AFRICAN NTUKULU BIO/PROFILE
Over the past eight years, Blessing “African Ntukulu” Ngobeni formerly known as Lord Axe has artfully and dynamically redefined the phrase “Tribal Rap Made Me Do It” for the modern generation. The Soweto based musician has long mastered an exhilarating high wire act of balancing different music genres from Kasi Rap, Conscious Rap and also include reggae and performing with an equally thriving presence in the field of music. He discovered his love for music at a tender age of 10 and continued to join his school choir in 2005 where he was popular and well known as a tenor/bass soloist. Later he signed up for drama and poetry classes at the Funda Center in Soweto, through his poetry he was introduced to the Hip Hop genre which helped him to start writing his songs.
In 2008, he was introduced to Mc Coy who mentored him in being the artist he was yet to become. Mc Coy taught African Ntukulu music production and song writing. They both started working on a mix tape but Mc Coy passed away before it could be released and the tape was rather used as a demo. African Ntukulu later worked on a mix tape “The Real Mc Coy” in 2011 which was produced by Oscar Mafadza and Brian Shibanda. It featured talented artists such as SFS, Kay E and Ronnie Nyakane on hit songs such as Hlanya More, No Turning Back and Thula Ungabo Khala and the tape was released in 2012 as his first studio project. It sold over 800 copies and was featured and reviewed on a Hip Hop webpage called Head Page which was powered by the Back to the City Festival. It was play listed and received a lot of air play on community radio stations such as Vow FM, UJ FM and Alex FM. Some of the instrumentals and songs from the tape got featured on various TV programs and series which were taken from the SABC music library.
In 2013, he started Chronical Jam Session with fellow friend Nhlakanipho Mkwhanazi who is a dancer and musician. Through the Open Mic Jam Sessions that were hosted every Friday at Chiawelo Community Centre, he was introduced to talented artists such as Zulu Shama, Bob2G, Skillz Iqili, Eminent Fam, just to name a few and together they formed a movement “Illusional Dynasty Entertainment”, where he recorded and produced for these artists. Later he started working on his second studio project consisting of a 4 track EP titled “Under the Influence” that was to be followed by a mix tape titled “Above the Influence.” Both the EP and the mix tape was produced by African Ntukulu together with Joe King and Daniel Beats which featured artists such as Froz, Drenko, Gimbos (985), Kay E and Assessa. “Above the Influence” mix tape was released April 2014, it featured the hit track “PhuzUgologo MaAIN” and the remix which had over 4000+ downloads on Datafile Host. The tape was featured by an international blog called Rebel Noise.
In 2015 he teamed up with Msiscolover and Bob2G to form a Hip Hop group called Ama Vara Vara and released a song titled “Sthanda Amakhekhe” which reached over 2000 downloads, they also shot music video at the Annual Turn Up Madness which are hosted by African Ntukulu. On his search for a brand new sound, 2016 he joined a community project called Sawubona Music Jam Sessions which is aimed at developing and introducing live music and band in the community. Through the project he got to perform, set up and shared the stage with the likes of Lucky Thobela, Tabia, Urban Village, Siya Shezi, Blondie Makhele, Slique Angel, Ntsiki Mazwai, MXO and was also part of the first ever Kasi Rap Festival held at The Soweto Theatre.
In 2017, he continued working with Sawubona Music Jam on various events such as Sawubona Music Jam Awards, Sawubona Music Jam Gospel Thursdays, Sawubona Music Jam Road Show, Sawubona Music Jam Session every Tuesday. He started working on his 3rd studio EP titled Kasi Revelations EP, focusing on his brand new Tribal rap sound. His concepts of songs are based on the everyday struggles we face ekasi but most of all it spreads the Revelations and raising the awareness about issues that are challenging the youth while most people choose to ignore. On the 16th June he released a single taken from the EP titled “Satan Sukendleni”, produced by NJ Busy and the EP was released on the 31st July 2018.
In 2019, he took a break from performing and recording music and focused more on growing his sound. In 2020 he started working in his 4th studio EP titled “Tribal Rap Made Me Do It EP”. He has been in studio working with NJ Busy, Killer Kau, Skills Iqili, to name a few. Currently he has released His official hit single titled “Umthakathi” produced by NJ Busy, together with a music video on the 6th of March 2021.The music video is available on YouTube and the song is available on Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer.
African Ntukulu #Umthakathi (Prod. By Nj Busy).mp3
