album is an artist’s opportunity to better connect with their supporters while gaining new ones. When a music lovers listens to 40 minutes or more of an artist’s music uninterrupted it gives them enough opportunity to make a decision whether to become a fan of that artist’s work for life or not,” he concluded.
