i love the streets of jozi and the people i meet along my journey... 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Body Art
i really enjoyed this studio-shoot, this 54 year-old man spent around 1050 hours getting tattooed, the work has been inspired by Philippine Tribal Art.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Zaki Ibrahims' Album Launch
these images were taken at Zaki Ibrahims' Album Launch in Johannesburg. i really enjoyed listening to her sing... thanks Zaki
you HAVE to get this CD. i'd recommend it to anyone. from what i've heard already, live this is definitely one to add to your collection. keep on keeping on ZAKI!
in studio with CHOC
Did my FISRT ever studio shoot with a friend of mine CHOC, he was an awesome model, i'm excited about venturing out into studio photography.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
SPAZASHOP BOYS
An eclectically collaboration of two young guys,
Spazashop Boys, Jonny Joburg and Sir Charlie Macc was formed. Already getting
votes in other countries as a No.1 Hit, these two have already started out their
career in music raising the bar to higher heights. Their character regime on
stage is electrifying and audiences are immediately drawn in. Their style persona
is anything but predictable and their music is a mix up and consists of
different genres such as Rock, Pop, Dub-Step and Electro, with HIP-HOP forming
the common denominator. Spazashop is doing big tingz!
Interview:
Toni-J: How did SPAZASHOP BOYS form?
Charlie Macc: It started at my
granny’s house.
Toni-J: Seriously?
Charlie Macc: Yeah Jonny ran away
from home.
Jonny Joburg: Ok, you don’t have to write that, LOL.
Charlie Macc: No but for real it
started out at my grandma’s house, in my room, this dude ran away from home, he
was all angry and shit and then we just decided to listen to some tracks and we
just started freestyling.
Toni-J: Interesting, so where did you guys get the
names Jonny Joburg and Charlie Macc?
Jonny Joburg: Well Jonny Joburg is really just a story
about those that don’t come from Joburg but they come here in search of a
better life. They use to call them back in the day ‘Jonny come to Jozi’. So that’s here I got that from and
Joburg is where I learned how to become Jonny Joburg. This is where it all
started and it definitely won’t end here. SPAZASHOP on every corner.
Charlie Macc: Yeah beyond your
border!
Toni-J: What about Charlie Macc?
Charlie Macc: It’s SIR Charlie
Macc. It’s kinda got a ring to it like ‘ a pimp named slick back’ innit?
Toni-J: LOL, but why Charlie?
Charlie Macc: Look up the name
Chime! That’s my Jewish name. So look up the English meaning of that.
Jonny Joburg: But he was given the name by me actually,
I first called him Charles Manyoba, but that was like too wrong, and then I was
like ok Charlie Macc. Then he later added the SIR bit.
Toni-J: So for the readers that haven’t heard
your music, what is your signature style? Or Genre?
Jonny Joburg: The thing is, in the past we’ve tried to
keep things simple and just classify our music under Hip-Hop, which we do,
because we rap, but at the same time, we consider ourselves ROCK stars too as
opposed to being rappers only. Because if you look at the way we present our
art, it’s that of a rock star. It’s about us, our self-experiences and the way
we interpret life. And the Sound? It’s AMAZING!
Charlie Macc: You can’t group our
sound into one category. It’s a collaboration of different elements of music.
The undertone is definitely Hip-Hop,
with a fusion of Dub-Step, Rock ‘n Roll and electro. Just pieces of what
we took from growing up.
Jonny Joburg: Yeah, we’re the new version of 2012
thundercats, we grew up watching cartoon network and stuff, so this is a
reflection of that in some ways.
Toni-J: So what exactly is your mission, what are
you trying to accomplish?
Jonny Joburg: Spazashop will literally be on every
corner and obviously we will be where we need to be. But where we are already ,
we’re in a position to take over
the whole continent and then put it under one flag. We’re staying consistent
but we’ll stay switching it up!
Toni-J: Sounds good, speaking of which you guys
recently had a ‘no.1’ hit on a show outside of South Africa, what was that like
for you guys?
Jonny Joburg: Yeah it’s a FRESH track!! On YARONA FM.
Charlie Macc: Yeah, on the No.1
Radio station in Botswana.
Jonny Joburg: It was so CRAZY and random, that we got voted a No.1 Hit in a place
outside of our home country, South Africa. Just to think that all those people voted for us.
Charlie Macc: It was really cool,
they even called us and told us then we just did an
interview.
Jonny Joburg: It was really special to us because it
was our first track EVER RECORDED!! SHOUT OUT TO BOTSWANA, WE LOVE YOU!
Toni-J: Dope, our mag’s actually distributed in
Botswana too! Speaking of other
countries, where would you guys like to perform?
Charlie Macc: All over the
world, Like Japan, China, South
Korea maybe, L.A,
Jonny Joburg: Nigeria, ATL, SPAZASHOP on EVERY CORNER!
Toni-J: How did the name SPAZASHOP come about
anyway?
Charlie Macc: We were like a group
of people and then you know how nicknames start?
Jonny Joburg: Yeah so it was like a nickname given to
us, there’s no relation, but
we dig it!
Charlie Macc: It was like an
indirect diss, you know, cause nicknames are indirect disses, LOL.
Toni-J: Is there anything you guys are currently
working on that we should look out for?
Charlie Macc: We just did a track
with Camagwini, a Xhosa vocalists,
Toni-J: DOPE!! So when do we get to hear that?
Jonny Joburg: On the album, it’s coming out in
June/July. Called Popular Science.
Toni-J: Any advice you could give to people
trying to get into the same industry!
Jonny Joburg: Do you! Be you! Follow your heart, stay
true to yourself.
Charlie Macc: DO YOUR THANG MANG!
