{"id":12322,"date":"2021-07-23T15:32:29","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T13:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=12322"},"modified":"2021-07-23T15:32:34","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T13:32:34","slug":"25k-drops-highly-anticipated-debut-album-pheli-makaveli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2021\/07\/23\/25k-drops-highly-anticipated-debut-album-pheli-makaveli\/","title":{"rendered":"25K Drops Highly Anticipated Debut Album “Pheli Makaveli”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Curated by Zoocci Coke Dope<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Atteridgeville born rapper, 25k \u2018The Plug\u2019 finally drops his debut album \u2018Pheli Makaveli\u2019 arguably the most anticipated hip hop release of 2021. \u2018Pheli Makaveli\u2019 tells the gripping tale of a young hustler on the come-up. \u201cThe project is about my upbringing, my story and my journey before the music and when I fell in love with the music. It sums up a bit of everything about me from back when I was in the streets, hustling, when I used to stand on the corner, hoping to make a little sale.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of the album begins with him meeting Zoocci Coke Dope, who produced and curated the project. \u201cI met Zoocci when I had just shot the \u2018Culture Vulture\u2019 video. He told me it\u2019s one of his favourite songs and that\u2019s why he hit me up for a studio session.  We knocked a beat out immediately, and after a few sessions with him, he said that I should release the songs we\u2019re recording as an album.\u201d <\/em> It was also Zoocci who suggested that he should name the album \u2018Pheli Makaveli\u2019. \u201c<\/em>Zoocci sent me a random text saying I should name the album \u2018Pheli Makaveli\u2019 because I\u2019m from Pheli and influenced a lot by 2Pac and the West Coast. Every song we recorded after we put a title to the project, started making sense.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The album opens with the now popular intro \u2018Pheli Makaveli(Intro)\u2019<\/em><\/strong> that encompasses the rappers then current state of mind and that of the hip hop scene. \u201cAs Zoocci was making the beat in studio, the melody hit me, and then I took out my phone and wrote three or four lines. I did the verse in one take, and we added the “Pheli Makaveli” chant after those raps. It sounded like my current state of mind at the time, in terms of how I felt the industry is going, my accomplishments and people having me misunderstood because of being on so many features.\u201d <\/em>The outro skit is a news report from Atteridgeville that showcases the daily lives in the hood. Watch the video here<\/a>. Continuing with the West Coast inspiration, \u2018Blarofonia\u2019 pays homage with the 2Pac and Dr Dre sample of their hit song, \u2018California\u2019. An avid lover of gangster movies and series like The Sopranos, Goodfellas and The Godfather Trilogy, Omerta<\/em><\/strong> is the oath you make when being initiated into the mafia. \u201cFirstly, it is an oath to brotherhood with his homies, secondly to never let his mother down and ultimately himself and his contribution to the game. It is about holding each other down and never succumbing to culture vultures.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A-Reece features on the fourth track and smash hit, \u2018Hustlers Prayer\u2019 that resonated with a lot of people who were affected by Covid 19.<\/em><\/strong> \u201cReece and I had agreed in 2018 that we would work on a song together and I sent him a song. When Covid hit, I was unable to reach him until I dropped \u2018Ghetto Angels\u2019 in 2020\u2014that\u2019s when he hit me up to say, \u2018Yo, bro, apologies for that, I was going through some stuff, but I’m better right now.\u2019 When he eventually sent the verse, it made sense why I couldn’t reach him at that time- the death of his father in 2020. I could relate to that, because I also lost my dad when I was young, so it was a deep song for me to listen to at the time. That’s how he explained what he was going through during that time\u2014he actually put it in the song.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Trap Jumpin\u2019, track four, feels like you are  hanging out with 25k at the trap having a good time and features an outro skit of the infamous gangster, Maleven. \u201cFor the skit, Zoocci was like, \u2018Yo, who’s the craziest guy you ever heard in SA talking that real talk?\u2019 We watched that Maleven\u2019s video and we laughed at it. The next time Zoocci played me the song, that was the clip he had put on the song. <\/em>Watch 25K\u2019s performance of \u2018Trap Jumpin\u2019on Riky Rick\u2019s \u2018THE YARD\u2019 here<\/a>. The second half of the album opens with a guest appearance by Emtee the Hustler, one of 25k’s biggest influences, on \u2018Self Made\u2019 a track about making it from the bottom and not switching up when you get to the top. \u2018<\/em><\/strong>Dagwood\u2019 follows and discusses true events of coming up in the industry and having all these different women showing love and you never really knowing who’s genuine. \u201cThen you also get dudes who get touched that you might’ve been involved with a woman that they know.\u201d <\/em>\u2018Project Baby\u2019 is an interlude is all about being a baby growing up in the hood (projects) and how he used his street knowledge to get out of the hood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On \u2018Apple Soda\/ Record Deal\u2019 25K shows off his versatility. The first part of the song, \u2018Apple Soda\u2019, is the first episode and connects to the second episode, Record Deal, with a 2Pac interview discussing people\u2019s misconceptions about him after being released from jail. \u201cWhat he says has sentimental value to me; he would do anything to feed and protect his family and I am the same.” <\/em>On \u2018<\/em>Record Deal\u201925K speaks about his fans saying that he sold out because he signed a record deal, \u201cbut they don’t understand that I’m actually smarter than they think I am, my legal team is A1. <\/em>FLVME appears on track 10, \u2018Dusk till Dawn\u2019, the only song that isn’t produced by Zoocci on the album. \u201cI called the song \u2018From Dusk Till Dawn\u2019 because we were really up all night putting in work. FLVME did the production and came through with the fire vocals.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pheli Makaveli has a full circle moment on \u2018Kings Gambit Bag Man\u2019 where he features Killer X, a former member of their high school duo. \u201dHe helped me pioneer my sound in terms of me rapping in vernac and mixing it up with English from time to time. For me to do this thing on a national scale or even an international scale, it\u2019d only be fair for me to put Killa-X on the song.\u201d <\/em>Lastly, 25K ends the album on a high note with Maglera Doe Boy on \u2018Quarter To 6\u2019. After recording the song at a hotel in Pretoria, 25K played the song for Zooci who officially hailed him the future of street rap in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Already deemed a classic, listen to 25K\u2019s debut album \u2018 Pheli Makaveli\u2019 here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n