DR MAVIBES
❖ The new kid on the block is signed under Ambitiouz Entertainment
❖ He hails all the way from Ladysmith in the province of KZN
❖ His real name is Siphephelo Hlatshwayo
SNYMAAN
❖ Though he officially became part of the Ambitiouz journey late in 2019, he is no stranger to the label as he has previously been featured in Kid Tini’s Imali, Emtee’s Smogolo, and Abantu.
❖ He is signed under the multiple award-winning record label, Ambitiouz Entertainment.
AKA
❖ He was the first hip hop artist to headline the popular Old Mutual Music at The Lake
❖ He loves sandwiches besides being a hitmaker, AKA owns 3rd World Designs, a company that specialises in film and video design
❖ His company did the cover art for media personality, Bonang Matheba’s book From A to B: Invest In Your Sparkle
❖ In 2016, he was the first South African artist to have his video reach 1 million views on Youtube in 10 days. ❖ He shares a daughter, Kairo, with DJ Zinhle
HILLZY
❖ The Cape Town-based Zimbabwean-born R&B/trapsoul artist and producer has released covers of popular songs that have amassed serious numbers
❖ He is actually a qualified computer scientist
❖ His song, You Are Enough, encourages women who have been made to feel small
❖ He grew up listening to Gospel and admit to having only started listening to R&B and hip-hop in 2008 ❖ He taught himself how to make and record beats
SHA SHA
❖ Born: Charmaine Shamiso Mpambiro on 13 July 1994
❖ She gained popularity for her collaborations with South African dance producers such as DJ Maphorisa and Kabza de Small
❖ She came to South Africa in 2017 after she and Audius were introduced to South African producers
❖ In 2019, she released her debut album titled Blossom.
❖ The singer has been recording for over 6 years
YOUNGSTA CPT
❖ He is known for incorporating details about his Cape Malay culture and his Cape Town roots in his music.
❖ YoungstaCPT has been described as “one of the most outspoken South African emcees of this generation.”
❖ He released his debut solo album 3T (Things Take Time) in April 2018, which won Album of The Year at the 2019 SA Hip Hop Awards
❖ Prior to the release of 3T, YoungstaCPT had released 30 mixtapes, 6 extended plays, and two collaborative albums since his debut in 2010.
WIZKID
❖ His real name is Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun
❖ He started recording music at the age of 11 and managed to release a collaborative album with a group he had formed with his church mates
❖ In 2016, he received international recognition following his collaboration with `drake on ‘One Dance’
❖ In March 2o17, he signed a multi-album deal with RCA Records
❖ He is the most decorated artist internationally and one of the most revolutionary artists of Afro-pop in the modern era
H.E.R
❖ Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson, better known professionally as H.E.R., is an American singer and songwriter.
❖ In 2014, Wilson signed a record deal with RCA Records and HBK Entertainment at the age of 14, later releasing her debut single titled “Something to Prove” under her real name
❖ After initial music appearances and singles under her real name, Wilson re-emerged in 2016 with the H.E.R. persona, releasing her debut EP H.E.R. Volume 1.
❖ In 2020, she was nominated for five awards at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for “I Used to Know Her” and Song of the Year for “Hard Place”.
❖ She was introduced to the public as an artist as a young child, covering Alicia Keys on piano on the Today Show, before competing on Radio Disney’s The Next BIG Thing when she was 12 years old
TK N CASH
❖ The Georgia duo known as TK-N-Cash were both solo artists when they met in 2007.
❖ A year later, they formed Banq Boi Entertainment and moved to nearby Atlanta, where an appearance at Ludacris‘ Disturbing tha Peace Talent Search led to talks with various labels.
❖ In 2011, they joined BET’s Scream Tour across America, while TK earned a co-writing credit on the Trey Songz cut “What I Be On” featuring Fabolous.
❖ hey were featured on Lil Wayne‘s “Ride That Wave” and released additional singles, including “Money on Money” with Young Thug
BIG ZULU
❖ Big Zulu is a South African actor, songwriter, and rapper.
