Exclusive look into Blaq Diamond’s musical journey

Hailing from the 150 in Ladysmith, Blaq Diamond has built a lane and aesthetic unique to their sound. The duo, made up of Ndumiso Mdletshe and Sphelele Dunywa who are better known as Ndu and Danya, has spearheaded an aesthetic that fuses popular African sounds with international influences. Their Sama-nominated debut album, Inqola, propelled the duo to heights that saw them compete with the best in the music industry. City Buzz caught up with the duo for an exclusive look into their musical journey and exciting plans for the future.

1. Who is Blaq Diamond?

Danya: Blaq Diamond is a duo all the way from Ladysmith, a small town called 150, we call it 150 because it’s the street code – that’s the code of the town. We’re signed under Ambitious.

2. When did you guys fall in love with the idea of being musicians?

Ndu: It’s been forever, we never planned it. Growing up as a kid, I remember I loved singing so we grew up doing it and it wasn’t a decision because it was always there.

3. Your music is widely regarded as Afro-pop, what I want to know from you guys, is how you would describe your sound?

Ndu: Our sound is very African and at the same time it’s popular music. It’s music for everybody and we can’t really box it into one genre. It’s very African, very local, and South African to be more specific.

4. Obviously, you guys are a duo, as individuals, what elements do each of you bring to make your sound come full circle?

Danya: I wouldn’t say there’s something different between us because whatever he can do I can do too and also switch it up. We’re two powerful musicians joining together and just devoting ourselves to this thing and making sure it comes out correct because if we’re both strong, nobody is going to stop us, we need to be strong forces together there’s no Beyoncé energy – we’re both Beyoncés and the same time coming up strong and making sure everything goes accordingly.

Ndu: And it’s more powerful when we move together, it’s like a movement more than just one person trying to change the world. It’s way more powerful.

5. Individually and as a duo, what are your musical influences?

Ndu: I don’t have anything specific, I won’t lie. Either than where we come from I would say Black Mambazo, it wasn’t just music it was their entire journey and how they stood in one lane and went out there and did all the incredible things they did. Their whole journey is just inspiring. So I wouldn’t say it was just music alone.

Danya: It’s the same for me, I listen to different types of music. Like me and him, we just go onto YouTube and hear something from Asia, Japan and anything from Africa and South Africa. We’re really in love with different angles of music. We don’t devote ourselves to one thing.

6. On that tip of you listening to music from Japan or China, how do you guys make those influences fit your African Sound?

Ndu: Man, since we’re producers, it really helps us to actually explore. Now, when we come back with some idea we got from China, for example, there’s this song Emzini Kababa, that guitar that’s playing there is a Chinese guitar, that song is more scathamiya but at the same time the bounce is more trapish. There’s more than one sound but it just comes out beautifully.

7. Your debut album, Inqola, was released in 2017 and sees your sound come full-circle following the release of singles like Emzini Kababa and Sthandwa, how has the journey been since?

Danya: It’s been amazing, the first day we released the album we were number one across all genres. That was a milestone to us because we come from trying to grab people’s attention so they can listen to the stuff we make to people receiving our music in this way.

8. Would you say that since your album came out, you guys have carved out a lane and sound that is unique to Blaq Diamond?

Ndu: Yeah, definitely, we came up with something different. I feel like in about five years time you will see guys like us coming up because we’ve created a new lane – from the way we look to the music we make. A lot of people are definitely going to come up with a lot of things now, it’s way bigger than the music. I think people will start thinking in a different way and accept people who think differently, especially in Afro-pop because I feel like they haven’t accepted a lot of young people. It’s really killing the culture because it’s not like young people don’t like traditional stuff. We’re fighting for it.

9. You dropped the visuals for Isoka recently, what spurred the decision to choose that song out of the rest of the songs on the album?

Danya: As I said, whatever we sing about is always about the people, it’s never about us. There are some songs that we do that are personal but most of the time it’s about you, the listener, and what you go through. People liked the song and we decided to choose Isoka.

Ndu: The song on its own is sitting on more than half a million streams on YouTube audio, alone, so it just says a lot and it’s an unknown account that uploaded the song. We listen to people, as artists we feel like that’s our power – taking what people go through and put it on a song.

10. How was it releasing your debut album with Ambitious?

Danya: We’ve been doing this for a long time and Ambitious came and took our careers to the next level. We really appreciate what Ambitious has done the energy is good. Them putting out our music is a milestone to us.

Ndu: The best part about our journey and our story is that even when we got to Ambitious we had already made the album, actually, we had put it online and when we got to Ambitious we had to drop if officially. That’s music from 2015 and we have a lot of music now.

11. What can we expect from Blaq Diamond in the near future, are you working on any material, shows or even videos?

Danya: To us, it’s all about uniqueness the whole time and I feel like that’s our strong point. Whatever music we’re making right now we still unique and trust me we’re going to change the game twice. It’s a good time to drop right now.

Ndu: We’re also going to drop visuals of how we actually made the songs, just to show people the flow and how smoothly we work.