@jonny_joburg
@sircharliemacc
KOLD_PRODUK
This AWESOME and diversely put-together band is on
their way to making headlines. Not only do they combine different genres of
music, but they also add live aspects to their live performances. Spending a
day with Kold Produk was really awesome and the experience of being in the
presence of such humble people was refreshing! BIG UPS KOLD PRODUK!
INDIVIDUAL SHOTS...
CHAD
DJ_SWOOSH
MOKI
T-SPARK
INTERVIEW:
How
did you guys get together?
Moki
Sage: We started recording in 2007, we called ourselves
the underdogs of Kold Produk, pretty much because we were coming in from
professions outside of music. At that time we were already qualified in different
fields, I’m an architect. We were performing for a short while after we
released ‘HUSH’ in our first Album. T-Spark’s been there from the beginning.
Then afterwards we met up with DJ Swoosh,
we then performed together with him.
DJ_SOOSH: I
had hit a point in 2006 where I was done working with Emcees and I was kind of
really wanted to pursue my thing solo, then soon after I was at the DSTV
offices and saw the ‘HUSH’ video and I was like whoa, BRILLIANT BRANDING! I
wasn’t even like listening to the music, I was just like mesmerized. And
then I got a call from my buddy
Spencer and he was like “Kold Produk needs a DJ” and then I was like OK fine, I’ll meet with them.
Chad:
Well I started in the band about a year and a half ago and through a mutual friend I met Kold
Produk. The project was already established by then, so moving forward, what
we’ve done right now is we’ve taken songs and created more live aspects to
them. Incorporating other instruments, me doubling up on parts that were
already in the original tracks or over-dubbing on parts that needed
over-dubbing. Lastly incorporating into the songs more of what I do, which is
playing guitar.
T-Spark:
I came into the group because Kold Produk had a son and they
needed a female vocalist. We also had a mutual friend who was at the time
producing a couple of tracks for them. Been with them ever since then. My sound
is soulful, I consider myself a R’n B singer. I am trying to get the ‘rowdy’
thing going but my roots are in R’n B.
When
Kold Produk started out how did you know what type of sound you wanted to
create?
Moki
Sage: In the beginning we were open to a variety of
different genres. Like Hip-Hop is my first love so with every song I feature on
I’m going to bring forward elements of Hip-Hop and we wanted something that
reflected the different tastes that we all have. However our sound is
predominantly Hip-Hop with electro, R’n B, Reggae and Rock. We try to incorporate
beatboxing and live instrumentals. And then you also get a feel of alternative
Rock. It all depends on the song we’re trying to make and the type of energy we’re
trying to evoke.
In
terms of your beats, do you guys sample or make them from scratch?
Chad: It’s
a bit of everything, it might be a little recording from a cell phone, and it
might be a beat that DJ Swoosh finds.
Moki
Sage: When we run our live performances with a mixture of
us playing live instruments and some of the other stuff fits in digitally
already. So we take off whatever is being compensated, live. And
pre-programmed. So it’s a mix of all those things.
DJ_SOOSH: It’s
kind of like a vaulting part of
everything. Kold Produk can’t be put in a box because we basically fuse
everything together.
T-Spark: The
thing is you need to be at one of our live shows to actually understand what we
mean by fusing all these different elements together.
What
is your take on Hip-Hop collaborations with other genres?
T-Spark: There’s
a huge progression commercially, there’s a lot more people coming out. People
are starting to bring out more quality stuff, in terms of visually and sound
wise. It is growing in number and to a certain degree, content.
Chad: I
come from a completely different background, I come from playing in Rock bands
my whole life and with working with Kold Produk now, I’ve started working with
other artists. You’ve got people like Tumi and the Volume, where artists are
incorporating live elements with a little bit of reggae and other stuff. People
generally become more familiar with you as an artist.
Where
do you guys see yourselves in the next 5yrs?
T-Spark: Performing
all over the world!
Moki
Sage: We want to expand on our merchandise, our music and
our videos.
Is
there any advice you guys would give to the people out there trying to make it?
Chad: I
heard Kold Produk on radio years back and I said to my mate, I’m going to play
for that band one day. And it happened. It just so happened it took the right
person at the right time to introduce us to eachother and I’ve been playing
music for 11 years now. My point is you have to persevere.
T-Spark: I
agree, this industry is not easy, perfect your craft.
DJ_SOOSH: Over
and above you need to have the right attitude and persists. If things don’t
work out, you cant just give up. You need to keep pushing. You do whatever you can to make things work.
Is
there anything we could look forward to from Kold Produk?
Moki
Sage: Lets start off koldproduk.com. We’ve got a music
video that we’re currently working on, ‘Full Moon Shining’ and we’ve got
another music video coming out ‘All Good, All Gravy’, Kold Produk in the house
baby! LOL, but everything else we’ll keep you posted via twitter , facebook and
our website. Something big is coming out in June/July, so you guys have to keep
a watch out for that.
DJ_SOOSH: It’s
a big deal.
Any
Artists you guys would like to work with?
T-Spark:
David Guetta
DJ_SOOSH: I
think it would definitely be Timbaland. I’d love to work with him.
To DJ Premier or Scream, many different people
influence me.
Moki
Sage: The music that we make is like version 1.0
Chad:
Anyone that’s breaking the boundaries.
Friday, April 13, 2012
ARTISTIC INTELLIGENCE
Artistic Intelligence: a Hip-Hop Dance crew from South Africa.
I really enjoyed the outcome of this shoot.
FREEZE FRAME
Freeze frame is a DANCE crew consisting of 12 member, based JHB, South Africa. This Hip-Hop based DANCE crew is passionate about dancing and making a STATEMENT!
Shot in Newtown, South Africa.
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