❖ He has managed to transform a word associated with crime (inkabi meaning hired gun, a terminology associated with violent deaths of taxi bosses countrywide) to being a cool name that is lighting up the entertainment industry in South Africa.
❖ He was born in Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
❖ He was first a taxi driver until 2008 when he decided to dive into the music scene.
❖ Away from music, he has been an actor on several popular soapies in SA, such as Isibaya, Uzalo, and Isithembiso.
NTABA YASE DUBAI
❖ Lindokuhle Msomi is a South African tribal trapper also known as Intaba Yasedubai / Simple Dubai hails from Mthandeni in Kwa Maphumulo
❖ He began his musical career while in High School and matriculated in 2012 and that is where he began to seriously concentrate on his musical career.
❖ It wasn’t until he joined Inkabi Records boss Big Zulu and Cotton Fest pioneer Riky Rick on “Imali Eningi” and the song blew up that people began to ask serious questions about him.
❖ He has reportedly shared the stage with industry big names like Zakwe, Oskido, Nokwazi, Sjava, and the late ProKid.
RICKY RICK
❖ The rapper owns a Mercedes G Wagon and a Ferrari worth almost R5 million.
❖ Rikhado Makhado, known professionally as Riky Rick, is a South African rapper, songwriter, singer, composer, actor, entrepreneur, fashion designer, and the founder and owner of the record label “Cotton Club Records”
❖ He was raised in KwaMashu township near Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
❖ He says he listens to a lot of jazz music– in his spare time and his favourite jazz artists are Gil Scott-Heron, Grover Washington Jr, Jeff Lorber, and Nduduzo Makhathini.
❖ He had to wear spectacles since I was a kid, but he never has glasses that he likes to wear.
SIMMY
❖ Simphiwe Nhlangulela, better known by her stage name Simmy, is a South African electronic dance music, neo-soul and experimental pop music singer and songwriter
❖ She gained prominence in 2018 after releasing her debut album Tugela Fairy.
❖ Simmy started her career by auditioning for SA Idols and SA Has Got Talent but was
unsuccessful
❖ In 2019, Simmy won the awards for Newcomer of The Year, Best Afro Pop Album, and record of the year at The 25th South African Music Awards
SUN EL MUSICIAN
❖ Sanele Sithole, better known by his stage name Sun El Musician, is a South African disc jockey, music producer, and songwriter
❖ He is the largest SAMA winner of the SAMA 24th Edition with 3 awards Sun-El Musician was the ray that struck a nerve with “Akanamali” in 2017
❖ He was born in KwaZulu-Natal Midlands’ Rosetta region.
❖ During his first year at the university, he attended a party where DJ Tira was performing. This encouraged him to learn to use Fruit Loops (FL Studio), the popular production software, albeit a limited trial version
❖ Recently, he worked with Alicia Keys and her husband Swizz Beatz, who flew him out to the United States and paid for everything on the one-week trip.
DA CAPO
❖ Da Capo’s real name is Nicodimus Sekheta Mogashoa, born and raised in Seshego, Limpopo.
❖ He describes his undeniable talent for music as a God-given talent that comes to him as a 6th sense.
❖ The 29-year-old record producer and DJ are celebrated as a legend in the house music fraternity around the world for his versatile skill to produce & remix house music by the likes of Nick Holder & Black Coffee.
❖ After a successful 2019 of being crowned Best Afro House DJ 2019 by the DJ Awards Ibiza, his album Indigo Child reaching platinum status and a total of 36,5 million streams
JACK HARLOW
❖ Kentucky-born Jack Harlow is one of the most hyped new rappers of 2020.
❖ He’s also been called derivative and criticised for tracing over hard-edged rap styles with a frat-boyish freehand
❖ After racking up around 250,000 total views on YouTube as of 2016, his 2017 project, Gazebo, was immediately met with a very positive reaction by fans and celebrities alike; launching his career to another platform.
