BY KWANELE TSABEDZE
MBABANE– #EswatiniMusicToTheWorld is the operative hashtag at Upscale Live Entertainment, a recording label that is home to Eswatini’s Young Zesh.
It seems they have done it again, as Young Zesh has successfully outrapped many artists to earn himself a feature on South African rapper Duncan‘s next album. The SA rapper had a challenge where he invited singers and rappers to complete one of his songs with a verse, and the top performer was to earn a feature in his upcoming album. In announcing the winners, Duncan mentioned that the competition was so hard that he had to award four winners instead, and the ‘KaKhoza’ hitmaker was sitting steady at number 2.
“I’m actually so happy I can’t even describe it! During the time when I did the challenge, I knew that even if I did not win, I would be one of the top 4 or 5. This was because when I’m writing, I go all out, I want to be big and be Eswatini’s hero, I would like to be a role model to the kids who are coming up. So, I did my best and when I was seeing the other verses being posted for the challenge, I knew that I would be among the top performers, so I was not too surprised,” said Young Zesh on winning the feature.
Commenting on what it was like to have his skill validated by winning a competition in a big population, Young Zesh added that his mother had always instilled the spirit of believing in himself as a winner.
“When I discovered that God gave me the talent to sing, my mother told me one thing. She said I was born to win. It does not matter the size of the population, I always believe in myself and my work. On every song, I put my heart in, just because doing my best is what gives power to the music. So, the South African population may be big but as long as I do my best with our Siswati because our Siswati is quite nice. It is one of the languages which has not reached many people in terms of music, so I want to put Siswati on the map. I want to be a Swati hero and I want to help bring more Swati music to the world,” added Young Zesh enthusiastically.
Young Zesh revealed that he is currently working on a single.
“I’m preparing a single that will be a ‘Song of the Year’, and will break more records in South Africa as well. I have broken records in Eswatini so I’m hoping this upcoming single will do the same in South Africa. I’m preparing a strong song which I hope people will enjoy. I’m preparing a single for you, and it is now in the mastering and mixing phase at Downtown Music Hub with music engineers,” said Young Zesh.
