With September marking Heritage Month in South Africa, when we honour and celebrate the rich and diverse heritage of the country, a young up-and-coming hip hop artist from Khayelitsha plans to release a Xhosa single to urge youth to be proud of their language.
Lulamile Sodisa, known as Lue Sodisa, has written a song titled NdingumXhosa which features another young artist, Bravo le Roux.
The 25-year-old plans to release his single on Heritage Day, Thursday September 24, encouraging young people to love their heritage and culture.
He said writing in your mother tongue gave you the freedom to express yourself without limits and that it was important for artists who are able to reach a wide range of people to shape their thinking about the importance of loving their culture.
“I’m trying to make it look cool to rap in your home language,” he said.
“We must embrace our identities and be proud of our heritage. This song has an element of youthfulness while it carries important messages.” he said.
He told Vukani he discovered his passion for music in 2006 when he started writing songs, not convinced of his own ability to rap.
But his confidence started growing and in 2008 he started rapping and feeling more comfortable as a performer.
Winning the City at Peace music competition in 2010, he said, gave him even more confidence in his ability.
But his journey has not been all smooth sailing.
Due to peer pressure, he said, he started using and became hooked on drugs in 2011 when he was in Grade 10. Over the next four years, he said, he continued using drugs and lost direction in life but in 2015 he stopped using and planned to move to Joburg to live with his aunt.
However, he was dealt another blow when his aunt passed away suddenly.
Miserable and having lost hope of making a success of his music, he started using drugs again, but the following year he decided to pick himself up and focus on building his career.
In 2017 he was part of a SABC 1 reality show called Now or Never where he shared his battle of using drugs and how he finally overcame them.
For more on his music, contact Lue on 083 512 4141.