❖ Harlow was even a guest performer at Genius’ very own IQ/BBQ and was later named to the 2020 XXL Freshman list,
❖ His shot to stardom reached a peak it had never seen in 2020, as his song “What’s Poppin” acquired features from Lil Wayne, DaBaby, and Tory Lanez and made it to the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100.
CALVIN HARRIS
❖ Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris, is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter.
❖ His collaboration with Rihanna, “We Found Love”, became an international success, giving Harris his first number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100.
❖ In October 2014, he became the first artist to place three songs simultaneously on the top 10 of Billboard‘s Dance/Electronic Songs chart
❖ He also became the first British solo artist to reach more than one billion streams on Spotify.
❖ He topped Forbes‘ list of the world’s highest-paid DJs for six consecutive years from 2013 to 2018.
THE WEEKEND
❖ Born Abel Makkonen Tesfaye on February 16, 1990, and known professionally as the Weeknd
❖ He began his recording career in 2010, anonymously uploading several songs Youtube
❖ The Weeknd has won three Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, nine Juno Awards, and has been nominated for an Academy Award.
❖ He is the only child of Makkonen and Samra Tesfaye, who were Ethiopian immigrants to Canada in the late 1980s.
❖ In April 2012, Tesfaye began his first tour of the United States, with a performance at the Coachella Festival
SHO MADJOZI
❖ Madjozi was born on 9 May 1992 in Shirley Village, Elim, Limpopo, the daughter of Rosemary Phaweni and Marc Wegerif who ran a non-governmental organisation that was made to assist people with their land claims
❖ In 2019, Madjozi was named as one of Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 for her contribution to the music and entertainment sector.
❖ After graduating high school at the International School of Tanganyika in Tanzania, Madjozi was offered a scholarship to Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, US, to study creative writing and African studies.
❖ She began rapping and composing music under her stage name “Sho Madjozi”. Madjozi rose to fame after her collaboration with rapper Okmalumkoolkat on the track “Ngiyashisa Bhe” and the hit single “Gqi”.
❖ Madjozi released her debut single, “Dumi HiPhone”, featuring disc jockey duo PS DJz, on 28 April 2017, which was well-received by the public
LIL DICKY
❖ Lil Dicky is an American rapper and comedian
❖ HIs interest in music started when he was a child, listening to hip-hop and alternative rock. He began rapping in the fifth grade after doing a history report on Alexander Pushkin using rap music.
❖ In his youth, the hip-hop and rap music artists Burd listened to most were Nas and Jay-Z.
❖ He says he initiated his rap career simply to get attention comedically, so he could write movies, write TV shows and act
❖ He and Jeff Schafer created a TV series called Dave, which portrays a fictionalized version of his life as a rapper
CHRIS BROWN
❖ He was involved in his church choir and several local talent shows from a young age.
❖ With his first single “Run It!” peaking atop the Billboard Hot 100, Brown became the first male artist since 1997 to have his debut single top the chart.
❖ Brown taught himself to sing and dance at a young age and often cites Michael Jackson as his inspiration
❖ He had his daughter Royalty with Nia Guzman in 2015 and then, in 2019, Brown welcomed his second child, son Aeko Catori Brown, with Ammika Harris
❖ Brown has stated he owns fourteen Burger King restaurants
JADEN
❖ Smith’s first role was with his father Will Smith in the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness and would again appear with his father in the 2013 film After Earth.
❖ Jaden Smith was born July 8, 1998 in Malibu, California, the son of actors Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith.
❖ Smith and his siblings were youth ambassadors for Project Zambi, which provides assistance in conjunction with Hasbro for Zambian children orphaned by AIDS.
❖ Smith’s music career began in 2010 with his debut on Canadian singer Justin Bieber’s song “Never Say Never” and is the main theme song to the reboot of The Karate Kid. ❖ In July 2017, Smith signed to Roc Nation Records in partnership with his record label “MSFTS Music”.
