The Johannesburg-born producer discusses his SAMA nomination, growing up on Durban's gqom movement, and why ‘Rebirth Is Necessary’ pushes the genre into interesting and challenging electronic territory.
Tšeliso MonahengTšelisoMonahengJohannesburg-Based Southern Africa Correspondent
Lelowhatsgood speaks to OkayAfrica about his latest EP.by Assante Chiweshe
Lelowhatsgood was going about his day, unaware that nominations for the 2025 South African Music Awards were underway. He learned via an inbox from a friend that his debut album, Next Level, had been nominated for Best Gqom Album. "I was in disbelief. I was quite surprised and happy. I feel like that moment validated everything that I was doing," the deejay and producer tells OkayAfrica the day before the release of his follow-up, Rebirth Is Necessary.
"I've only been making music for the past three or four years. I'm still such a baby producer; I'm still new. Coming up so fast within that space has been such an interesting journey, and I'm learning so much in real time, just how the industry and artists work. I'm grateful to have gone to music and writing camps to see how other people work, so that I can use that experience for my own projects," he says.
A deejay since 2018, Lelowhatsgood says production was the logical next step. Beyond his role as a producer, he has woven himself into the fabric of South African pop culture through a multidisciplinary practice that includes event curation in the form of the VNJ Ball, an inclusive movement that celebrates queer culture through music, art and fashion.
"There are so many genres, but I wanted to stay true to my roots, and also be quite daring and do something that's a little bit more futuristic, and what I think African electronic music should sound like," he says.
Born in Johannesburg, he grew up in Durban, where the gqom bug bit. He has never quite recovered. "It caught me in high school. I think it was also the time when it was starting to come out. Catching taxis to Durban CBD and South Beach, gqom was already circulating in those taxis. We were all sharing files that we'd gotten from other people. I was quite young, so I have a good understanding and knowledge of what gqom music is. Even going to certain parties and seeing the rawness of the sound and what it did to me and other people as well. It's something that always stuck with me, even until now," he says.
There is a world of difference between how gqom sounds now and how it did when Lelowhatsgood was a high school kid party-hopping in Durban. There are also different pockets to it: the more traditional broken-beat approach, with chopped vocal samples and dark, menacing strings; or the deeper, darker variations that center the bass, feature elegantly arranged synth elements, and stretch themselves until they fall into hard tech terrain.
"I think we have a lot more tools now to use to our advantage. With our globalized worldview, digital media also has a way of influencing the things we listen to. Culture and the way that genres influence the way we make music help shape what a genre can become. The gqom that we're making now is so much more different because we've all become so globalized," he says.
“It's fun having to create my own lane, not having to look at what other people are doing,” says Lelowhatsgood.by Asaante Chiweshe
Next Level comprises five songs that cover the broad spectrum of South African electronic music. "Ba Ko Kae" with Espacio Dos was the lead single, an appetizer for the full course. Lelowhatsgood wanted it to deviate from the norm, where lyrics over gqom beats are sung in one of the three Nguni languages, isiZulu in particular. "Mind ur Business" features Lazarusman, who has carved out his own space in the deep house arena with his spoken-word pieces. "Making that song was so interesting. I'd literally got a much more broken-down beat from Kiing Bhutie. We had pushed each other to make more diverse, techy sounds. I was like, it would be interesting to break the song into two," he says.
The track begins as Afro-tech and morphs into gqom, one of the year's most daring production decisions. "Listening back to the song, I didn't know who would be right on the track. Initially, I wasn't gonna include vocals, but it would have been such a disservice. I approached Lia Butler first, because in my mind I had envisioned those old school house songs where people speak on the track. I wanted that feel on a gqomtech song," he says.
He reached out to Lazarusman, who was in London at the time. "We did the thing virtually. He was like, I think I'm gonna keep it a little bit minimal. I didn't dictate what he should say; I just shared the feel of the song. He came back two weeks later with the vocals, and was like, let me know what you think," he says. A few tweaks later, a classic was born.
"Gqom now has so many sub-genres. There's the Durban style, which will always be a thing. Then you get into much deeper sub-genres, people like Zvri and Omagoqa, which is more electronic-focused, much heavier, very corrugated iron-type sounds. There's also the EDM/European feel, especially with what we did on my first EP, which was fusing the Durban sound with a much more global appeal," he says.
"I don't think there are rules. It's fun having to create my own lane, not having to look at what other people are doing. Being like, how does this define me and what I wanna do? I guess this EP is exactly that, really putting together all the things that influenced me and trying to make sense of it."
